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Friday, December 31, 2010

Springtime New Year's Eve Walk!

Today was a great day and the weather outside was nice that we decided that we would take the girls for a walk in their strollers.  They are now able to sit up and face forward so they were looking all around and taking everything in on the walk.  Check out some of the pictures from the walk to the right.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Christmas

Here are some various pics of the girls throughout the Christmas season:

 









Thursday, December 23, 2010

Gingerbread houses

At work last week we were divided into teams and tasked to make gingerbread houses. I have to say I work with one creative group of people. Here are some pics of the houses. I was on the team that made the Charlie Brown Christmas themed house.












Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas cookies

This past weekend we successfully made quite a few Christmas cookies! Greg and I have done this a couple times in the past and we've enjoyed it. This year we decided that while the girls won't remember the start of most of our traditions it is very important to start them while they are young. I fear that if we don't 5 years will pass and we won't have started any of the traditions we've discussed. So we stayed in Sunday and pulled it off. Here are some pictures of our efforts. Our favorites are the little snowmen! They were super easy, just a little time consuming but a big hit with the folks we gave the cookies too.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Going out in public with twins

When I was pregnant with our girls I had no idea how much attention we would get when we went out in public with two babies. I've come to learn that people are fascinated and very curious about twins. I grew up with twin brothers & my mom's sisters are twins so I've never really thought too much about how special they are to others.

Here is a list of common things we hear and some things we wish we could say in response - we are far more gracious than what we say to each other in the car :)

Are they twins?
Nope, we had them a month apart.
Darn, where did this second baby come from?

A boy and a girl right? (our car seats have pink covers on them)
Can you tell me which one of my daughters looks like a boy?

I don't know how you do it. The idea wears me out.
It wears me out too! We don't have a choice.

Did you know you were having twins?
Nope, 9 ultrasounds and we had no clue.

Well the day we were leaving the hospital, we went to the nursery to pick up this one and that one was unattended so we decided to take her home with us as well!
Nope, it was BOGO at the hospital.

That one is smaller/bigger (pointing at the appropriate baby).
Really, I hadn't noticed the 2.5 pound difference in my children. They feel the same when you pick them up.

Are they identical? (Usually this one comes after they've looked at them for a few seconds)
Well, one has blond hair and one has brown hair. Are those the same color? Nope, then probably not identical.

Which one is older?
I am!

Are you done?
Seriously, what business is that of yours!

Did twins run in your family?
Nope, first they roll, then crawl, then walk, then run!!!

Thank goodness it is you and not me.
They are thankful too.

Am I seeing double?
Nope, I'm just walking around with a giant mirror!

Here is a video on youtube that sums it up for us :)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Eczema

The girls had their 6 month appointment with their pediatrician yesterday. Of course we had lots of questions for the doctor. The primary one was is all of this dry red skin eczema??? In the past month both girls have developed yucky, dry, red skin patches and we haven't been able to determine the source.

Unfortunately, both girls have eczema. The first thing the Dr. J asked was what solids we've been giving the girls and we have not been giving a large amount of solid foods up to this point so he wasn't sure what caused the flare up. He examined the girls and said they looked good. He then asked what kind of milk they are getting and I responded mine with a little bit of supplementing. Then it dawned on me, the red skin flare up began about 3 weeks ago when we began supplementing again. Dr. J said that was probably the issue, they are probably sensitive to the lactose. He gave us a couple can of Similac Sensitive to use for our supplementing to see if we notice a difference. We are also washing the girls with a special soap and lotioning them up really well after their baths. Hopefully the dry yucky skin goes away.

Other than this issue the girls are doing well. L weighed 15 lb 11 oz and N weighed 13 lb 2 oz. They both remained in approximately the same position on their respective growth curves. L has a cold virus of some sort and had a fever so no shots yesterday. We will set up an appointment in the next couple weeks to get them, take all the pain of fussy babies at once!!!

**Update** The girls haven't had any supplementing in 2 days - we had a stash of milk in the freezer we've dipped into - and the red, dry skin has really cleared up. We will try the Similac tomorrow in their daycare bottles and see if it returns. If no, we've found our culprit.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Six month update

Girls -

This past month has been full of changes. If we'd blinked we might have missed a couple. You are both more independent at play time and seem to play together more. You love your exersaucer so much we put the second one together so you could play in it at the same time. We are debating retiring the swing because it is no longer a place where you will sit and play for long, you want to be on the go. You roll everywhere, that is why we got the playmat mentioned in the previous post. We started a few more solids in the past month off and on with a little success. Mommy has made most of what you eat and it is far easier than I thought it would be! You've also figured out that the camera means it is time to smile. It is so cool that we can not get a picture of both of you smiling at the same time!! This month you got to see your uncle Nick again and meet your Grandpa Bossman for Thanksgiving.

L you are sitting up now. You can sit for about 30 minutes to an hour just playing. You are also happy to just be plopped on your belly and "swim" trying to get places. You got your second tooth this month. Once again this was a fairly pain free process, we didn't even know it was coming up until I felt in your mouth and there it was.

N you aren't quite sitting up but you are close. You can sit with the boppy pillow behind you. You are more content to roll around and see what is going on. You are constantly rolling back and forth to change your vantage point. No teeth for you yet but you are chewing on everything in sight.

We've survived a half a year already and we know the adventure is just beginning!!! We love to watch you grow but we also want to freeze these moments in time and cherish them as much as we can.

