Guess what.....

Nicholas took his first crawling movements tonight!!! He actually went forward on all 4s a couple times. We were luring him forward with the laptop computer. lol
Earlier in the afternoon they were both at Grandma and Grandpa's house and they said that they were both starting to do the crawling and were luring them with crackers at their house.

Then this evening after bath (Celia was still in the tub, I was sitting on the stepstool, and Nicholas was in his Pjs on the bath mat) I looked next to me and Nicholas pulled himself up on the bathstool (and unfortunately fell over - gently).

Celia is SO close to doing the crawling too. She went all the way down the hall today army crawling. She is really moving.

I think Nicholas will get his first tooth soon too. It seems like the right lower tooth is so close!

They are growing so fast!

Most stupid twin comment ever

This is the conversation from with the receptionist yesterday at the clinic to get their eyes checked:
Jason and I are each holding one baby...

Receptionist: Oh twins! How neat!

Me: yes they are fun

Rec: How do you tell them apart?

Me: (waiting for her to laugh since N & C look NOTHING alike) "Well....one is a boy and one is a girl"

Rec: Yeah I know, but when you look at their faces, how do you tell them apart?

Me: (realizing she is not working with a full deck of cards) "Well, we can tell"

I think I may mail her her "sign" (Bill Engvall comic)

I think we can say that this woman had the gate down, the lights flashing, but the train wasnt coming.

Jason wanted me to add that we should've asked her to come along to get HER eyes checked.

Infantsee eye exam today

I read an article in the PARENTS magazine a few months ago about a public service program called Infantsee. It was started by President Jimmy Carter when 2 of his grandchildren had eye problems and he wanted infants to have free eye exams because so many eye issues, if caught early, can be corrected. The program is for babies 6-12 months of age.
We had the appointment today with an Optometrist which is infantsee-certified. He was very kind and explained everything he was doing to Jason and I.
This is what he did:
1. Looked at pictures we were asked to bring of the babies looking at the camera. He is looking for the flash of the camera light to be reflecting equally in both eyes.
2. He looks in their eyes which a light (he had a little toy attached to the tip for them to follow).
3. He looks at their eye going in all directions.
4. He holds up a blank circle, then a circle with a smiley face on it to see if they are able to see and follow the smile. Then he switches to a very light-smile where if they were not seeing clearly they would not follow it because it would not be visible.
5. He dilates both of their eyes so he can see into them and check their actual vision health (near or far-sighted).
6. He holds up a lens which makes them see double and he is looking for their eye to bounce between images.

They both did very well. Even Nicholas was ok with him - which he is normally afraid of men.
A normal baby has a farsighted strength of a +1 or +3 (pretty sure on the numbers). Nicholas was about a +1.5. Celia was about a +2. Celia had a little difficulty with the lighter-smile but did alright, so he said for both of them an eye exam at about 3 or 4 years old is fine, but keep an "eye" out (ha ha) for any changes. Most children do not develop near-sightedness until perhaps 4 years old, so for now they are fine. No glasses needed.

This appointment was an hour for the twins total - of course less for single babies. But, I recommend it. It is easy and free. :)

Our Michigan Trip

My mom, sister, Grandpa with the babies, and myself







Four Generations picture - my mom, her father holding the babies, myself

My mom, sister (who is expecting a little girl), the twins and myself arrived to Michigan on Thursday late afternoon (2, 1 hour stops for breakfast and lunch) and had a great pizza dinner with my Aunt Sandy and her great friend, Kathleen. Yum!
The first night the babies were kind of difficult to get to sleep. Not the usual at all - but they were in a different place after napping on/off in the car and traveling all day. Friday my other 3 Aunts came to my Aunt Sandy's house - Karen, Joan, and Mary. Mary and Joan live in Florida and Karen lives about 4 hours away in Michigan as well. We had such a great visit with them. I like spending time with my Mom and all her sisters. I was mentioning on the way home how all the sisters are fun and all different at the same time. Mary is a little more quiet and is a gentle person (not that the others arent of course), Sandy seems very tidy and organized and loving, Joan is fun and outgoing, Karen is the oldest and independant and strong, and my Mom is the baby - caring and a people-pleaser and likes to have fun too.
The babies warmed up to everyone - Nicholas was clingy to me on the trip, but I also think his right lower tooth looks to be coming through. Saturday my 2 uncles, Tom and Mike, along with my Grandpa came on a Cessna plane (which is Mike's) to visit. The weather was on/off so we were so pleased they were able to make it. I haven't seen them since my wedding 6 years ago, so it was so nice.
Grandpa looks great for being in his mid-80's. He is such a loving and gentle soul. He is so well, there are even pictures of him getting down on the floor to be by his great-grandchildren. He is such a nice man. All his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren adore and respect him.
Overall, the stay was so enjoyable. Being a Mom of twins, it was tough at times to be out of our element, but well-worth the trip to spend with family.
We left Sunday night thinking the babies would sleep throughout the ride. They slept, but not nearly as much as expected. But. they are not used to eating, so we did not need to stop to eat and got home in 6 hours - they were in their own cribs at 2AM.
I think they are back in their 'Groove' now. Napping and last night they slept wonderfully - not a peep for 13 hours.

