Brushing Teeth

They love it!!! After all the horor stories we heard, these two love having their teeth brushed. As soon as they see a tooth brush their mouths are agape and the drool is flowing...like Pavlov's dogs...amazing.

In fact, they love the tooth brush so much that we have one next to their changing area to be their "magic". To help them hold still when they are particularly squirmy I'll hand them the tooth brush. They put the bristles in their mouth and start brushing. Sometimes I don't know what is worse to clean up, the dirty diaper or the flood of drool. At least they stay still for as long as it takes!

'Tis The Season

Both girls have settled in for what Gwynne and I hope will be a long winter nap...snow is on the ground, breakfast has been enjoyed (pancakes and omlettes; a Sunday tradition of course), the paper needs reading, and chores are to be done.
The Christmas tree went up shortly after Thanksgiving. Both girls enjoy pulling the ornaments off the tree with no thought or skill at putting them back on. It has become a daily ritual...I put them all back on the tree at night, they take them off again the next day. Luckily we had the foresight to put all of the soft, child-safe toys on the bottom of the tree.
The lights, oh the lights! They are a homing beacon for the girls attention. Each morning I pull the girls from their cribs and head down into the darkness of the first floor (usually around 6 or 6:15 so it is still dark outside). After I set them down I go to turn on the tree lights. Alexandra has quickly adopted the routine and will usually rush right over, even before I can turn on the lights. Annellice with either join her sister right away, or she won't. Once those lights come on, however, the stampede of pounding hands and knees can be frightening for newcomers not used to the morning happenings.
We're not yet walking, though Alexandra is stepping ever closer. She will routinely take between one and four steps to chase the object of her desire. Annellice is adept at navigating the house and all it's obsticals with her walking toy, but has no interest in stepping on her own. Alexandra is adequately proficient navigating when she is not tired. Once her energy starts to fade, even the smallest bumps in the road balloon to catestrophic proportions.

Walking in Baby Steps

The newest trick is quickly becoming a popular activity. Both girls are "walking" with support as they hold onto our fingers. It is very cute how uncoorindated they are still...leaning too far forward and forcing their feet to catch up with their chest/head. They are learning to pull their hips under their chests, but aren't yet sure how to keep them there. Should be about Christmas for independent walking...stay tuned...

14 Months

Its funny how were are still calculating their age in months... I guess that will continue until they hit 2 years old and then we start going in to the half year thing.



For now we have some very happy 14 month olds. They are becoming ever more independent by the day. Figuring out how to verbally communicate their wants and needs will likely start any week now. Lord knows the non-verbal head shake and arm swatting they have down pat - just ask Titan all about it as he gets all the food that hits the floor peice of furniture.



The girls have slowly come back to their chipper selves after the bout with ear infections. The squelling and giggling is back to those crazy high octaves again. I must say that I have become a little immune to them and forget how loud they are until I am on the receiving end of the phone calls. The nightly ritual of bath time and teeth brushing time is becoming a favorite for them. Who would have thought they would get upset about us putting the tooth brushs away!

Sick Babies

So the day we got back from the family vacation in October little Alexandra started showing signs of getting the sniffles. Not a big deal - we just started putting vapo rub on her feet and chest and giving her more fluids. By Tuesday afternoon we figured it was make or break time.

While we were our walking the dog at 430pm with extended family in tow (Uncle Pete and Aunt Linda) we noticed that Alexandra's eyes were getting filled with goop. I mentioned to Kevin that I thought it could be pink eye. He said "no way! Pink eye is WAY worse than that." A hunch told me that something still wasn't right with her but since it was already so late we would just have to wait until morning to take her to the doctor anyways.

We awoke the next morning to crust filled eyes and very sad looking baby. Off to the doctor we went! An hour later we had the diagnosis - an ear infection in each ear PLUS pink eye! Apparently, the pink eye was the symptom that directed them to look at her ears. We had missed the fussy symptom since we thought it was just her teething again and there was no tugging of grabbing of her ears until after the doctor shoved the little piece in her ear to take a look. So it looks like one of the key symptoms for our kids on if they have an ear infection or not is the pink eye. The doctor said that this type of pink eye was not as contagious as the other. Hmmm... we will see about that.

After 2 days on the oral antibiotics Alexandra's eye issue cleared up. Then wouldn't you know it but on day 4 Annellice's eyes blew up with goop while we were walking through the wine festival in Powhatan. When we got home that afternoon we debated on going to urgent care or not since the regular doctor was closed until Monday. Then we opted to just give Annellice the same antibiotics that Alexandra was on. Poof! The eye problem went away and her fussiness decreased as well. That Monday I trucked both babies back to the doctor and they gave Annellice the once over. The doctor was not very happy that I gave the antibiotics to Annellice but he said it was actually the right thing to do because she also had infections in both ears!

We finished the full course of 10-days oral antibiotics on Sunday then again on Wednesday this past week. The girls are starting to tolerate food better now - being on only a liquid and applesauce diet can really mess with you. And get this! Alexandra popped out another tooth during all of this. She now has 5 teeth whereas Annellice has 7 still.

