Another Fabulous Weekend

The twins had a very busy weekend.  It started on Friday when they got to spend the day with Grandma Charlotte and Auntie Heather so that Brian and I could go to the funeral of a good friend's father.  As you can see from the picture they were angels for my mom and sister all day.



Saturday we hosted a BBQ for some of our friends with babies.  We had 6 babies,  3 two-year-old's and 12 parents over for lunch.  It was very busy.    James was the only boy baby there.  JJ are very lucky to already have so many friends.  I see a lot of play dates in their future!  Saturday night Jenn and Kelly came over for a visit.  

Sunday we brought the babies to church and then to Hugh and Sally's for lunch and their first ever Goodwillie cottage meeting.  I can tell that they are excited to spend their first summer at their cottages with their cousin Emily and all their Aunties and Uncles.

Tomorrow the twins and I are head to Port Colborne with my mom, sister and sister-in-law to visit my God Mother and her daughter and grandson.  They have a not-so-perfect record on long car trips so this could be a great day or a disastrous one.  

Josie's Big Day

Today Josie had a follow up appointment at Credit Valley Hospital.  She gets these follow ups at 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months because she was less than 2 kg when she was born (James was 2.1 kg so he doesn't get to participate).  

She was first seen by an occupational therapist who looked at her cognitive and physical development.  Cognitively Josie is developing perfectly.  She smiles and laughs, makes eye contact, follows objects with her eyes and can bring objects to her mouth.  Physically Josie is a little behind.  When she stands she is always on her tip toes.  We now have to work on getting her to plant her feet.  She also has trouble fully lifting her head when on her tummy.  The therapist showed us some other positions to help her with her neck stenghth and we have committed to practicing these with her more.

We then saw a nurse.  Josie is now 9 lbs 8 oz.  which puts her between 0.1 and 3rd percentile for weight.  The good news here is that she's finally on the chart!  Her length put her in the 3rd percentile and her head circumference is in the 40th percentile.  The nurse explained that sometimes small babies will develop disproportionally large heads because that's there body's way of focusing on brain development.  Her body size will catch up but right now it's most important that her brain be growing big and strong.  This may also explain why she has trouble lifting her head during tummy time.  

Lastly we saw a Dr.  who told us that we are doing a great job as parents, always nice to hear.  It is so great that Brian was able to come to the appointment too.  We both learned a lot about how to help JJ grow and develop.  

Today was also a sad day for me because I had to pack up all of Josie's newborn clothes.  They have gotten to short for her.  She has now moved in to 0-3 month clothes.  It's neat that she has a whole new wardrobe but sad that my little girl is growing up.  

Sleep Training

So tonight is night 4 of our attemp to sleep train James.  Josie doesn't need training because she is able to stay asleep from the first time we put her down.  James, on the other hand, falls asleep while drinking his last bottle and then wakes up 10-30 minutes later crying because he's hungry.  The books say to keep him awake while he eats but that's pretty much impossible.  My Dr. Recommended letting him cry it out.  This means letting him cry himself to sleep which can take up to 2 hours the first night and then is supposed to get shorter each night until he just sleeps.  Brian and I decided against this method because we don't want James crying into Josie's face for 2 hours and because we don't have the heart to let our little man cry for 2 hours straight.  Instead we are using the method from Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Twins.  When he wakes up we wait 5 minutes before we go in, then 10 minutes, then 15 and then 20.  

Here is how we are doing so far:

Night 1:  James fell asleep during first feeding so we put him to sleep in his crib.  He woke up 10 minutes later, so we let him cry for 5 minutes before going in to get him.  We fed him more and put him back in his crib.  He woke up again 20 minutes later so we let him cry for 10 minutes and then went in to get him.  We fed him more and put him back down.  He woke up again and cried for 12 minutes before he fell permanently asleep.

Night 2: Despite Brian's best efforts James again fell asleep half way through his bottle.  We put him to sleep and he woke up 40 minutes later.  We let him cry for 5 minutes and then I went in and fed him the rest of his bottled.  He woke up again, but only cried for a few minutes before falling asleep permanently.

Night 3: Brian was able to keep James awake enough to drink 3/4 of his bottle before he fell asleep and Brian put him down to sleep.  He woke up about 20 minutes later, cried for 3 minutes but then fell asleep permanently.  We did not have to go back in for him.

Night 4: After talking to my friend Renata (whom I consider an expert in all things twins) we tried starting our bedtime routine 30 minutes earlier so that James wouldn't fall asleep while drinking his final bottle.  It didn't work.  He fell asleep while drinking so we put him to sleep.  He woke up 20 minutes later, cried for 5 minutes and then drank another 3 oz before falling asleep again.  He woke up again about 10 minutes later but fell back asleep quickly so we did not go in.  It's now 8:30 and he seems to be settled.  We shall see...

