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.