Family Vacation

October is a big month in our family. Grandpa Smith's birthdate is 10/5, our anniversary is 10/6, and Grandpa Reid's birthdate is 10/9. This year is was Grandpa Reid's 70th birthday! So we took off to Sanibel, FL (where they have a house) to celebrate and take a family vacation. :)

The flights from Norfolk to Fort Myers were not to bad. Alexandra and Annellice handled is like pros. From ticketing, thru TSA and onto/during the flight it was a smooth ride. The timing of the flight take offs worked right into the master plan of giving the girls a bottle for take-offs (the sucking helps with the pressure in the ears). Once the feedings were done we then proceeded to "swab down the deck" - taking baby wipes to every surface that the ki9ds could possible touch. The results of the cleaning process were in fact very gross - we just crossed out fingers and hoped for the best. The girls had a good time playing in our laps and with the emergency preparedness pamphlet before snuggling down for a little nap.

Upon arrival at the house the girls set to exploring their new surroundings. Their cousin, Gabriel, was actually taking a nap when we arrived.... needless to say the nap was short once the girls got to motoring around. The kids played and scooted from room to room we great effeciencies. Annellice played her favorite "ah" game to help locate Alexandra when they were not in site of each other. Sometimes Grandpa chimed in and which would throw Annellice off because then she didn't know which "ah" to go to... much funnier to witness than to read about.

During the course of the week we relaxed and hung out as a family. Typically someone would take the kids in the stoller on the dog walk in the morning or running, then following that everyone would have breakfast, after which playtime and napping would occur. Majority of the afternoons we would find a way to get the kids into the pool for some splash time - the air temp was in the low-mid 80's and water temp around 86-88 each day. In the evening hours is when the fun began, the girls were both teething like crazy! In the course of that week we saw Annellice pop our 3 teeth - she now has a total of 8. Alexandra on the other hand got nadda. Not a surprise there as her first four teeth played the horrible tricks on her of almost pushing out to receeding several times over before actually showing up.

Here they are with Grandma Reid:

Out on the boat viewing the canals:

Alexandra commanding the ship:

What is this stuff???

Annellice sleeping with daddy on our last day there:

13 months...

At 13 months we are in full on zone defense now. The giggles are a plenty, the tanturms interspersed, and the snuggling in for bed time a set pattern. It is amazing how far we have come. This past month it feels like the girls have doubled in size. They are as tall as ever and now that we are heading into the colder months and going sans pants is not in the weather forcast we have discovered that we are now in the 12-18month range on clothing because their legs are so darn long. So bye-bye to all those cute 3-6-9 month shorts, onsies and dresses - they are off to families expecting little girls any day now.

Alexandra and Annellice are becoming little tumbleweeds. They are learning to build a tough exterior to their assorted bumps and falls. If they are uber tired the crocidile tears are a plenty but over all after a little thought on whether to cry or not they opt not and head back to playing.

Moving on Up

Alexandra learned to climb the stairs last night. She is proficient at going up; not so much at coming down. Annellice can go up one step if motivated, but isn't particularly interested in climbing them all.

Annellice learned to stack blocks last night. Alexandra likes to throw them and knock the stacks down.

Lots of sounds are coming from their cute little mouths. The special, secret language has also begun. The search for each other through a series of grunts and sounds, and appear to carry on full conversations that ultimately evolve into giggles and activity.

While Annellice is stronger and can take toys at will, Alexandra is a bit quicker and sneakier. The other day I was in the kitchen and I heard a series of laughter and crying. When I looked into the living room, Alexandra had stollen a binkie from Annellice. Alexandra would crawl away laughing and turn to see where Annellice was; Annellice was crying and chasing Alexandra. Alexandra would crawl further away, then wait for Annellice to chase again. When Annellice wouldn't chase any more, Alexandra turned around and threw the binkie back at Annellice. It was all quite comical.

Birthday Cake

Gwynne and I took on the challenge of making the girls' cake(s) this year. Thinking I was being helpful and starting the cakes while Gwynne was busy with work and the girls were down for a nap I mixed, measure, and poured. As it turns out I jumped the gun and made two thicker 8" cakes to stack. Gwynne wanted to make two different cakes, one for each girl.

To further challenge us, what is seen as the top layer, did not come out of the pan well. Gwynne had to cut it down and shape it to make the top of what now is a tiered cake. It all worked out in the end...girls didn't care what it looked like or if there was one or two.

Happy 1st Birthday!

It is impossible to believe that it has been a year already since these two turned this couple into a family. It feels like only yesterday that we were making twice daily trips to the NICU to watch over our little ones...not that I want those days back again. We were saddened Saturday night forcasting that in only 4 or 5 short more they'll be going to school; in 17 short more they're off to college (they better be); and in many more mar...never mind.

Right now we cherrish each day of their activity as they crawl about. The newest faccination for Annellice is climbing atop the fireplace hearth. Alexandra, on the other hand, looks at her as if "what's the big deal?" because Alexandra mastered that skill about 30 days ago. One trick that Annellice has just started, and Alexandra has yet to catch on to, is standing up with hands atop one end of the couch and walking down to the other end using the cushions as balance.

