Showing posts with label milestone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label milestone. Show all posts

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Walking on Sunshine

Hi All,
April is here and so is the sun! We have been loving this week's weather - sunny and 70s. Keep it coming! And, a big drum roll please....... Drew is walking! I knew he'd want in on the act when he saw all the attention Bree got showing off her walking skills. So, at 13 months and within a week of each other, Drew and Bree are both upwardly mobile. We're very proud of our boy Drew! We did get a short video clip. Bree was helping with the taping, so the camera was a little bouncy. :)


Friday, March 26, 2010

Walk This Way

Hi All,
We have exciting news to report - we now officially have a new walker in the house! Give it up for Bree, who just got up and decided to start walking on her own this evening. While I haven't been one bit worried when it would happen, it's still a proud moment to see it unfold before your eyes. Bree was a proud girl too - all smiles for her big accomplishment! She ate up the applause and wanted to do it over and over again. We even got some pretty good video of some of her moves. Yay Bree!



Friday, October 30, 2009

Shenanigans

Hi All,
The twinners are up to all sorts of interesting things. They spend a lot of time babbling. Bree has started to say Mom and Mama, and could not seem to stop saying it today. First words for her - yay! I think I may have heard an occasional da-da somewhere in there, too. (Lots of ahh sounds - ma, da, ba, ka)
They are also covering lots of territory around the house. They now crawl outside the living room area to all rooms on the main floor.
Besides that, they enjoy horsing around together. Here they are in Bree's crib......



And here is some footage on how they interact. There is a small battle for Mortimer Moose, but in the end, Drew decides chewing on Bree is way more fun than that moose could ever be!



And speaking of chewing, Drew and Bree are chewing up a storm these days. I think teething is here to stay for a while.

In high chair news, we just started the kiddos on graham crackers. Drew LOVES feeding himself them! Here's a shot of him eating a cracker. As you can see, it's not the cleanest encounter. He had a piece stuck to his cheek for a while, and I just had to take a picture before I let him in on the secret.....



And Bree, she actually fell asleep in her high chair for the first time. She's usually a little more engaged than this when she eats!



Stay tuned for future shenanigans!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Teeth, Need I Say More?

Hi All,

We have more news on the home front. I happened to notice this morning that Drew's lower gum looked swollen. Well, this afternoon he had a mild case of the cranks. As I was headed out the door this evening, I asked Jim to check out his gums. Sure enough, we have two teeth peeking through his lower gum! Drew's first teeth are arriving 5 days before the twins turn 8 months old. As always, time marches on. I'm so glad Drew is weathering the teething so well. As wonderful (and useful) as teeth are, boy am I going to miss these toothless grins......


Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Movin' Right Along

Hi All,
We're all doing well here. We have some news to share. Drew is now army crawling really well! It started last week when he decided he just had to have some shoelaces. And he's been at it ever since. He actually propels himself forward with both arms, versus just one like his sister. And he still likes to roll a lot; it serves him well!

Drew and Bree are also both independently sitting up quite well, too. This one was hard to measure, because how long do they have to sit up (before falling over) to count it? Anyway, we're comfortable that they can do it now. Here are some pictures of our little movers and shakers....

Our little stud muffin!

Hi Bree!


Um, Mom, can't you see we're a little busy here???

Thursday, September 17, 2009

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....

Friday, July 24, 2009

Rock and Roll!

Hi All,
We have another roller in the house! Give it up for Drew, who did a complete rollover this afternoon. Yay Drew! Here is the roll in action........

Up and Over

Now Let's Deal With This ArmSuccess!!!
Am I Cool or What?!?

And to prove what a big boy he is becoming, here's Drew also showing off his bottle holding skills.....
Way to go Drew!!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Let The Good Times Roll!

Hello Everyone,

Our little Bree is rolling now! She is 5 days shy of being 4 months old. She has been practicing for a few weeks now, with much frustration. She has been able to easily roll onto her side and kick her foot over, but she could never get the pesky arm out of the way to complete the roll onto her belly. Well, this morning, I found her in her crib belly down after her nap. She was not as excited as me, since she has not figured out how to roll back onto her backside. I'm sure she'll get in no time. For now, we'll celebrate this milestone!