Thank you to Aunt Sandy and Kathleen for opening your home to us!!

Go to this address!!

the photographer posted 'sneak peek' pictures on her blog of the babies!!! Go see them quick! They are so cute!!!! :) SYLVIA LAUGHRIN

Picture Day!

We had a photographer, Sylvia Laughrin, come to our home today for pictures of the babies and our family of 4. It was very nice :). She was super-friendly and easy-going. In a week or two we will get a hyperlink to our gallery so fam/friends can see the pictures and purchase any that they may want.
This is her blog: http://sylvialaughrin.blogspot.com/
website: http://www.sylvialaughrin.com/

Today I am packing since the babies and I are traveling to Michigan with my mom and sister. We wil lbe staying at Aunt Sandy's house (my aunt) and my aunts and uncles and Grandpa are meeting there as well. It will be a lot of fun. We leave tomorrow morning and come home monday - so the blog may be quiet. I will try to hop on my Aunts computer if we get any cute stories or anything :).

blueberries and tunnels

Yesterday I took the couch cushions down and made a tunnel for them to army crawl through. Celia thought it was really fun and chased a ball through the tunnel. Nicholas wasnt so sure about it and watched her play.
For snack at 3:30pm they had tofu rolled in wheat germ and some blueberries. I have NEVER seen Celia grab some finger food so fast and inhale it as she did with the blueberries. Jason bought a bag of Dole frozen blueberries and I defrosted them in the microwave. I think they work better than fresh blueberries because they are softer when they are thawed and you can chose how much you want and the others don't go bad. Anyway, she LOVED them. Nicholas liked them too. Celia has really improved her self-feeding skills. Almost within a couple days. It is actually kind of nice to put food on their tray and work in the kitchen (of course keeping a close eye on them) and they eat all by themselves.


Yesterday, Celia was playing with the Little People Pirate Ship in my room (I had just carried Nicholas to the livingroom and was coming back for her) and she just looked so sweet playing there with the sun shining on her. :)

These last two pictures are just cute pictures of them that were in my camera. Can never have too many pictures.

Sitting instead of sleeping

Tonight the twins went to bed at about 7:10pm. I laid them both down like normal, but since Nicholas has quickly become an expert at sitting from being on his tummy, he sits all the time in his crib now. Tonight he sat up and was babbling in there for about 40 minutes. I think he was falling asleep sitting up because his babbling was getting quieter and more spread-out. By about 8pm I went in their room laid him down, replaced his Nuk and I think he pretty much passed out. This new sitting skill will be hard for him to settle down. I'm waiting for the day they both sit in their cribs at nighttime keeping each other awake. THAT will be interesting. lol

A Round of Applause

I just looked up from pumping to see Miss. Celia trying to............ C L A P ! It took Nicholas a few times to get the hang of it, but she was doing the movement! Yay Celia!!!

Our futures so bright we have to wear SHADES

We put a shade in the baby's window this weekend (they usually just use the curtains) and it makes their room so dark even in the middle of the day. This morning they woke up at 6:45am for a bottle and we were so tired we thought we would try to put them back down after the bottle and diaper change for some extra sleep. Wonderfully, they slept until 8:45am then after the bottle and change! Gave me some extra sleep!
My mom and I went to 'The Fiddler of the Roof' community theatre last night (it was very good) - but I didn't get into bed until midnight since I had to pump once I got home. So thank goodness for a couple more hours of sleep this morning. :) AND it is a very nice day today - maybe a high of 75 in the middle of October.