They aren't much for talking yet, though they can both string together Da - Da - Da - DaDa every once in a while. From what I understand Alexandra is better at this and will occasionally do it when questioned about "who is coming home?" or "who had to go to work?".

Their ability to mimic has been a source of great pleasure for me. When I get them up in the morning we usually play a while in their room before heading down for breakfast. I will have them alternate between blowing raspberries and lip smacking just by initiating each once, alternately. They pick right up where I leave off and think it is a great time. They will also clap if you show them how. Alexandra gets both hands into the action, where Annellice leaves the left hand stationary and slaps with the right.

More pictures to come once I switch computers to where they are all housed.

Sneaky Sneak...

So these days Kevin and I have been having fun trying to sneak into the girls room in the morning. Typically the girls will arise between 615-645am. Most of the time they will chirp and play in their cribs for about 30-40 minutes before the "come get me cries" begin.

Alexandra is the morning lark with high pitched chirps and warbles. She has figured out how to get from her knees to her feet while holding onto the rails. It is only a matter of time now before she kicks a leg up in attempt to escape the fortress... she has already figured out hor to get up onto the hearth of the fireplace and play the voicemail messages.

Annellice is the crazy one that usually bounces violentlt away on her knees - Alexandra does it as well but just not with as much gusto. Sometimes you can walk into their room and find Annellice's crib displaced several inches from the wall and blankets strewn about. She is not much for trying to get to her feet yet, she values the stability of ther knees and her hips are still a bit weak to support her full weight yet.

Here is a small video of one of their many wake-ups:

Twins in sync with the dog distraction:

11 Months :)

Here is our happy photo op for 11 months. Note - it is getting harder for us to keep them still and look in the same direction these days :)

A Tooth!!!

Annellice has popped a tooth...one small one on the bottom with another close behind on the top. She had been budding just below the surface for a couple of weeks, but I just felt a real tooth today. It was old news to Gwynne...where have I been?

Alexandra has a couple of buds in the works and according to the scientific test of my finger, she may get her top tooth first. It feels further along, but I've been wrong every time thus far. "I feel one..."; and I don't...

Both girls are crawling all over the place and faster than I can keep track of. It is funny to watch their inter-personal dynamic with each other. Annellice will take off after something while Alexandra watches. If Alexandra decides it is worth following, she'll hot foot it after Annellice and usually beat her to the object of their affection. Both girls enjoy crawling over the dog beds we have stationed in the living room.

All the fancy toys in the house, and by all accounts we are way behind in supporting the economy of baby toys, and their two favorites are a Gatorade bottle with quarters in it and left over race numbers. I can't forget to mention how much they like the dogs' tennis balls and nylabone chew toys, as well as empty cereal boxes and juice bottles. The dog's water bowl, book bags, rug tassles, and other "household" items are often preferred over anything store bought.

Laughter...and lots of it. Annellice is ticklish and will gigglle or provide a belly laugh on command. She finds an array of happenings funny and will laugh at them, though the same thing will rarely ellict the response for very long. Alexandra is far less ticklish, though will giggle when tickled on her inner thighs. She does, however, have fits of hillarity where she will shreek and laugh for minutes on end. We don't know what fires her off, but it really fills the room with joy.

Together they are very well in tune with how each is feeling and play really well together. They entertain themselves, reach for each other when seperated, and share toys with few disputes. We've experienced only one bout of "twin ESP" and it was the other night. Alexandra was having a rough night with congestion and interrupted breathing during the night. Annellice, asymptomatic, would cry out whenever Alexandra was having a hard time even when they were at completely opposite corners of the house. Made for a long night, but an interesting anecdotal study in twin relations.

On Schedule...

The girls had their visit at the Developmental Clinic yesterday. All appears within the normal ranges for their adjusted age of 9 months. (adjusted age is their age if they were to have made it to full term rather than being born early).

Alexandra is weighing in at 16lbs 6.8ounces and height of 27.5 inches.
Annellice is weighing in at a HEFTY 19lbs 3 ounces and height or 29.5 inches.

While their size measurements seem drastically different from one another they are each progressing on their own growth charts very well and actually hitting the 50th percentile! Dr Brown did note that they are on different growth charts given that they start from 2 different weight/height coordinates. None the less the doctors are happy that they are growing!

We will be working the next few weeks with Annellice on strengthening her hips by not sitting in the "w" shape and sitting/standing with a narrower stance than what she is accustomed to. Alexandra will be getting more time with obstacles (to encourage her strength in the upper body) and massaging the bottom of her feet so that she will start to place them flat on the floor rather than just the balls of her feet.

Also, in the next few weeks we will be testing Alexandra out on the Nuetramagen formula so that I can stop pumping (yes, I am still pumping 10.5 months and counting!). The new formula is made with soy oil and not soy protien so the hopefully we will not have any problems with her digesting it this time. We will start with 1-2oz at a time and work out way up from there.

We have Lil' Movers!

Its official, the girls can now crawl!