Here's a picture of our sleepy roller. She passed out while practicing more rolls on her activity mat later this morning.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Month 3 Recap

Hi All,

While Drew and Bree did a fabulous job on their monthly recaps, I figured it was my turn to bring you Month 3.
Jim and I started the month with our first over night away from the twins. We attended our friends, Jesse and Becky's wedding up in the Traverse City area. This also happened to be our 1st anniversary weekend, which made it another great reason to slip away for an evening. Drew and Bree were in the capable hands of Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Sarah, and Marc. The wedding was beautiful, and while we missed the babies, the break was refreshing. Drew and Bree enjoyed every moment with their grandparents and auntie, as usual. So, all in all, it was a successful venture!
We celebrated Mothers Day on May 10. We visited Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Drew and Bree with Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Sarah on Mothers Day


A glorious thing happened this month. Drew and Bree started sleeping through the night during Week 10. What a milestone! I found it interesting that they both started sleeping through the night at the same time. The first few nights it happened, I had to wonder if it was just Jim and I sleeping through the night, and not the kids. :) But sure enough, it stuck. I even spent a few nights on the couch, where I wake easier and sleep much more lightly to prove it. Don't get me wrong; I love spending time with my babies at any hour of the day (or night). But honestly, I was not feeling human getting sleep in only 1.5 - 3 hour increments. There are studies about the impact of sleep deprivation and all the wacky things it can do. Now, I know it to be true. It takes many infants much longer, so a big high five to the kiddos for coming through on this one so timely.
Now, I must back up a bit. In case anyone wonders how we may have prompted the glorious evening sleepfest, I'm not completely sure. At the end of Week 6, we were still up frequently during the middle of the night. Since we let each baby "feed on demand" as directed by our pediatrician, they were each setting their own schedules. Hence, we were up a few times (different times often) with each baby, which leaves Mom not much sleep at all. This would be ditto during the day, as Drew and Bree were napping at different times. Plus, Bree had been diagnosed with colic around Week 5.5. Well, by the end of Week 6, I hit rock bottom. Something had to change for sanity's sake. I figured if there were any way to "work on" getting the kiddos to sleep through the night, we would all be in a better place. I pulled out the "Babywise" book we received from my brother and sister in law and started reading. (Yes, I should have read this prior to their birth, but didn't get around to it.) Hence, we began a brief exercise of the "Babywise" methodology. For anyone not familiar, Babywise is a parenting methodology, with a primary objective of getting babies proper rest, which includes sleeping through the night. It provides guidelines for structuring your infant's schedule, such that there is routine - wake, eat, activity time, sleep repetitively throughout the day. Not everyone is a fan of this methodology, as one of the components of it involves letting your baby cry themselves to sleep during naps and bedtime. The up side of this is teaching your children independence, and that they indeed can self sooth without Mom and Dad. (For anyone really interested in all the ins and outs of Babywise, please consult the book or further research, as I am not intending this to be a full or proper synopsis by any means.) At any rate, we did attempt the Babywise methodologies for a few weeks, but it was difficult to stay on track for various reasons. Since we did not follow the program religiously, I can not credit their sleeping through the night to Babywise. I do like a lot of the methodology, and we will likely revisit it. Drew pretty naturally follows the wake, eat, activity, sleep structure without any prodding from us. Bree is another story. Studying and trying the methodology did teach me a very important lesson when I needed it the most. That is - it's okay for the babies to cry for short periods of time. I was getting ready to "go it alone" during the day shortly after tax season, meaning no scheduled helpers while Jim was at work. I had a lot of fears over not being able to console both babies at once if they both were upset at the same time. After "babywising" for even a short period of time, it made me much more comfortable with being able to handle the babies on my own.

On to some other fun news from this month.....

Drew started getting quite active in the crib. We often found him turned around in his crib after napping or first thing in the morning. It was quite humorous when we started finding him like this.....


However, we were also concerned about body parts getting stuck in between crib slats. So, we ended up buying some breathable crib bumpers which are working great.
Bree learned a new trick this month too. She started shaking her head back and forth as if to motion "no, no". I think she learned this from Daddy. When she looks like she is about to cry, Jim shakes his head at her and tells her "no, no, no". The head shaking is pretty cute. We can wait a few years for any accompanying "no" screams when she doesn't get her way.

We also noticed this month that both Bree and Drew have taken to sucking knuckles/thumbs/hands. They were using pacifiers when they were born. But as time passed, they did not seem dependent on them, which I thought was a good thing. That is, until the hand sucking started. I've actually tried to reintroduce the pacifiers (knowing someday I can take them away when they should not need them anymore). But the kiddos are less than interested at this point. So for now, we try to distract them from the hand sucking in other ways.
Drew and Bree had their first restaurant experience when we all went to Steak and Shake. We posted details and pictures here.
Lastly, the babies continue to grow at good rates. Drew weighed in at 14 lbs. and Bree was 12 lbs. on their 3 month birthday using our unofficial home scale.

Assuming we can keep up with our blogging from here on out, this will be our last monthly recap. Here are are few more pictures from Month 3 that were taken before we were back at our regular blogging. Enjoy!!!

Ahhh glorious sleep.....



Some of our pics from our foof chair photo shot....



More sleepyheads......

