Happenings

Hi All,

Thought I'd post on a few different topics today so you know what we're up to.

Sleep, Interrupted - I mentioned a few posts back that our doctor recommended we try to get the kiddos 12 hours of sleep every night. We have been working towards that, and for a week or so, it seemed it was actually working. It was an enjoyable stretch to have a few hours at the end of the day to catch up on tasks, blog, or even just relax before falling into bed.

However, starting Saturday, this all changed. We put the kids to bed by 7:30 and Jim was off to a bachelor party. I had the evening to myself, so I thought! (Been a while since that happened.) I went to move Bree out of the pack n play in our bedroom to her crib around 9:30. (We are in the habit of putting one of them down to sleep in the p n p, so they will not keep eachother awake if someone is crying for a few.) Lo and behold, she woke up and wanted to stay up for the next few hours.

Sunday, it was Drew's turn. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he woke up at 3:00 am and then again at 5:00 am and needed some snuggling to get back to sleep. He didn't eat.

Monday, Bree's turn! Bree woke up at 11:30 pm and was uncomfortable. We believe teething is kicking into high gear. It was 1 am before I got her back to sleep.

Tuesday, tag team. Bree is up at 10:30 pm. Jim gave her a bottle and she went back to sleep. Drew is up at 4:30 am. I got up with him, and we rocked for awhile, thinking he would fall back asleep. I gave up on that notion at 5:30 and made him a bottle. He was happy to take a full feeding and go back to bed.

So the intended routine is out the window for now. We'll see how things continue to go. Perhaps we'll try to get more food into Drew during the day in case hunger is his issue.

Our Girl on the Go - Here is Bree exhibiting some of her crawling moves. She uses her right arm to pull the rest of her body along with her. You'll notice I cut the clip off abruptly at the end. She was crawling to the cat, one of her latest fascinations. We are still working on pet/baby relations, so I was nervous of her poking at our least friendly cat.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish - We are currently in the process of taking swimming lessons. All is going well, with the one exception of the infamous underwater excursions. Yes, they have to go underwater two times each session. Drew and Bree's favorite part of lessons is when we all sing "Wheels on the Bus" and they get to pop up out of the water. We'll post more details on swim lessons in the future....

Red Fish Drew and Blue Fish Bree

7 Months

Hi All,

Drew and Bree are 7 months old! Where does the time go? (I think I say that every month - haha!) We're having a great time with the twins. It just seems to get better all the time! I'm starting to feel like our babies are really growing up, with all their recent activity. They just seem so interested in everything - their toys, bottles, our pets, and people. Everything is under their scrutiny. It's fun to watch them explore and learn. Everything is going well developmentally, and we are thrilled about that! It seems Drew and Bree are starting to talk back to eachother, and it's very entertaining.

Based on our unofficial home weigh-in, Drew now weighs 21 lbs. and Bree weighs almost 17.5 lbs.

Here is our 7 Month photo. I don't know how I got it to turn out so perfectly with all their wiggling, but I love how Drew has his arms around Bree.

Happy 7 Months My Beautiful Babies!

Evan and Rowan Turn 1

Hi All,

Our twin pals, Evan and Rowan turned one recently, and we had the pleasure of attending their birthday party last Sunday. It was a beautiful September day in the park, and it could not have been any more perfect. Evan and Rowan were champs, as were Drew and Bree. We enjoyed the time with our good friends and look forward to many more! I have to admit I had to pirate a few of these pictures. It's sometimes difficult to find a free hand to snap pictures these days!

The happy Miller family

Drew and Daddy enjoying the party

Evan and Rowan enjoying their cake - notice the difference in "the attack"!

The cakes were so cute!

And after party fun......

Rowan says "Evan, who are these kids?"

Evan says "I don't know, let me poke this one and find out!"

"Oh yeah, these are our future BFFs! Smile!!!"

Chip Off the Old Block

It is against my better judgment that I post this. The wounds are still fresh from a few weeks back. And I promise my MSU friends that we will have some Spartan gear posted in the near future to offset this........

Drew's impression of a Chippewa (aka Dad) sticking it to a Spartan (aka Mom) after the game........

We traveled to Evan and Rowan's birthday party on Sunday (another future post), and Jim insisted we make a pit stop in Mt. Pleasant for this. I tell you, the things I do for love! Rest assured Spartan fans, we'll get 'em next year!!!!

PS - Happy Birthday to Mom/Grandma, we'll see you Sunday to celebrate!

