Wedding Weather

I know it's been a long time since I last posted. But I promise that I have not forgotten about the blog. We were out of town for the past several days...five to be exact. We were at my cousin's wedding in my hometown and then we went to Nate's parents' house for a few more days.

So in speaking of the wedding, the weather forecast was not good. As it turns out, it did end up raining. Which then reminds me of our wedding day, because we're approaching our 2 year anniversary. Like my cousin's wedding, it rained on our big day. I had several people tell me not to worry about the little bit of rain because "rain on your wedding day is a sign of wealth and fertility." Well, we sure have the fertility part down pat!! We're still working on the wealth part. Ha!

And just for fun....

Look at that smile. You can see her two "toofers"

Yes, that is the Tylenol bottle. And yes, she thinks she's a puppy.

Look what we did today!!!

We went to the park for the very first time! It was such a beautiful day out that we couldn't resist taking the girls to the park. They seemed to really enjoy the adventure. So I think we will be spending a whole lot of time there this summer.

Swinging like such big girls!

We do everything together!

Weeeeeeeee!! Slides are fun!

Now hopefully the weather will actually stay nice out so we can make this a fairly routine thing. I think the girls appreciated the fresh air. Let's face it, they were born in mid-October. Shortly thereafter, the cold weather hit. So we have been cooped up in the house for far too long.

Plus mommy needs some sunshine! I had to get a new drivers' license a couple weeks ago because mine was set to expire. My previous picture was taken when we got back from our honeymoon in May 2007. The difference between the two was amazing!! Not that I ever get a whole lot of color in me....but OH...MY...GOSH. I guess it's to be expected since the last time I saw the sun was the summer of 2007. I essentially missed the summer of 2008 due to laying on my couch. So this mommy hasn't really seen the sun in two years!

Oh yes, and you may notice the difference in the appearance of the blog. I am playing around with some different color schemes. When I was pregnant, I was trying to keep things as gender neutral and ambiguous as possible. But since we now have two little girlies, I figured it's about time I make it LOOK a little more girly! So things may change around a bit for the next couple of weeks till I find something I am 100% happy with. Hope you like it!

We're on the move!!

This is where we start....

And this is where we end up!!

So yes, the girls are on the move. Yikes! We babyproofed our main concern quite a while ago...our open stairwell. Now I think it's time to finish up the odds and ends. Before we know it, these girls are going to be trashing the whole house!! Nate and I already do a pretty gosh darn good job at that, I'm not sure we need any help! Ha.

In completely non-related news, Nate and I were talking the other day, and we decided that we picked a terrible month to get married. This is the run-down of our next two months:

May 1 - my birthday (but I don't celebrate them anymore!!)
May 10 - Mother's Day
May 26 - our wedding anniversary
June 4 - Nate's birthday
June 21 - Father's Day

Yup, we could've picked a better month to get married. Didn't seem so bad when we were childless -- an anniversary and our birthdays. Not bad. In fact, quite manageable. But now we're going to go broke. Hmmm, should've planned that one a little better!!

Only in my dreams

I was thinking the other day about the "expectations" I had when the babies arrived. And I can't help but laugh at just how naive I was!! All I can say is that you live and you learn!

1) I thought the girls would sleep in a Pack 'N Play in our room until we transitioned them into their cribs. When they woke up to eat, I would feed them and put their sleepy little selves back down. What I learned: babies are surprisingly loud when they sleep, keeping everyone awake, and they don't always eat and go back to sleep. End result: after the first week, the Pack 'N Play was moved out to the living room where one adult slept on the couch and was "on duty" for a 4-5 hour stretch.

2) I thought that twins could quite possibly entertain each other when they got to a certain age. What I learned: nope. Mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa - they are much more fun. So we go about our day trying our hardest to keep not one, but two babies entertained...spend 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there, 15 minutes doing this, 10 minutes doing that. End result: not much in the way of housework gets done with only one adult in the house.

3) I thought that by a few months of age, babies would sleep through the night - or at least a good chunk of it. What I learned: I am both right and wrong. Alivia is still doing a wonderful job sleeping about 10 hours at a time. Adalyn still thinks every 3 hours is a good time frame. End result: very tired parents/grandparents.