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

36 Weeks Pregnant Update - Still Growing Babies

Hi All -
Our week is off to a great start. Yesterday, we celebrated our 36 weeks pregnant milestone. As such, we've moved into the next critical time zone. According to our twins reference book, weeks 36 - 38 are considered full term for twins, and this is an ideal time for them to arrive. They have a really good possibility of being able to leave the hospital with me when I am discharged after their birth. We're just thrilled to make it this far!

Next, we started today by performing an amniocentesis on each baby. The longest part of the procedure was waiting for the doctor to arrive! That's okay, because in the meantime, our ultrasound technician did another growth estimate on the twins. Our son's weight estimate is now up to 5 lbs. 14 oz. and our daughter has jumped up to 5 lbs. 5 oz. We were really pleased with the weight they were able to gain over the past week. The amnios were mostly uneventful. They stuck a long thin needle in my stomach after the technician found good pockets of amniotic fluid via ultrasound. I chose to not look at the needle, and the first one was quick and painless. The second one was not all that bad either, but I did feel minor discomfort from the needle, because they had to go through the placenta to get to the amniotic sac. I'm now home and resting for the next 24 hours. We'll get some preliminary results this afternoon.

Next, we were on to the hospital for our NST test. Before I was even settled in to reading my book, the nurse came in to tell me the babies had already passed! However, they chose to keep me a bit longer to see how my body was reacting to the amniocentesis. (While uncommon, the amniocentesis can possibly start you into labor.) Go figure, the day that the babies fly through the testing, I have to stay on the monitors! I had an unusually long contraction (for me) during the NST, but it was not painful. So, I was free to go after 40 minutes on the monitors. Not bad at all!

Thanks to all our our followers for all the good thoughts and prayers. They are working!

The latest guess as far as when our babies will join us is now this Friday or Monday next week. Incidentally, Monday is Jim's birthday. I was given strict instructions from Jim when we learned our due date that they could not be born on HIS day. He may need to learn to share! :)

Monday, January 26, 2009

32 Weeks Pregnant Update

Hi All,
We had a long but good day at the doctor and hospital today.
First of all, we are celebrating a milestone today. We are 32 weeks pregnant and entering our 33rd week. This means we have moved into the next critical time zone of development. Acccording to our twins reference book, weeks 33 - 35 are considered pre-term for multiples. Twins are often born during this time frame. In general, they may need to spend up to two weeks in the hospital, but are unlikely to experience any long term effects from their pre-term birth (assuming they have grown well thus far). So, we are very happy to have made it this far!

We started out at the doctor's office this morning for our weekly appointment. This was also an ultrasound day for us, and my mom was able to attend.
Here are a few pictures of our son from the today's ultrasound. Our daughter is now facing my back side, which our ultrasound technician said is exactly what she is supposed to be doing as we prepare for labor. At any rate, for this reason we were unable to get any shots of her face or profile.
Profile of our son at 32 weeks

Our son's face at 32 weeks

Key Measurements from our ultrasound/doctor appointment:

Baby A (girl) Weight Estimate = 3 lbs 14 oz. (24th percentile)

Baby B (boy) Weight Estimate = 4 lbs 8 oz. (64th percentile)

Baby A Heart rate = 125

Baby B Heart rate = 136

My Belly Measurement = 37 centimeters

My Pregnancy Weight Gain = 37.5 pounds

My cervix length is also still measuring well, per the ultrasound.

The doctor also detected a small amount of cervix dilation (less than 2 cm.) during my pelvic exam. I need to continue to wear my maternity support belt/girdle to keep pressure off my cervix.

We are also keeping an eye on our daughter's weight. At this point, our doctor is mostly concerned that she stay above the 10th percentile. We will see where she is at in 3 weeks when we are scheduled for our next ultrasound (if we are still pregnant!)

Next, my mom and I were on to the hospital for my NST. Our daughter passed the NST quickly today, but apparently our son decided it was nap time. The nurse, Tracia, brought in what she called a little alarm clock for him. She placed a little vibrating tool on my belly over my son. That seemed to do the trick. The other interesting part of the NST session was the contraction monitor. I noticed several contractions on the monitor (although I still could not feel them) - many more than I'm used to seeing. We are not getting concerned yet, since as long as the contractions continue to be this mild, we are likely not in danger of pre-term labor.

My mom mentioned the babies appear to be sitting much lower than before. I think she is right, and perhaps they have started dropping into position. To be honest, this makes me a little nervous! We'd like to keep the babies gestating for a while longer yet. The good news is we feel pretty confident they can handle the outside world with all little help at this point.

Other than that, I am continuing to take it easy. I have taken up residence on our couch. I find I sleep better there, between the support from the back rests and arm rests. We are continuing to finalize our preparations. Jim has strongly suggested I pack my hospital bag, so it has made it's way out of the closet.

Oh, I almost forgot, I'm updating our baby ticker on the blog to reflect our scheduled c-section date. We're really excited this is scheduled!