Annellice was the first to start (7/7/2010). She is very deliberate in her movements and therefore moves at a slower pace than expected at times. Exploring her surroundings is getting more fun by the day. She has found her way to the coffee table and likes to act like she is going to pull up on it but just doesn't know how to put it in action yet. Her next favorite stop if the fireplace as the texture of the brick is fascinating to her.

Alexandra's first attempts were met with trepidation as her confidence wasn't quite up to where her ability level but she eventually got going (7/11/2010). She often will bring her feet to flat position on the floor rather than he knees down so she is really in a little squat position. As silly as it may should she looks like the little critter from Lord of the Rings - little spindly arms and legs all crouched down ready to spring. As expected though Alexandra is a girl on the go. She plays coy like she doesn't know how to do it but when she thinks you are not looking she books it across the play mat with the greatest of ease. This morning what caught my eye is that she uses her toes to push off unlike Annellice who relies on her knee on down her leg.

The next few weekends Kevin and I are both working. Lucky for us they are both somewhat local events - this way we will have time to look at more adequate baby proofing. Let the good times roll!

10 Months...

The girls turned 10 months old on July4th. It is hard to believe that in 2 short months they will be 1-year old already! Time surely is flying by at warp speed. Thank goodness for the age of digital cameras so that we can scroll back through pictures of the milestones at the drop of a hat. For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to allocate time just to get the shots sent off to costco for printing - the only time available was in the wee hours of the night when kevin and I were trying to catch up on our other work. I figure we will catch up on sleep when Alexandra and Annellice are off tending to their own kids someday :)

This week has brought us a few big moments. Annellice is learning how to crawl. She started with just 2-3 shuffles of the knees and then sitting up. After that she took a full day off to recuperate from her hard work then today she made it clear across the blanket on the floor (approx 4ft). Alexandra has had thoughts of moving put becomes distracted by objects that are closer than the ones she may feel motivated to move for.

Alexandra is making progress on the solid food front - eating Cheerios! She will take eat them if you place them near her mouth - full on drool production and then gumming to get them moving in her mouth followed by a swallow. Now we just need to work on her taking them from her own hand. Annellice on the other hand will pick-up 3-5 at a time and try to shove them in her mouth. The fun part is watching them come back out at an indeterminent amount of time later because she doesn't quiet have the tongue movement down just yet. Particles of cheerios to pick off her face all the time now... just need to get them before they dry on there. Needless to say, Titan has assumed the position of waiting under the table in full standing mode ready to move at the drop of a round little grain. Poor dog has been deprived of people food from the dinner table for his whole life and now the first vestages are far to tempting for him to walk away - Ahh well, we knew it was just a matter of time on that one while trying to manage two little ones in high chairs.

Here is their 10 Month pictures (minus their cute 7/4 outfits) - Alexandra is on the left and Annellice on the right.

4th of July

Yeah! Fireworks, food and sleeping babies :)

We spent the weekend up with my parents (Smith's) in Fairfax. My mom just recently had knee replacement surgery on her left knee and is recuperating at home. Lucky for her the girls are not that mobile yet and loved being held and watched over while playing with blocks on the floor. The girls got to spend time with grandpa and their uncle too.

The girls did amazingly well given that their daily toys and activities were altered a bit. So long as they were fed and diapered they seemed rather happy. Kevin and I are very blessed to have such happy and easy going kids. If they were picky kids they might not be able to keep up with us :). We did not keep them awake to watch fireworks this year although we did see some shoot int he air on the way home that night. We will save the festivities of late night watching until next year... or maybe even the year after that depending on how tired they are.

Here is a picture of them before heading out to walk Titan (annellice is on the left and alexandra on the right). We attempted to go to the park to have fun on the swings but the summer sun and black plastic did not provide for the best of swinging situations.

Fun videos

Alexandra in her daily exersaucer routine and Annellice watching her.

Photo-op - 9 months

Here is our monthly picture in our big brown chair... one day we may not be able to sit with each other! (Alexandra on the left, Annellice on th right)

9 Months have come and gone...

Warp Speed seems to me the standard speed limit at the Reid house these days. The girls are growing at a high rate and are slowly becoming more mobile/adventurous.

At the 9 month checkup we only had to incur one finger prick (to check hemoglobin levels) and one shot (last of the hep-b booster). This was the first time the girls' fingers were big enough to be the site of the stick. In the fast they had to use the heel of their foot. The finger site proved to be a good location for Alexandra - she took it like a trooper. Annellice's wouldn't have been so bad had her blood wanted to coagulate. The poor thing kept flipping her hand around trying to get the bandaid off while Kevin was trying to apply pressue with gaw pads as the bandaid wasn't holding. After about 15 minute (which felt like an enternity) the bleeding stopped.

FYI - At this check-up our regular pediatrician confirmed our notion that Alexandra has a Soy allergy.

Here are the stats on their check-up and the 9-month photos as well:

Alexandra - Weight = 15lb 1oz (2%); Height = 26" (8%); Head Circumf = 17.25" (45%)

Annellice - Weight = 17lb 5oz (20%); Height = 27" (30%); Head Circumf = 17.5" (65%)

Baptism...