Josie - when you are older and you are reading this, thanks for being such a great sleeper.  James - you're lucky you're so cute!

Update:  last night James woke up hungry around 11 pm which just happened to be when Brian got home from watching the Raptors game with some friends.  So, Brian fed James a bottle and he went back to sleep.  Josie woke up at 1AM so I fed her and then both babies slep until 5 Am.  

Today is day 5 and we got some great advice from Erin to keep James awake by keeping him in only a onesie and rubbing him with a wet wash cloth to keep him cool.  I tried this tonight and I was able to get him to drink 6.5 oz before putting him to sleep.  

As I write this it's been about 40 minutes since James went to sleep and he has just started to cry.  Thankfully only for a minute and he seems to have gone back to sleep.  Fingers crossed!

Easter photo shoot

I couldn't resist another photo shoot with my twins.  Here are the best ones.  

Easter Weekend at the Cottage

The twins are enjoying another great weekend with their grandparents at the cottage.  

Thanks Auntie Jenn for the adorable outfit!

There is finally a purpose for some of the moose parafenalia at the cottage.

These babies love to fall asleep in someone's arms.  

A beautiful day for a 5 km walk.

It's now Easter Monday and Josie rolled over from front to back for the first time!  She actually did it 3 times.  We are very proud of her.

4 months old

I can't believe they are already 4 months old.  They seem to grow and change every day.  The twins had lots of visitors this week.  They got to spend Tuesday with their grandpa.  Dave had James laughing.  

Josie loved her visit and cuddle time with AuntieHeather. 

James continues to sleep anywhere.

Josie got some help from her Dad with her writing skills.  She is crying because she really wants to be left handed.

The card was for Auntie Jenn for her 30th birthday.  The twins got to spend the night with Grandma Jane and Grandpa Dave so that we could go celebrate with her. 

Co-sleeping

So co-sleeping usually means that the baby sleeps in bed with the parents.  In JJs case co-sleeping means that our babies sleep with their faces touching!

This weekJames has become a master of pushing up on his forearms while doing tummy time.  Sometimes he pushes himself so high onto his arms that he looses his balance and rolls over. 

Last week James learned how to grab objects and bring them to his mouth.  Josie has now developed this skill too, only a few days behind her big brother.  They both love laying on their playmat and reaching for the different toys that dangle above them.

This weekend we did some spring cleaning.  The weather was finally nice enough for us to use our sunroom and to spend some time in our back yard.

On Saturday we had a visit from Zac and his family.  Zac is the young man with Autism that I have spent my Saturdays with for the last 8 years.  I had not seen him since the twins were born and I missed him terribly.  I am happy to report that he had not forgotten me and that we had a great visit.  Saturday night we had Lynne, Mike and our God Daughter Emily over.  Em loves her baby cousins and was a great helper with their bath time and bedtime. 

Sunday morning I took the babies to church while Brian stayed home and got some school work done.  My friend Sandy came to my rescue yet again and held Josie for the entire time.  There was also a lot of slow, sad music in the service so I think it helped the babies sleep.

On Sunday afternoon we finally met the Ikavalkos.  They are Brian's sisters fiancées family.  They are a wonderful family and having kids in the house gave me an excuse to climb the tree in our back yard.  

Weekend with twins are far from relaxing so here's hoping for some down time this week...yeah right!  Here's hoping the babies are as tired as me so they catch a few extra hours of sleep tonight!

Happy 4 Month Birthday JJ

I can't believe it's been 4 months since our little monkeys were born.  In some ways time has gone by very fast (I can't remember very much of the last 4 months) and in other ways it seems to have gone by slowly (it certainly felt that way while we were in the NICU and then at home when the babies were awake every 3 hours at night).

I am pleased to say that being a mom has gotten a lot easier over the last two months (looking back now the first two months were very "challenging" and I am so grateful to have had so much support).  I think it's getting easier because I now understand my babies, know their needs, and their likes and dislikes.  They've also settled into a great night time routine where they usually  sleep from 8 pm to 8 am with one feed in the middle around 2 am (last night they slept from 7:30-3:30 and it's 8 am and they are still sleeping now!). Getting them on a sleep schedule has given Brian and I the chance to get into a sleep schedule ourselves.  This is especially great for Brian who gets up for the night feeding with me and them gets up at 6 am for work while the rest of us sleep (Dad of the year?).  