4) I thought that babies ate a bottle and then would be done for a few hours. What I learned: some babies are snackers, and therefore, eat an ounce or two (what seems to be) every half hour! In their worlds, there's no such thing as taking 6-8 ounces at a time and not being hungry for 3-4 hours. The only exception is during the night. End result: Ummmmm, not sure.

I'm sure there are many more, but I'm drawing a blank. And the girls are ready for another form of entertainment.....

But really quick. Their sleepover was quite a success. The only minor issue was when Alivia woke up at about 6:30am. Dr L and her husband took her into bed with them to play for a little while. Poor thing looked to the left and saw Dr L. So she looked to the right and saw Dr L's husband. Then the big old lip came out (click here for reference) and she started wailing!! Little baby girl is used to playing in bed with MOMMY and DADDY when she wakes up in the morning...not "strangers."

Overall, I guess it was a good experience for them. And Nate and I got to sleep in until 9:15. Woo-hoo!! We think next time we might try convincing Dr L to take them for the entire weekend...or the whole week?! No, just kidding. I would miss them too much.

Sleepovers!!

The girls are going to be having their first sleepover tomorrow night. Dr L is actually going to be taking the girls. I don't think she knows exactly what she's in for! Since the plans were put together a couple of weeks ago, Nate and I had been counting down the hours until we were able to hand them off for a while. Now that the time has finally arrived, we're not quite as excited as we were before! I have never spent a night away from the girls since the day they were born. So this is going to be interesting.

We'll be dropping the girls off at around 5:30pm. I think we're going to do dinner and a movie. We'll eat dinner at a nice restaurant and will probably come home to watch a movie here. Then I plan to attempt to get plenty of sleep, while I think Nate plans on playing some PlayStation!! After a good night's rest, we'll pick them up sometime around noon on Sunday.

I'll keep everyone posted on how well their first sleepover goes. I have a sneaking suspicion that Dr L may never want to take them overnight ever again!! They can be a handful at night...especially when they aren't in their own environment (i.e. their own cribs). So everyone keep your fingers crossed!!

I can't believe Nate and I are going to have our first official "date" since before I was put on bedrest!!!!!!! So sometime before July 29th...I think it's about time.

Look at this little ham.

What an innocent little honey.

The girls' appt - no surprises

The girls had their 6 month appointment on Friday. And there weren't any surprises -- they are still string beans. Long and skinny. Not shocking at all.

Adalyn
15lbs 12oz (49th percentile)
27 inches (94th percentile)

Alivia
14lbs 12oz (30th percentile)
26 inches (71st percentile)

Yes, Alivia is exactly 1 inch shorter and 1 pound lighter than Adalyn.

We got the OK to begin veggies and fruits with the girls. And it hasn't gone well so far!! The poor girls gag...just like when we first started cereal. So far they have only had peas. In the next couple of days, we're going to be trying beans. So we'll see how that goes.

Dr K said that they look great and that she doesn't have any concerns. They don't go back until they're 9 months old now. And there won't be any shots at that appt!! Yay!

In off topic news, I should mention that Adalyn rolled over from back to belly for the first time this morning. It's just a matter of time before these two little monkeys are rolling, scooting, and crawling all over this house!!

Water Babies!!

Over the Easter weekend, Nate and I took the girls swimming for the first time at the YMCA. I was a little nervous and skeptical about the girls getting in the water this early, but Nate has been itching to get them into the pool since the day they were born! So we decided to give it a try. And they both seemed to love it! They didn't cry at all...except for when Livi got a little tired (and hungry). But otherwise they both did very well.

Just got in the water. Alivia's not sure what to think.

So can I stick my face in it?

Just following daddy. I pretty much float on my own!

Adalyn getting acclimated to the water.

She just got done sticking her face in the water.

Keeping a close eye on dad.

Addi still wants to play. But Livi is tired. Time to leave!

Big appointment tomorrow! I will update when I can. Most likely it will be on Saturday. Unfortunately, the girls' appts are at 9:30am and 9:45am...and I have to be to work by 11. So Nate and I are taking two cars to the appt. Poor guy has to deal with the girls once they get home. I'm hoping they do their fair share of sleeping after they get their shots and aren't too fussy for daddy.

Happy 6 Months, Girls!

