JJ's new friends

Today I hosted a lunch for the local women in my online baby group.  All the babies were born in January 2014 (except ours because they came early!).  We've been friends online for almost a year now and it is great to see everyone's babies and talk about our experiences as new Moms.  From left to right: Eli, Lily, Mila, Caleb, Adrian, Rhea, Molly, Josephine, James, Lionel, Josie.  (Addison and Erin were also here but Addy was eating and missed the picture).

First Jays Game!

On Saturday we took the babies to their first Jays Game.  We went with our friends Anne and Mike and their baby Eli.  Brian got us great seats in the shade.  However, we didn't take into account the noise.  Josie was okay but James did not like it at all.  It was Jr. Jays day so the babies got their likenesses drawn with Ace.  Can you guess who is who?

This is us after the game.  James is still upset about the noise.

On Sunday Brian, Scott, Erin and I took James, Josie and Addison swimming.  They loved it!  We also tried our inflatable neck rings for the first time.  They look stupid but the kids really liked them.  They even moved their arms and legs in the water while they were wearing them.

After swimming we went back to Scott and Erin's for a BBQ. After swimming the babies were pretty tired so we got to have some good adult conversation while they slept.  

We love this weather!

The babies and I have gotten to spend lots of time outside this week.  Here is our first walk up to the top of Centenial Hill.

5 months old and they still love to sleep swaddled and cuddled together.

James and I hanging out in our sunroom.

Everyone who meets these babies comments on how smiley they are.

Josie has gotten so good at tummy time!

4 month sleep regression

Wednesday:

Something else that no one tells you about BEFORE you have kids is the 4 month sleep regression.  The twins corrected age is 4 months and we are on the middle of 2 weeks of terrible sleep.  They used to sleep in 6 hour blocks.  Now they are up anywhere from 3-6 times per night.  Last night the longest block of sleep I got was from 10:30 pm to midnight.  I feel like a zombie today.  I am really hoping they grow out of this soon.

Thursday Update:  when I went to bed last night I thought to myself "well it can't get worse than last night".  Wrong.  Last night the babies were up at 12, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7:30.  This is worse than when they were newborns.  Please let this phase end soon.

Friday Update: last night was better.  The twins were up at midnight and then I was up with 1 baby at 4am and the other at 5am.  They were both up, ready to start their day at 7:30.  My mom is in town right now and she watched the babies with Brian in the evening yesterday so that I could take a nap-it felt great.  Last night I also successfully got both babies out of bed, fed then together by myself and then changed their diapers and put them back to bed.  Brian usually gets up with me to help but we decided that he should sleep in the guest room last night so that he could get a better sleep.  No point in having us both be exhausted.

Saturday Update: I don't want to jinx it but last night was amazing!  The babies slept from 8:00 pm to 3:45 am.  That's there longest stretch ever! After eating they both went back to sleep and stayed asleep until 8am!  Brian and I are feeling pretty great this morning, let's hope this new pattern continues.

Long weekend at the cottage

JJ had another great weekend at the cottage.  They love going for walks in their stroller and spending so much time with their grandparents.  On Sunday night Brian and I even got a night out at Niagara Casino with Jon and Karen while Jane and Dave put the twins to bed.

The cottage gets pretty full with 11 adults, 1 child and 2 babies.  Thus, James got to take his nap under the table.

Emily is an amazing big cousin.  She even some times calls her doll Josie at home.

 Proud Grandma and her little man.

What a view.  I cant wait to take the babies in the lake!

A few random pictures

Our night time routine is that Brian swaddles the babies and puts them back to sleep when I'm done feeding them.  This picture is from early Friday morning. James didn't quite make it back to his bed.

This is my chunky little monkey on Thursday after he drooled through his clothes.  

This is Josie on Thursday all dressed up to go our for lunch with Rosie.  

5 month photo shoot

Here are some highlights from our photoshoot today.  We tried to get a picture with all 3 babies together but it didn't exactly work out.  

Swimming!

Today Pat and I took JJ swimming for the first time.  We took them to a therapy pool in Mississauga that is 92 degrees.  They loved it.  I can't wait to take them again and to eventually get them into the lake at the cottage!

Josie loved swimming with her Godfather!

5 months old!

On Saturday James and Josie turned 5 months old!  They are getting so big and they get cuter by the day.  We love them so much and are so proud of them.  I will have to do a photoshoot with them sometime this week to celebrate them turning 5 months!

They got these new soothers called WubbaNubs this week.  They are basically a soother with a beanie baby attached so that its easier for the babies to hold.  Amazing!

Are they not the cutest?

Josie is getting much better at tummy time.

James is still a rockstar.

They love their stroller and going for walks.

Big kids sitting in their high chairs while we have dinner.

Mother's Day

The babies and I celebrated our first Mother's Day together on Sunday.  We spent the weekend at the cottage with the Goodwillies and Allens (minus Jenn and Kevin).  It was a wonderful weekend and I even got to sneak away for a bit on Sunday to go for a run on the beach!  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and such a great family cottage.  I know James and Josie are going to love spending their summers at the cottage with Emily and their other cousins.
Here are some highlights from our weekend.

Emily and her cousins all matching in Yellow

Josie in her Mother's Day outfit enjoying her new WubbaNub

 James after our family walk on the beach.

Josie and Auntie Karen

James and his Uncle Jonny having an afternoon nap.

We are WAY too busy

It's been over a week and I haven't updated our wonderful family and friends on James and Josie's progress.  I am so sorry, but, as you can imagine, being the mom of twins is very busy.  So, here's what's been going on.
We had a pretty great week last week.  Last Monday we went to Port Colborne to visit my God Parents.  My mom, sister, sister-in-law and niece came too.
















Tuesday, James delighted us with his first round of belly laughs.  Brian took this amazing video of it. I've watched it about a million times.We are still working with Josie to improve her tummy time.  As you can see we still have a lot of work to do.



Thursday night, after putting the babies to sleep I went and swam with my old Masters swim team.
It was my first time in a pool since having the babies and I was able to swim 2 km with the team.  The highlight of the night was when my coach Eric said, "Michelle, you're really not that out of shape."
I also started training with a personal trainer at my gym on Friday.  I have a lot of work to do to get my core muscles back to the shape they were in before I took on the challenge of growing twins but I am confident that I will get their eventually.

On Friday night we set up our high chairs and the twins joined us, for the first time at eye level, for our Allen family Friday night dinner with Dave and Jane.  They really liked it.

On Saturday we headed to Peterborough for a visit with the Lackie's.  Brian left early on Sunday morning so that he could get back to Toronto in time to watch the Raptors Game 7 with Kevin.

On Monday James showed a lot of signs that he has started teething, most notably putting his fingers in his mouth and crying inconsolobly for most of the day.  In an attempt to calm him, I set up our stroller and took the babies for a long walk.  They both loved it for the first half hour.  The second half hour, not so much.  Monday I also took the babies to the Lactation Consultant to get weighed.  James is now 12 lbs 9 oz and Josie is 10 lbs!  Our baby first is now in double digits!!



Today we went for a walk along the lake with my friend Anne and her baby Eli.  The twins were a bit fussy on the walk so we stopped a few times to feed them.  Our stroller is amazing.  It has great sun protection and the seats fully recline so that babies are always comfortable.  Tonight we went to Scott and Erin's for dinner and had a great visit with Addy.  Tonight Josie had her first real belly laughs.  I didn't get in on video but she was laughing at her dad and it was really cute!

That's about all I can remember of the last 10 days.  I wish I had of posted last week because I would have remembered a lot more.  Thankfully I took a lot of pictures!