Last week the girls were baptised by the same pastor that married us nearly 9 years ago. The pastor is no longer Father Simione but is now Monsignor Simione. His new title is something that is bistowed only by the pope!

Alexandra had a wonderful time playing with Carl's face (he is their God Father) and Annellice tooted away in Amy's arms (she is the God Mother). Afterwards we all headed to Firebirds for some dinner and laughter for all. Here is a picture of the girls in their gowns (alexandra is on the left and annellice is on the right). For those looking for the differences note that is is getting harder as they are getting larger - the hair part is still a dead give away though.

more pics...

The Flip-Flop

So this has been almost a week of opposites for the kids. Normally Annellice is the hungry little monster who is all a giggle. This week she has been quite the challenge between being down right inconsolable at times and refusing of her favorites in change for something else. Alexandra of course has been doing her own new set of tricks - like finishing full bottles after eating solid food, heck even just eating solid food!

Annellice's trouble started last Fri/Sat - WARING: this may be TOO MUCH INFO for some people! . She went about 48 hours without a bowel movement, which is VERY out of character for her. Not a biggy, just use a suppository and everything should be good to go. After finally going to the bathroom she was still a bit off her game. About 24 hours later she had a bowel movement that smelled strongly of ammonia - and when I say strongly I mean knock you out kind. Thinking this must be a good sign that what ever her problem was must be passing bt not the case. Following all the fun diapers she then started to refuse to eat solid foods and take more than 2-3ounces out of her 7 ounce bottle. She would be happy as a lark right after eating and would cry if you tried to get her to take more. So again I just waited it out. Now if is a week later and Annellice finally ate well this morning! No clue was affected her so badly as her sister did the opposite during this same time frame.

Alexandra has been the trucker this week. Gobbling up all the baby food goodies and drinking her bottle plus a little left over by her sister. I was thinking it was a growth spurt the first 2 days, but we are now on day 6 of this and just don't get it. It just seems like a 180 for her. Kevin and I actually have noticed she prefers eating from a spoon now. Thinking back the experts that the NICU said she would have a harder time due to the delayed suck/swollow/breath reflex - but her only issue seems to be the texture of the food. Once we got past the first two weeks she appears to be doing better with the lumpier foods now. On the diaper side of life she has been regular for the first time since birth! I can count on her going #2 at least once per day instead of 1 per 4-6 days as it was in the past.

On other notes - the girls have some crazy long legs now. Who would have thought that would happen?!?!? We have maxed out the height on the exersaucer (per the developmental specialist request not to encourage then to stand before crawling) and they are pretty much standing the whole time they are in them. It is a good thing summer is here and we do not need to worry about putting them in footed onsies for a while.

Pictures for fun...

8 Months old AND Mothers Day Weekend!

YAHOO! Alexandra and Annellice turned 8Months old on 5/4. Crazy how fast things are flying by. Well really it has been the last 2 months that have been the blur. Alexandra is on the left and Annellice is on the right.

The girls are now happily playing on their tummies. When toys are given to both of them Annellice always reverts to taking the one from Alexandra even after swapping them. Grass is always greener I guess. Alexandra tolerates the taking of things very well and will play with her hands or the patterns she is laying on instead. This last week while out to lunch Annellice proceeded to grab at the cup that I was drinking from. We played with the tipping of the cup for a little bit but when she realized I wasn't going to tip it back all the way she was none to happy. To further test her on her skills of grabbing things and bringing them to her mouth we got some sippy cups. No dice, she isn't quite ready for those yet - but atleast we have them in supply when we are ready for them!

Mothers Day weekend was long, tiring and just plain FUN! We were up at Lake Anna for a double race weekend (Half distance on Saturday and Sprint distance on Sunday). Our work days kept up out and about from 5am-7/8pm. With both Kevin and i working we were blessed enough that our babysitter come up to the race with us. The girls got to play in the cabin for the morning hours then came out to race site for mid-day visits with Kevin and I. It was a lot of fun getting to introduce the girls to our buddies. They were passed around to many of person to be played with and shown about. Needless to say they are spent by the time we got home.

Here they are giggling before breakfast! Alexandra top left and Annellice bottom right.

Gone in a instant!

The past 3 weeks have been a blur. I feel like I go on a good roll with the updates there towards the end of April and then I fell off the wagon again. Maybe I can be little better this time... who knows... maybe someone out there reading should keep me honest and poke me for an update :)

The first weekend of May was a daddy and girls weekend as mom was out of town at another event. Kevin was able to work from home that Friday so things were quite a bit easier to juggle with me leaving town at 10am that morning. Not sure how productive he was though as I think he was continuing to work during nap times on Saturday/Sunday to get back on track. Go figure that the kids would derail ones schedule of work when you are home with them. Fun was had by all though! They took trips to town for walking the dog and grabbing lunch. Always the center of attention where they go because of their duplicity it was wearing a little thin towards the end of the weekend when all you want to do it pick up a few things from Costco only to be trapped at nearly every department by well meaning souls and words of encouragement.