A Wonderful night with a side of sarcasm

I was just saying last night to Jason, "This week has been so great. They have been sleeping straight through all night". Just as I said that I searched for some wood to knock on knowing somewhere they were listening to me and planning to prove me wrong.
They went to bed at 6:45 (cranky last night) and they both cried going to bed. I waited 5 min and Celia fell asleep but Nicholas was still fussing and since I wasn't sure they were feeling real well; I think they were fighting the virus from their flu shot, I went in and rocked him to sleep. Thinking our bedtime troubles were over Jason and I enjoyed spaghetti and garlic bread and watched TV. At 10:15 PM we headed to bed. Just at that time Nicholas woke up and started crying. I went in to console him and after rocking him for a couple minutes, Celia started crying. So I put him down and then picked up Celia and rocked her in the rocking chair in the dark livingroom. She fell asleep again and I put her into bed. Ok, so they are now sleeping.
I hop into bed. 20 minutes later I hear scratching. The cats ears are perked and I am thinking, "hmmm, that seems to be coming from the babies' room." So I tiptoe into their room (it is now about 11:00 pm) and see Nicholas SITTING up in his crib (this is the first time) scratching the wall through his crib slats. His back is to me so he doesnt know I am there. I am snickering quietly and then I see him tip headfirst into the crib slats and hit his head. So before he even knows what happened I scoop him up and feeling bad for him decide to bring him to bed with me.
So now I am laying down with a squirming 9 month old. I am realizing the days of being still and cuddling seem to be long gone. He is practing his alligator-death-roll next to me as he tries to flip to his stomach to practice crawling. I hold him down and can't help but smile at his goofy grin behind his pacifier. I get him to lay on his back and then he seems to quiet down. Jason is snoring next to me oblivious to our nighttime guest. I look back at Nicholas in time to see him pull out his pacifier so he can babble clearly through the nighttime silence. "la la la la" I plop it back in his mouth. He settles down again. Shortly after I see him lift his two chubby hands into the air and begin clapping. At this point I start laughing because it is 11:30 pm and this child is clapping in our bed. While he is clapping Celia starts crying in their room. Since I am not sure she feels well, I send Jason to bring her to me and ask him to sleep in the guest room.
Jason brings me Celia and I snuggle them on either side of me. I am now holding two squirming babies down. I am realizing I may need to stay awake all night because I think they will get up and crawl off the bed. I can't count on them being still anymore. And I dont want to wake up to a crying baby on the floor. Celia starts grabbing the lace trim on my tank-top, kicking her feet while also babbling "ahhhhhhhhhh" . On my left, Nicholas is still clapping.
Once I realize neither of them are sick, and actually in quite good moods, I admit they need to go back to their own beds. So I walk them in their room, lay them down, turn on their lullaby music and walk out to Nicholas resuming his clapping.
By now it is almost midnight. Luckily I wasnt too tired last night and found a lot of humor in their bedtime antics. You would think they would be sleepy this morning after such a sporatic night of sleep, but they are full of energy. :)

They like to eat....

The pedi said we could have citrus now. I had a grapefruit in the fridge, so I cut it up and tried it with them. Wouldn't you know it. they LOVED the grapefruit. Celia was smacking her mouth and smiling for the next bite. Nicholas was happily taking more. I eat my grapefruit with a tiny bit of sugar (okay a lot of sugar) but I sprinkled just barely any sugar on the grapefruit for them. I am glad they can eat something other than the regular apples, bananas, peaches and mango. I was getting tired of the same 'ol fruit, and bananas and applesauce can be 'binding' anyway.

Pediatrican Appointment (9 mos)

Pedi appointment went well.
Nicholas is 18# 1oz (10%) and 28.75" (50-75%)
Celia is 14# 9oz (<5%) and 28" (50%) - she was 25" at 6 mos, 17 " long at birth!

2 weeks ago when they were weighed they had clothes and their cloth diapers on so they weighed a little more. Today they were in their birthday suits. :) We have a couple long, lean children on our hands. lol
Dr was impressed with their skills (sounds like Napolean Dynamite) and said he thinks Celia may catch up onto growth curve since she is doing so well. She will be petite - but she is really growing. He was commenting on her fat stores and how she has real rolls of chub (a little bit) on her legs.
Nicholas was showing off his clapping and talking skills while Celia observed everything quietly. He was impressed that they are sleeping 11-12 hours at night and napping so well (hey - a twin mom HAS to get their twins to be good sleepers) and he said aside from peanut butter and honey, they can eat pretty much everything since we don't have food allergies in our family (so they can have citrus and whole scrambled eggs now). He said he encourages me to pump as long as I want to, but before 12 mos they should take breastmilk or formula, then at 12 mos whole milk. I guess with full-term babies more drs are saying they can switch to whole milk at 9 mos, but since they were preemies he wants them on BM or formula. interesting??
Celia did not have an ear infection even though she has been ear tugging, Nicholas doesn't have hemorrhoids, but they are skin tags (could've fooled me). He said to have him drink a few oz of prune juice a day if he seems to have discomfort pooping.
It got to be quite a diificult appointment because they both got restless and fussy. I am so glad my friend, Dawn, could come to help out. I would've been crazy to go alone!!
I let them get a flu shot and they cried, but only for about 30 seconds - then they fell asleep on the ride home. I carried them into bed and they have been sleeping for almost an hour. They were tuckered out!