Can you believe it? The girls are 6 months today. Did I blink? How did this happen? As sad as it is that they're already 6 months old, it's also so exciting. They just keep showing us the new things they can do on a daily basis. Adalyn's current fascination is her feet - touching them, sucking on them, pulling on her toes, etc. Alivia has not found her feet yet, but she is a rolling machine. It takes her less than 1/2 a second to roll on to her belly now. And when she does it, she gives the BIGGEST grin I have ever seen. Even if she does it 45 times in a day, it doesn't get old...and she smiles each and every single time. She's just so stinking proud of herself.

They're both working on sitting unassisted. And both really enjoy standing with assistance. In fact, when they're sitting in our laps, they often arch their backs in such a way that it pops them up onto their feet. Who wants to sit when you now know how to stand?

They have their 6 month appointment on Friday. Now that the girls have become fairly good at standing, we've stood them side by side. It honestly looks like Adalyn is a full inch taller than Alivia. And she is definitely heftier too. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out. We've wagered guesses that Adalyn is probably around 16 pounds and Alivia will be about 14 3/4 pounds. We'll see how close we are.

The girls really enjoyed Easter. They behaved so well in church and then allowed mommy, daddy, Grandma and Grandpa L, and great-grandma to have a fairly peaceful Easter lunch. They looked so gosh darn cute in their Easter dresses courtesy of Grandma J and Aunt Teresa. So of course I have to share!!!

In other "6 month news," we're getting the girls' 6 month pictures taken tomorrow. I'm so excited for that! I'm a tad nervous just because the girls have been teething, and there's no telling what kind of mood they'll be in. I'm just crossing my fingers!!

Just some pretty faces

Goodbye, dear friend

So it's been a little over a week since I said goodbye to my dear friend "the pump." Never in a million years did I think I would miss that thing! But in a small, small (very tiny!) way, I do. What I miss is that I know I am no longer the provider of what my children need nutritionally. And hey, the cost savings wasn't bad either! While I was pumping for or nursing the girls, we went through a large can of formula about every 10-11 days. Now we go through a can of formula every 3-4 days!! Yikes!

I had a love/hate relationship with the pump though. Anyone who was in this house for any length of time knew how much I despised "pumping time." I would curse, I would cry, I would throw a temper tantrum. Ok, maybe not. But I really did NOT like pumping. In fact, I seriously felt like drop kicking the thing across the room. However, I refrained.

As much as I am sad about not providing for the girls anymore, there are a couple positives. I have freed up about 2-3 hours of my day! Between pumping and washing the parts, it was a big time commitment; time I wasn't able to spend playing with and holding the girls. So that is an incredible relief. Oh, and the fact that I don't have to stress out over trying to pump really quick while the girls are napping when I am home alone. I always kept my fingers crossed that they wouldn't wake up while I was pumping, but that rarely ever happened. I guess almost 5 1/2 months was a pretty good run.

In non-pumping news, the girls continue to learn new things almost daily. Adalyn is beginning to shriek a little bit less because she now knows how to blow spit bubbles! She drools like a mad woman when she does, but I honestly don't care. If it replaces some of that window shattering squealing, we will deal with it!!

And then there is Alivia. She showed us her new trick yesterday...she is now able to roll over from back to belly. In fact, she did 4 1/2 complete rolls last night (back to belly, belly to back, etc.). She probably would have kept going, but Nate and I had to retrieve her, otherwise her next roll would've landed her on the hardwood floor. And well, we weren't really in the mood to see how she would react to that.

Oh yes. For those of you who keep asking, I am STILL working on posting the story of the girls' birth. February and March were crazy months as far as my work schedule goes. Finally in April, my schedule is going to calm down. So I will have some time to make a few revisions. Stay tuned!!!

Clothing Confusion

I'm seriously beginning to wonder why there are even sizes listed on baby clothes. They don't really mean much of anything. The girls are currently in 3-6 month "real clothes" (i.e. pants, shirts, matched outfits, etc.), 6-9 month sleepers, and 12 month onesies. Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Oh, and just to top it all off, when I realized they were outgrowing their 3-6 month sleepers and pulled out the 6-9 month ones we had in the closet...one of them was already too small!!! Huh?

In staying with the clothing theme, we found some pretty cool hats for the girls for next winter...but who knows if they will actually fit next winter or not. Oh well, they were on clearance.