6 Month Doctor Visit

The sleepyheads resting off 6 month shots

Hi All,
Still in catch up mode here! We had our 6 month "well baby check up" on September 8.
It was a relatively quick check up, with the usual dose of shots administered at the end. We added a flu vaccine for good measure.
All in all, the kiddos checked out fine, with no issues to speak of.
The doctor asked about how Drew and Bree are sleeping. They sleep 10 - 11 hours typically at night, which I thought was pretty respectable. The doctor recommended we get them to bed earlier and attempt to get 12 solid hours of sleep in every night, as they really need the rest to aid in future development. She suggested working towards a 7 pm to 7 am sleep schedule. We are working on it, but it's been a bit of a struggle to consistently get them down around 7 pm. They are used to staying up much later than that.

Here are stats from our 6 Month well baby visit.

September 8, 2009 Appointment - just over 6 months old

Drew Weight: 20 lbs. 13 oz. (Unadjusted percentile = 90%, Adjusted percentile = 97%)

Bree Weight: 17 lbs. 4 oz. (Unadjusted percentile = 70%, Adjusted percentile = 85%)

Drew Height: 26 1/2 inches (Unadjusted percentile = 45%, Adjusted percentile = 65%)

Bree Height: 25 1/2 inches (Unadjusted percentile = 30%, Adjusted percentile = 50%)

Drew Head Circumference: 42.5 cm (Unadjusted percentile = 15%, Adjusted percentile = 25%)

Bree Head Circumference: 42 cm (Unadjusted percentile = 30%, Adjusted percentile = 50%)

Labor Day Happenings

Well, I mentioned we have some catching up to do our our latest happenings. We got busy a few weeks back, as we were out and about. So here we go....

On September 3rd, Jim and I traveled to Chicago to join our friends Al and Sandy at a Chicago Bears football game. We enjoyed the game - the Bears won! And we mostly enjoyed catching up with old friends.

Then, we headed north the following day to spend Labor Day weekend at my grandma's cottage. I have been enjoying my grandparents' lake since childhood.

That's me on the pink float toy....

So it's a great pleasure to be able to introduce Drew and Bree to this beautiful place. Although the ride was long, once we arrived, we could not have asked for a better weekend. My grandma said we had the best weather of the summer -sunny and high 70s. The Fergusons accompanied us, and we enjoyed a beautiful weekend on the lake with family and friends.

Sunday, I got round 2 of birthday surprises when my grandma invited lake neighbors over to wish me a happy 40th birthday. It was nice to have the whole group of them gathered there, as it's a little tougher for us to get around these days with two babies in tow! I enjoyed the time with childhood friends. Christy, one of our lake neighbors is also a mother of twins, and we enjoyed sharing twin stories and seeing her daughters Jersey and Gracie interact.

I also wanted to mention that this was Drew and Bree's first overnight trip. They slept away from home in their pack n plays for three nights and did wonderfully - no nighttime interruptions whatsoever! They are proving to be good travelers. Big thanks to my grandma for hosting our crew! There is more I could add, but I'll let the pictures tell the story.....

Creep and Crawl

Hi All,

Well I think we can officially say Bree is crawling now! She has been working on it for awhile. She's done some of what I call "unofficial crawling" before now - unofficial because the whole time she did it, she whined as if to say "Seriously, do I have to put this much effort into it?!?"

But this morning, in her best army commando form, she crawled half the length of the room in an effort to chase down her bottle, no whining and no questions asked. I was hoping to get some good footage of it later in the day, but the little princess would have nothing to do with it. There's always tomorrow.
In the meantime, here are a few recent, but totally unrelated pics that I'm fond of....

Check Out Our New Video Bar!

Hey All,
Sorry to be MIA once again for a few weeks! We just got a little overly busy and sidetracked. We promise to have some more posts soon. We have lots to catch you up on!

But in the meantime, check out our new Video Bar to the left. I tried to no avail a few months back to get a video loaded to the blog. Well, with further investigation today, I found a quick and easy way to stream my YouTube videos directly into our Video Bar. There are only two right now - Bree starring in what we call "Fadoozle Love" and Drew starring in "Adventures in Applesauce". These were actually filmed the end of June - oldies but goodies!
See you again soon!

More Lake Fun

Hi All,
We're determined to make sure these kiddos like the water. Drew got his first kayak ride on Sunday. Bree actually got to go about a month ago. Anyway, Jim puts the kids in the kangaroo pouch and off they go! It will be a while yet before they are begging to go in the kayak. But it doesn't hurt to start 'em early!

Drew prepping for the ride. Can you see the excitement?

Drew at the helm. He's a natural!