My favorite Pictures

Nicholas is scared of lawyers

I was in the livingroom with Nicholas (Celia was taking a longer nap) when a lawyer commercial for "Hupy & Abraham" came on. I don't know if you ever see this commercial, but it has an older guy with silver/gray hair and a suit looking all tough (whilst at the bottom it says 'this is a paid actor'). At the end the tough old-lawyer guy points and says with a mean-looking face "tell them YOU MEAN BUSINESS". Then a gavel pounds loud in the background.
Well,....Nicholas happened to look up right when the guys says his line "tell them YOU MEAN BUSINESS" with the mean face (remember Nicholas cries for most men) and he jumped and started crying SO hard. I was trying not to laugh, while I was consoling him, but it was so funny. :) He calmed down and just now the commercial came on again and he looked up real serious, but didnt cry.

9 months old!!!

In the picture Celia was in mid-blink...I tried to retake it but she kept blinking :)
I can't believe that they are this old already! 3 months until their 1st birthday! Celia and Nicholas are doing real well. Right now Nicholas is having his turn doing a lot of firsts (clapping, pushing from crawling position to sitting). They tend to have times where Nicholas will do things a little bit ahead of Celia. Usually by a couple weeks. Right now she looks at him clapping like she is interested, but doesn't attempt to do it.
You can see from the picture that she has really grown a lot. She is really catching up. They continue to keep a 3-4 lb difference with Nicholas being heavier. But, she can fit in 9-12 mo clothes, Nicholas is 12 mo clothes. They have their 9 mo appt on Thursday, so we will know length and weight then. Poor Nicholas has a couple hemorrhoids :(. So I will have the Dr check him out. I called the pedi last week when I noticed the hemorrhoid and since it wasn't getting bigger or bleeding they said to have him soak in the tub - which they take nightly baths anyway. But, I hope they can help him because he seems like he had discomfort today when pooing -even though his poo is pretty normal (not hard or anything).
They are eating better each week with solid foods. Tonight I boiled pasta in the shape of rings and put spaghetti sauce on it and they really loved it. Then they had little pieces of Garlic bread. :)
Doing well overall :)

And then they were serious.

As the title describes, I had a few very serious pictures taken of these babies. So sweet even when they look so quizzically at me. As a side note....these two are at a neck and neck race for crawling. Nicholas started the army crawl today and Celia did it a couple times too.

Pump Pieces are here at last!!

On Tuesday I was bleaching their toys in the sink and I threw my pump pieces in there too. I stupidly took everything apart - even the little plug that goes in the tubing which I KNOW fits down the drain. So, once I emptied everything out of the sink I realized both little plugs went down. There was no way I could pump and you can't just go to the store for those parts, so I was in a tough spot.
So I undid the elbow joint in the plumbing under the sink (Jason was in Iowa for work for 3 days) and I found one of the plugs, but the other must've keep going down. I was so happy to at least have one plug. Then I tried putting the sink plumbing back together and it wasnt lining up right, so the sink leaks now. Ugh! So I ordered replacement tubing with the plugs in it right away.
So I have been pumping for 30-40 min 6x a day since Tuesday (normally I pump 15-20 min 6x a day). I only had one plug so I had to pump one side at a time instead of both at the same time. It has been so time consuming. Today I was so happy to see the replacement tubing I ordered came! It seemed like a breeze to pump both sides at the same time and be done in 15 minutes! Now pumping seems easy. lol
Can I make it 3 more months????? 12 months was my original goal! So far we have been able to get by without formula.

Bubbles!!!

They were a little restless this evening so I tried 'Bubble time'. I put bubbles on their highchair trays. They liked it. Some of it ended up in their mouths, but not too much. I hid links in their bubbles too. :) It was fun (at least for me) lol

The fun kind of laundry

This is the kind of laundry I like to do.....





Celia was having enough of sharing a basket, and Nicholas was trying to touch her and she wasn't having any of it... poor girl, but she is a bit dramatic at times lol

Stuck in Reverse

Celia was reversing herself earlier this week (yes I am FINALLY adding the photos) and she got herself stuck under our rocking chair in the livingroom. :)

Waving and Clapping

In the last week or so Nicholas has started to clap his hands - he doesn't make the 'clap' sound but he does the movement like he would when he has toys in his hand and clicks them together. This morning he waved back at me too! It was so neat to see. I've been waving at them saying 'Hi' and he copied me. He has been watching his hand open and close very carefully for a couple weeks and he seems to be getting the idea. Celia smiles when I wave at her. She is much more calm and content to be an observer at this point.