The girls have been tolerating more solid food feedings. Alexandra is starting to come around to the process of eating from a spoon. The kicker is having something on the spoon that she is willing to ingest. Its a good thing Annellice is not very selective!

Food, Glorious Food!

The girls started solid food last Tuesday. We started with oatmeal under the advisement of the pediatrician as Alexandra has had issues getting with her tummy in the past. Alexandra was not very keen on the oatmeal thing but we stuck that out for 3 days just to stay consistent with Annellice. On day four we gave Alexandra rice cereal instead oatmeal and she was a happy camper who obliged each raise/lowering of the spoon with a giant push out and waggle of her tongue. I almost wish we didn't have to introduce them to new things as I have never seen her so happy eating... the bottle happiness she has just doesn't compare.

Right now everything that they are taking in is made at home. Kevin's parents gave us an awesome book on pureeing food. I keep going back to it and other books trying to figure out what to give them and when. Unfortunately, there is not a set of instructions manuals with these things... if there are someone let me know. So we are winging it for now, trying to stay to introducing new foods once every 4 days and then adding a 1/2 teaspoon of apple/prune juice to Alexandras to help her process things along. Needless to say I need to start writing things down on the calendar so I can remember what and when. Oy!

Here are some pictures of our happy and full babies (Annellice on the Left, Alexandra on the Right):

Sleep... PLEASE!

So traveling and having the babies sleep in the same room with us isn't quite the same as being at home. We knew they made noises during the night but the past 2 weekends have shown us more than we realized. I think in large part it is due to them not being comfortable away from their own crib because when we get home they fall asleep so easily and soundly.

Last Sunday Kevin and the girls watched as I completed the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in DC. The run was a ton of fun and the girls seemed to enjoy the Metro rides to and from the race. There were more fast people that I realized up there. I accidently got sucked into a faster pace that what I had trained at. Turns out all was ok and I was able to hold the faster pace the whole time. Kevin and the girls wandered around the start/finish line area and came down the street to see me pass at mile 5. With the way scheduling and feeding worked out the girls ate and slept on the metro for the most part. Alexandra was so tired after the fitful night of sleep and the soy issue earlier in the week that she was either fussy, grunting or passed out.

This past weekend the girls came up to Lake Anna for the Rumpus in Bumpass race weekend. Lindsey, our babysitter extraordinaire, came up and stayed with us making the work/life balance much more bearable. The girls were oggled over by many and they hammed it up whenever possible to get more smiles. They enjoyed tummy time in the back of my wagon and played with the best rattle ever made! (A mini-gatorade bottle with rocks in it). Peek-a-boo is fast becoming one of their favorite games - their eyes follow you to where you go to hide and when you jump out it is like a whole new thing for them.

Here they are getting ready for Cherry Blossom:

7 Months have come and gone....

Its hard to believe that this journey started out with the babies in NICU. Don't get me wrong, some days we still act like we have issues but for the most part they have come a very far way. Last week I jumped on the scale with each of them at the YMCA. Annellice is hip-tiring 15.75 lbs while Alexandra is staying petite at 13.25lbs. Its strange that Annellice is growing faster because they are now drinking the same volume of milk (well atleast 90% of the time). Something we will obviously be keeping an eye on and asking about at their 9 month check-up.

(alexandra on left, annellice on right)

Alexandra has been taking things at her own pace these days. Somedays she will feel like turning her head to the sound of her name and other days she could care less and go about staring off at more interesting things. She also likes to pull the one-show-pony card too. I reported a couple of months ago about her rolling over she then stopped such activities for about a week or two and just now will only do it intermittently. At any rate, Alexandra is in LOVE with her feet these days. She lifts them, pulls them and on a number of occassions gets them into her mouth. In the process of playing with her feet she also loves to blow strawberries/bubbles with her mouth. Something new we have also learned about her is that she cannot take SOY formula (we started supplementing this month)! The was a hard lesson learned as both times she performed acrobatic vomiting to cover both myself and/or the couch and floor.. good times! Once we removed the soy formula we had our happy little child back within 12hours or so and after atleast one other vomiting session.

Annellice has been ticking along. She gets overly excited now when she even sees a bottle with milk in it so we are thinking we may have created a monster. Most things that touch her hands now wind up somewhere near her mouth/head so we are going to have to start being a bit more careful now with things at the table. She has just started to sit unassisted for up to 30-60seconds at a time. She thinks it is the funniest thing to push her upper body with her hands and more often than not falls forward with giggles and laughter. Outside of that Annellice still loves making the space-shuttle noises and checking herself out in the mirror to see if she can insight laughter/smiles in others especially Alexandra.

The Exersaucer was introduced in ernest about 10days ago. At first they didn't seem to like it much but once they understood that the toys we just toys and not bad noise makers they started to enjoy it more. We have been trying the exersaucer out for 15-20 minutes at a stretch after which that get tired of it. With the addition of this we now have something new to do with the girls other than just TummyTime. Although, tummy-time seems to be getting more interesting lately as some days they have figured out how to prop half of their body ready for crawling... to bad they haven;t figured out how to do the other half at the same time yet.