Love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Letter Mat



Look what they had at Babies R Us today!! I'd been looking for a foam letter mat for the floor since the girls started rolling around and when I looked at the BRU website they said it was online only. I'm too cheap to pay for shipping so I've just been waiting to see if I came across one elsewhere. We went to BRU today and as we stood in line I spied a whole stack of them in the toy section. So we bought it. It is way bigger than we have room for but that's ok, it provides a good sized surface for the girls to roll around and play on safely! As you can see they are having fun already!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Six month pictures





Our girls are 6 months old already!






Sunday, December 5, 2010

Success & Epic Fail, A Christmas Story!

This past weekend we decided to get the girl's pictures taken with Santa and then start a family tradition by going out and cutting down our Christmas tree. It snowed Friday night before and all day Saturday so there were a couple inches of snow on the ground. Nothing compared to our Buffalo, NY friends but enough to make the roads icy and slick.  We started out at the mall for pictures with Santa. The girls were dressed in their "I Love Santa" outfits complete with little matching Santa hats. We were met throughout the mall with cries of: "Ohhhhhh, how cute!" and "There sooooooooo adorable!" We made our way over to the spot where the Santa pictures were being taken and as you can see based on the picture to our right the pictures were a success!


We then headed out to the Christmas tree farm. We knew that it was going to be cold outside so we brought the girls snowsuits and along the way N was being especially fussy but we thought maybe she was tired so when we got there Melissa said she was due to be changed. So I pulled her out of the car seat and Melissa exclaimed, "Oh my!" The diaper we put on her last either wasn't on right or failed because we had one poop covered baby! Melissa took her to the back of the car and started to undress her, however as anyone who has changed a baby in the back of a car knows there is not a lot of room. She pulled off N's pants and put them up above her head and then pulled off the shirt and set it aside. Great if N was stationary, not so great if she likes to roll, which she does!

N rolled into her pants with her head, yes getting poop on the back of her head and arms. She then decided to pull the snow pants closer to her, dragging them over the poopy onesie. Once she had a fresh diaper on Melissa handed me the poop covered N and she claims I held her like a bomb, I don't remember this. She told me to go in the front seat and clean her up and change her into the spare outfit we had from the diaper bag (a short sleeve onesie because we hadn't updated the outfits for winter yet). OH, and during this whole process we ran out of wipes (or so we thought little did we realize there was a entire package of wipes that never made it into daycare in the backseat). So here I am in the front seat using another clean onesie dipped in the water cup we got at Chick-fil-a. We got everything taken care of and were able to cut down our first family Christmas tree. See the pictures from cutting down the tree to the left.

Santa!


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Friday, November 12, 2010

Five month update

To my girls:

You've really blossomed over the past month and have started to develop distinct little personalities. You are both rolling over in both directions and we cannot leave you next to each other and walk away for a second because we might come back and find you've rolled into each other. Every once in awhile we catch you looking at each other. We can tell you will one day be good friends.

You've each had three infections over the course of the past 6 weeks. It's been very stressful for Mommy & Daddy because it usually takes us a day or two to figure out where your fussiness comes from. Dr. J says he will refer you for tubes next month so we can head them off sooner.

You've discovered April but don't know quite what to do with her. When she runs by you follow her with your eyes to see where she is going. I foresee some tail & ear pulling in the near future.

You are both still enjoying the mommy milk although you are drinking way more than mom produces (which has gone back up to normal) so we are supplementing a few ounces a day. You both are definetely in the middle of a growth spurt!

L, you got your first tooth. I couldn't believe it when you pulled my finger into your mouth and there it was. You didn't even show any signs of teething. Hopefully more teeth show up this way and we can teeth drama free. You are our smiley happy go lucky girl. You spend a lot of time down on your belly looking around to see what is going on and giggling. You sleep on your belly now, we put you down on your back and within 30 seconds you roll over. You weigh 14 lb 11 oz.

N, you have grown to enjoy being on your tummy. You roll onto it a lot and you are constantly looking around. We love to watch you roll onto your side and kick out those legs for momentum and go! You are still in some 0-3 month clothes but we are beginning to transition to the 3-6 month stuff which is good because Mommy does not enjoy keeping the sizes separate. You weigh 12 lb 2 oz. Mom borrowed a baby scale from someone at work and now we weigh you all the time!

I love you!
Mommy

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Oatmeal

We've been holding off on offering the girls solid foods until they appeared more ready. I've been offering a taste once a week and didn't have any really takers yet. The other night when I was holding Leah while I ate my dinner she opened her mouth when I was lifting my spoon towards my mouth so I decided to give it a whirl. She gobbled it right up. I've been making bits of baby food over the past month so I can't wait to offer them over the next couple weeks. Here are some pictures from night two.


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Rolling over

L & N are officially rolling in both directions. N started rolling from her belly to her back about two and a half weeks ago and then a few days later L started rolling from her back onto her belly and this past Sunday each girl started rolling in the direction she wasn't going! Over the course of three weeks they've become mobile. This makes it very interesting to change them, they are constantly trying to roll away.

Since there are two of them things get interesting as they start to roll into each other. Here are some funny pictures I snapped:






Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Election Day 2010


Let me be honest, I didn't really pay too much attention to any election coverage this year. We really didn't even plan on voting because we don't like to mess with our evening routine much. Then Monday came and we started to talk about how it didn't feel right. So we decided maybe one of us would stay home while the other voted and debated what to do throughout the day. On my way home with the girls I saw that there was no line at our polling place so I decided to stop in with the girls and vote. I hefted the girls in with their car seats and they sat next to me while I filled out my ballot. I even asked if they could get stickers to show they came with me. I'm glad to show the girls the political process at an early age. I very distinctly remember my Dad taking me with him to vote when I was younger. They will not remember coming with me but they will have this picture to commerate the day.

Sunday, October 31, 2010