He is so close....

Nicholas is SO close to maybe crawling! He is pushing up on all 4s over and over today. I think it will be soon! Ahhhh - I better finish baby proofing! :) This is so neat. My good friend, Julie, came over to visit tonight and we were playing with the babies on the floor before bedtime. We were commenting how Celia is much more content with rolling around and just pushing up on all 4s but does not have as much drive as Nicholas to crawl. That baby boy wants to move! :)

Awwwww!

I was in the livingroom this afternoon as they were waking from their afternoon nap - I was waiting to go in there to see if they would fall back asleep. Pretty soon I hear Nicholas giggling like he is being tickled. Then I hear Celia giggling. then back and forth....
I snuck in their room and I see them both on all 4s peeking over their respective bumpers smiling and giggling at each other. I was laughing so hard (silently) watching them laugh at each other. It was SO CUTE!
So then of course, I knew they wouldn't fall back asleep so they got to come out to play. :)
Then just a bit ago they were having their snack and sippy cup of milk and i was having a cup of apple juice and out of curiosity i checked to see if either of them can sip through a straw and Nicholas easily drank out of a straw. Its a crazy straw besides! :) Celia wanted to chew on it and didn't know to suck on it yet. Cute!

Nothing much to report today

Not much going on here that is different. Well, Nicholas has pushed himself forward a couple times now. He usually rolls and turns/pivots on his tummy. He and Celia have both pushed up on all 4s a couple times, but they are still working on the next skills. Even though they haven't figured out the full-crawling movement, they sure get around.
Last night they had scrambled eggs (yolks only w/ milk) and buttered toast for dinner. They loved it. Then for breakfast today I made eggs again and then they hated it. ha ha - must've mixed up the recipe, right? ha ha
They have both been on the crankier side so I am guessing teeth are moving a bit. We dropped down their crib mattresses to the lowest level and I switched the bumpers back to the regular bumpers from the breathable bumpers. I figured if they sleep in my bed with me with pillows and blankets, they will be fine with bumpers that are secured to the side of the crib.
I must've dropped Nicholas' teether sometime on our evening walk last night (they were using the teether with ice cubes since it was hot) so I plan on retracing our steps today in hopes of finding it?? I suppose I can bleach it or something if I do find it.
Thats all for now. :)

Our Day (some ramblings)

Today the babies had a lunch of complete 'Finger Food' (though I was helping put it in their mouth - otherwise lunch would've taken 4 hours). They had sweet potato chunks, tofu peices rolled in Cheerio Dust, and peaches. They did really well. Then they napped for 1.5 hours for their afternoon nap. Then we packed up and went to the Bank where we are refinancing our home (yay! a better rate). They were SO restless at the bank. The bank guy was friendly, but the picture of him and his wife on his desk were childless and I get the feeling it was on purpose. Ha ha
Nicholas was cranky at the bank and just wanted to jump on my lap. Then we got home and I kept them entertained while I pumped. Then I quick made their food (roast chicken, wild rice, and sweet potato) for dinner. Then Celia was SUPER crabby. She was doing angry attention-getter cry. It isnt really a real cry, but if you ignore the fake cry it turns to angry cry. She was eating well, but I also think her teeth were bugging her.
So then I quick popped them into the bath (Jason had run quick to a football practice) and I am trying to sing songs to keep them happy (Mary had a little lamb, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, How much is that Doggy in the window). They were okay for a while and then Celia started fussing again so picked her little bum out of the water and dried her off. While I am drying a crying baby, I hear a grunting Nicholas in the bathtub and turn just in time to see poopie coming out. I quick sat him on the potty, but by then he thinks it is fun and has forgotten he was pooping. So I am flustered and trying to just smile and keep singing. lol
So I dried them, put their diapers on and took them onto my bed to give them a massage to calm them down for bed. Then our friend, Matt, came over (before Jason came home) so he came and chatted with me while I put their jammies on. Then Jason came home and we had dinner after I laid the babies in their cribs for bed.
Wasn't truly a 'Bad' Day, just got a little hectic in the afternoon/evening. :)

They are so fun! (A good Day)

Isn't this age 8/9 mos just fabulous? Their personalities are here, they are doing more, they are just fun! This is just SO much more enjoyable and "easy" compared to the little itty bitties they start out as! It is just so nice. Can you tell we had a good day??? lol

They ate macaroni and cheese for lunch (doing great with solids) and then all 3 of us laid down together and napped for 2 hours this afternoon. Sleep helps!
Anyway, here are some pictures of their pj's before bed.