Sorry!!!!

So the month of March got away from us a bit... SORRY!!!!

Things that happened in March (the quick and dirty version):

1. The girls grew... a ton! See the 7Month posting arriving next

2. The race season started so my workload just got a bit heftier

3. Kevin has settled into his new job but still is working as the Manager part-time at his old job until they find someone to replace him (this could be a while).

4. I have taken on water aerobics and spinning classes at the YMCA in Goochland to force myself out of the house some mornings... provides me with a bit of sanity between the kids and work at home.

5. We put our house on the market as we have realized that we desperately need a garage and a place where I can just walk out the door with the stoller to walk the dog instead of having to load us in a car to drive to town.
6. Lindsey started coming in to babysit the girls Mondays and Wednesdays so that I can get some work done for the upcoming races.

Here are some snapshots from March:

Alexandra is laughing at Annellice during TummyTime:

The girls are chilling - Annellice is wishing she were in the sun with Alexandra:


Off we go for errands - Alexandra on the left and Annellice on the right:

Happy babies in the morning! Alexandra top right and Annellice bottom left:

Afternoon stroller time for short dog walk - Alexandra on the left and Annellice on the right:

Alexandra rockin' it out with Titan:

Annellice boogeying it out now too:

6 Months and Counting!

So we have finally made it to 6Months without any major issues! No near death experiences or falling from changing tables/cribs (we won't talk about the TSA experience anymore), and no crazy infections or colds that required medical intervention (knock-on wood!). I thought they said this parenting things was hard... JUST KIDDING!

Alexandra and Annellice had their 6month appointment with the pediatrician on 3/4. Here are their stats:

Alexandra Annellice

Height: 24.25" (8%) 25" (25%)

Weight: 12lb 2oz (1%) 13lb 14oz (12%)

Head Circ.: 16.25" (20%) 16.25" (20%)

Since our visit last week Alexandra has contracted a nasty sinus/head cold. It is filling her belly with post-nasal drip which is making her feedings on the bottle rather small and difficult. We will continue to suction and put saline drops in until it goes away, the poor thing is starting to sound like a lounge singer with her cooing turning into a husky growl at times. Not sure when Annellice will start to show signs of the virus - although at the last feeding she had more than usual spit-up. Gotta love colds and gotta love it even more that there is nothing you can give the little ones to subside their discomfort (just time and sleep)

Developmental Clinic

So the outcome from the Developmental Clinic appointment on Wednesday are that the girls are on track for their adjusted age. The adjusted age is their age if they were to make it to full-term. Since October 20th was our due date their adjusted age is 4.2 months, as opposed to their actual age of 5.7 months.

Both Alexandra and Annellice responded well to sounds and tasks given to them. They were rolled on their tummies and offered toys, as well as given large and small objects to track. Only Annellice made an effort to actaully reach for an object which is a skill that a 5 month old would have. Alexandra was chit-chatty towards the end as is her unique skill these days.

Dr Brown weighed them too. Alexandra is coming in at 11lbs 6oz, and Annellice is now 13lbs 8oz. When they use adjusted age of 4.2 months they are actually on the scale percentage wise (approx 80% on height and then 10% and 50% on weight respectively). Using the percentage scale at the regular pedictrician leaves Annellice below 10% and Alexandra less that 1% if I remember correctly. We will see where they are next week when we go back in for the 6 month checkup and immunizations.

New things every day!

About a week to 10-days ago the girls started coordinating objects going from their hand to their mouth. Mind you they are only successful about 5% of the time - it usually just goes somewhere above their sholder right now. I'm thinking that once they get this down we will have them reaching for things shortly there after.



Yesterday (2/22) we experienced our first roll over (from tummy to back) by Alexandra. After we had a little celebration I promptly placed her back on her tummy for more tummy-time with her sister. Unfortunately, she was unable to replicate her actions. Annelllice, who has yet to roll over, showed her how to holler and cry very loudly while rocking on their bellies. Poor Titan didn't know what to do, so he took shelter on the playmat (picture below). The dog looks awfully sad doesn't he!


This morning brought us more tummy-time. Alexandra was able to roll to her left and two her right side! Everytime I would set her back on her tummy she was rolling tummy to back within 5 seconds. Luckily, I was able to grab the camera and video it. To bad the blogging website will not upload it :(. I will keep trying though. Annellice did not have as good of a time. She was able to push her head and upper body up to almost 90 degrees at the start. That is a HUGE jump for her as previously her and Alexandra only push themselves up just enough to move their head to the other side.


UPDATE - More tummy time this afternoon and Annellice did her first roll over from tummy to back too! She watched Alexandra do it 5-6 times before doing it herself. She was faster than I could get to the camera so her video is missing her propping herself up.

TO VIEW THE VIDEO CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON

11...14...22 Weeks

We are slackers....

Wow it has almost been 2 weeks since the last posting. With all the playing in the snow we forgot to type out the events and progression of the girls.