Oops, sorry. Those were their newborn hospital hats. (click here for reference) Now those we KNOW are too small. And they were free. Well, if you can consider any hospital stay "free." With the expense of my pregnancy and the number of hospital admissions I had, I should have come away with 10 hats!!

Okay, that's honestly too cute for words.....

A family of 3?

What's that? Yeah, so it was a year ago today that we found out that we would be skipping that whole "family of 3" milestone and head straight to a family of 4!! I still remember the day so well. I had to leave my internship early to have an ultrasound to rule out an ectopic pregnancy on my left side. The student who started the ultrasound was not explaining anything to me. But I was 95% sure I was seeing two babies. Finally the student went to get the other tech who immediately confirmed that we were expecting twins. And I remember how all the blood rushed out of my head.

Here we went from fearing that I might have an ectopic pregnancy to finding out that "the baby" was growing where it was supposed to be...oh, and there is an additional baby. What? Oh geez. What a day, what a day. And then poor Nate found out over the phone. I called him from the parking lot because I had to regain my composure before I could drive home. For some reason, and one that I still don't know the answer to, he asked "so there is only one baby?" I didn't intend to tell him until he got home from work so that he could see the ultrasound pictures, but after he asked me that, I felt as though I couldn't flat out lie to him.

So here is a little look back in time....

At just shy of 8 weeks pregnant.

Alivia on the left and Adalyn the right (in both pics)

Exactly 1 year later.....

My how they grow.

They went from looking like little blobs to these perfectly formed and precious little babies. I loved them from the day I saw them during that ultrasound. And my love for them has grown just as much as they have. Corny...but true.

Who knew?

I'm not sleeping, so I figured I might as well blog. It really stinks, because I have to work at 5:30am, which means getting up at 4am just to make sure everything is ready for the girls before I leave. That's in just 4 hours. Ick.

Anyway, who knew that ice could be so funny? Apparently, Adalyn is absolutely fascinated by the sound of ice being dropped into a glass cup. If you want to hear the little lady laugh hysterically, try it. We're going to have to get it on video. I think it helps that when you drop it from a fairly high distance, teeny tiny pieces of it break off and land on her face. And I guess that's funny. Toys? Who needs them? I am quickly learning that babies are entertained by the free stuff.

Yeah, so with regards to the hilariousness of ice, I fear that my daughter is going to turn out to be exactly like one of my good friends...you know who you are. This friend of mine, whom I shall not name, thinks it is the most hilarious thing in the world to watch someone slip on the ice. Yup, that's my daughter. I can picture it now...she is walking to class and WHOOP someone slips in front of her and she busts a gut laughing! Hmmm. Maybe the hilariousness of ice starts at a young age. She who shall not be named, I'm going to have to ask your mother if you found ice in a glass entertaining....

A little "then and now"

Adalyn in the tub - 1 month

And 4 1/2 months.

Alivia in the tub - 2 weeks

And 4 1/2 months.

Wow, that really puts it in perspective just how big the girls are getting. They still seem like such little peanuts...and according to the growth charts, they ARE on the smaller side of average (about the 20-25% for both). Can't imagine how big they would be if they were on the larger side of average!! Like every mother, I still wish time would slow down. If only we had control over that....

Got earplugs??

If you enter this house, we suggest you have them. It is LOUD! Miss Adalyn Jean recently found out that she has the ability to scream. Now let me tell you, I did my fair share of babysitting for infants back in the day, and I never heard a child scream like this one. It is the most shrill, ear-piercing, shatter-the-windows type of scream you will ever hear.

Unfortunately, she doesn't just do it when she is mad or sad. She also does it when she is playing and having a good time! You can even see her getting ready to do it, because she drops her tongue back in her throat so that she can get that high pitch to come out.

It is so exciting when they learn new things, but this is one thing we wish she would UNLEARN really fast! Till then, all we can really do is grin and bear it. And keep our fingers crossed that this is a short-lived phase.

Otherwise, the girls are really starting to take notice of each other. It's so funny to watch them stare at each other rather inquisitively. When placed belly to belly, they have started reaching for each other's faces. Every now and then, their fingers make their way into the oppposite baby's mouth during these encounters.

Anyway, here are some pictures that I promised.

So I'm supposed to bite the spoon?

Yeah, ummmmm, are you sure?

I'm gagging. HELLLLOOOO, I'm gagging!!

Seriously, what IS this stuff? You trying to kill me?