They are also eating well , every 1.5-3 hours during the day and they continue to slowly but steadily gain weight.  At 4 months old Josie is almost too big for her newborn clothes.  

They have also developed their own personalities and interests.  James is pretty easy going.  He loves lying on his play mat and reaching for all the dangly objects. He also likes sitting in his bouncy chair and watching us cook and eat dinner.  He is fascinated by shadows, lights and ceiling fans and he is most content when being held in the airplane position.  He is slower to smile but will smile and laugh when Brian plays with him.  He is also great on his tummy and has even started pushing himself up on his firearms!  So far our nicknames for him are:  little man, little hulk, chunky monkey and Jimmy-James.

Josie is our princess.  People often say that she looks like a doll because she is so tiny (just 9 lbs right now).  She is a morning person and is all smiles and coos when we play with her in the morning.  She is a bit more high-maintenance than her brother and she insists on being held, fed and cuddled more.  She hates tummy time and often simply refuses to do it.  She is however very capable of holding her head up when she is being held by someone.  She tolerates her play mat and sitting in her bouncy chair but what she really wants us to be snuggled and held.  

Josie is a great eater.  She breastffeeds really well and no longer pukes after eating.  She has however developed a habit of drooling lately, probably because she is teething.  She is also a great sleeper and almost always goes right to sleep when we put her down for the night.   Our nicknames for her so far are: Princess, Peanut and JoJo.  

As for Brian and I; I'd say we're doing pretty well.  We've settled into our new life and now that we have an established night time routine, and the babies are sleeping well, we are getting a bit of time together.  Brian had the foresight to buy a Hottub before the babies were born (because we wouldn't be able to afford it once I stoped working and we wouldn't be going out nearly as much).  This has meant that a few times a week we've been able to sit in the hot tub for half an hour together and just talk - it's wonderful! 

 We have also had A LOT of help from our parents which has been great. I have really liked having my mom here during the day so that I not only have help with the babies but also some adult conversation.  Having Marsha has also been nice because she makes great stew and can help us with bath time when Brian or I is out for a church meeting.  We have also started a tradition with Dave and Jane on Friday nights that includes dinner together and then them putting the babies to sleep.  While they put the babies to sleep Brian and I either go in our hot tub or sneak out of the house for a date (in the beginning we would just go to sleep ourselves which was a luxury in itself).  I hope our Friday nights with the Allen's continues for a long time.

For me, the key to my happiness as a mom has been keeping the babies busy. We've joined a few mom and baby groups and I take them to the gym with me a few days a week.  As well, now that the weather is getting nice, I hope to take them for a walk ever day. Recording their progress in this blog has also helped me celebrate their little achievements, especially since I can remember very little of what I've written so far.  

With summer coming I am excited to take the babies to our cottages.  I am excited for all the time we will have together and with our family.  I hope they like swimming in the lake.  Thank you to everyone who continues to read this.  It makes me happy to know that there are so many people who care about our family.  

Best Friends

I know there will come a time when James and Josie will no longer NEED each other but for now it is so great to see how much they love being together.  This picture is not the greatest but you can see that they are holding hands.  They also like to suck on each other's hands and today on their play mat they rolled onto their sides and sucked on each other's hands.  It's so cute.  I hope the stay best friends for a long time.  

More milestones

Lots has happened this past week as James and Josie continue to grow.  They are both smiling lots now especially when we talk to them and make funny faces.  As well, Brian was able to make James laugh for the first time on Sunday!  

Josie continues to hate tummy time but she is very capable of holding her head up when we force her to. James, on the other hand, loves it and has even begun to push himself up on his forearms and lift him bum.  

Both babies continue to be amazing sleepers at night.  Once last week they even slept until 5 AM!  Brian and I had never felt so rested.  Most nights they sleep from 8 pm to 8 am with one feed in the middle around 2 am.  

We had the babies weighed on Thursday and they continue to gain slowly.  Josie is now 8 lbs 14 oz and James is 11 lbs 13 oz.  

They are both becoming more aware of their hands and feet and are doing a lot of swatting and grabbing when they are on their play mat.  Today James was even grabbing the toys and putting them in his mouth.  

We also had our second outing to meet some of the moms and babies in my online baby group.  You can tell which two are mine because they are so bald.

This weekend Brian proved again just what am amazing dad and husband he is.  I had to go to a funeral in Peterborough so he stayed home and looked after the babies all day.  Jane and Dave also proved yet again what great grand parents they are by not only coming over Friday night so that we could go on a date.  But also helping out on Saturday night so that Brian could volunteer at a fundraiser for our church.