The girls have been doing well! We attempted to put Alexandra on rice cereal as she was starting to wake in the middle of the night for an extra feeding. After 3 days I noticed not only was she having issues going number 2 but her wet diapers decreased from 6-7 a day down to 2-3. Rather than stress her kidneys we decided to take the cereal out and lose the sleep. Turns out that as she came off of it she stopped waking in the middle of the night anyways. For now we will continue to hold off on solid foods for atleast another 6 weeks. Annellice has continued to be steady-eddy with nothing strange occurring in her eating/sleeping habits.

They are both loving to be swaddled for naptime. We had stopped the swaddling process back in December but have found it ever so helpful now when they get overly tired and fussy. The hard part is sometimes they sleep so soundly that waking-up can be problematic. We will take it over the fits of tired screaming any day though!

These days the girls prefer to standing attempts on our laps. Annellice has earned the nickname "Stilts" for her ever locked knees. Alexandra on the other hand is nicknamed "noodles" because after about 3-5 seconds of standing she lights up a big smile and her legs go limp. Kevin and I are both thinking that when it will come to walking Annellice will be the contemplative thinker calculating each step where as Alexandra will be running rather than walking when she figures out how fast she can get from point A to point B. Thank goodness we have several months before we need to start chasing them down.

Snow Angels

Another 14+ inches of snow with this last storm and my three Snow Angels got out to enjoy it. We took the girls on their first walk with the front loaders through the neighborhood. Titan joined us, of course, and ran like a wild dog through the tall snow. The girls slept for the majority of the walk, but didn't seem to mind the teen temperatures. The sun was so very warm!

Giggles :)

We have now been able to experience the first giggles for both of the girls now. Kevin heard Annellice giggle while I was away the other week. She was in a good mood and giggled while rolling up like a rolly-polly. Alexandra shared her first giggle on Monday morning in the darkness of the day. While laying on the changing table she started giggling after I popped up from reaching to get a new diaper. She was so surprised she layed mute for the next 5-10minutes wondering what the heck that was that came out of her mouth.

The girls are doing well over all. They appear to still be growing and we have been slowly rotating out some of the "spark-plug" like clothing that is nice and round but way to short in the legs for our little giraffes. It's kind of sad to see things go to the been-there-done-that bin; it feels like they hardly got a chance to wear some of them. Yes - I have been told that will be a running theme for the next 18 years but none the less it is a little sad.

Alexandra is continuing to expand her vocabular of non-sensical noises. She often will just set jabbering for what seems hours and when you check on her she goes quiet and just smiles and is just as happy to go back to jabbering when you are no longer looking. Annellice is starting to help herself sit-up after having a bottle. She doesn't know how to actually do it yet, but you can see her tense her abdominals to roll forward because she knows that burping is the next step after eating. Now if only I could get the two of them to enjoy tummy time more! They both get the concept fo the legs going for crawling but it is the upper body that is suffering a bit. If we position their hands under their shoulders or chest it is only a matter of moments before they find their hands to suck on instead. Hopefully, we will have made some progress by the time we go to the developmental clinic on the 24th.

The Art of Napping

So we are trying to figure out how to give the girls the quality nap time that they (and I) so richly deserve. Some days we have ping-pong matches when one will be awake and the other asleep; other days we have surround sound of awake time and rare times of silence. At this point it may lay more on my table of responsibilities to try more earnestly to place them in their crib after feedings or when fussiness arises rather than the pack-n-play. The kicker on this though is they like to go to the crib together, if they are left without their partner for very long (ie: feeding) then WWIII seems to break out and then they are both up and I am pulling my hair out.

Ahh, thank goodness I have a fair amount of patience. I also have the upper hand on Kevin in that I am with them all day every day so I can pick up on cues that will give me a lead in on what to do next. Kevin had his first full day with just him and the babies this week. He thought strategically of course and arranged for errands to be run mid-morning and a workout in the evening (the Y has free child care for members if you want to workout). The only time he was a bit frazzled was the bewitching hour - which typically has been hitting at 5pm or 7pm (and sometimes both). By the time I arrived home at 845pm the girls had fussed themselves to sleep; just 30 minutes before their last feeding time of the day!

On another note, I have learned that the girls just love the sound of voices when they are awake. I am trying to make an effort of not turning on the tv to entertain them when i need to get work done. Does anyone know a good talk radio station that I can tune into while the play in their chairs/boppy's?

Wow - Look how big they have gotten!

Looking back to the Thanksgiving photo is when you realize how much they have grown.

Alexandra and Annellice have been spending the last week perfecting their cooing techniques and helping mommy create mixed music cd's for spinning classes. If they cry the song is a no - go. So far they really like 50's/60's rock for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and Aerosmith. Go figure!

alexandra is showing that she will ever be our little motor mouth. She actively squaks and chatters to thr animals hanging on her bouncy seat and the fan blades on the light fixtures.

Annellice likes to coo... "hooooh, hoooh, hoooh", "haaaa, hhhuhhh, haaah, haaaa, huhhh". The facial expressions that accompany the noises are priceless, now if only she could hold them instead of changing the when she see the camera.

Mirror time is becoming more fun now. They love to see their faces and the person holding them. Smiles are a plenty! Now only if Tummy time were as good.