Giggles

Suzette has been full of giggles a few evenings this past week.  The other night while I was feeding Ian I yawned and Suzette, who was sitting in a bouncer in front of me, thought it was hilarious and started laughing.  Then each time I'd open my mouth as if I was yawning again she just kept giggling.  She starts off slow in the movie, but then really gets going (after about the 30 second mark)...

Then just last night my Grandpa was holding Suzette just before I got her ready for bed she started with a case of the giggles again.  To me this video is just priceless as it is something Suzie can always look at when she is older and know how adored she was by her Great Grandfather.

I cannot think of anything better than hearing a baby laugh, especially when they're yours!

Four Months Old

Goodbye newborns, hello babies!

Official Stats-
Ian - 15lbs. 13 oz. (62 %tile) / 26.5 inches (96 %tile)
Suzette - 16lbs. 10 oz. (91 %tile) / 25 inches (77 %tile) 

 Life with twins - first Ian smiled...

 then Suzie smiled...

 and finally a decent compromise with both babies looking happy!

Hey brother, can I hold your hand?

Ummmm, nope.

Can you keep a straight face?  Really?!  No seriously, can you???  Well okay then, scroll down to see the final picture of the twins 4 month photo shoot...

HA!  I knew you couldn't do it.  This photo cracks me up every time I see it - Ian's serious face and Suzie's double chin so proudly displayed with both of them probably thinking, seriously Mom we're DONE!  Ahhh, how I love them so much and am happy they put up with me.  

Guess who is waking up from their naps?  Yup, that means I'll return later to add details about their progress this past month, big changes are happening!


***UPDATE - 1.27.12***

Well, I'll have to start off with our biggest milestone yet...Suzette and Ian slept 12 hours last night!!!  With the encouragement, recommendation and advice from our pediatrician I was prepared to put the babes down for the night between 6:30pm-7:30pm (about 1 hr. earlier from what we have been doing) and if needed feed them once during the night and not again until getting them up for the day at 7am.  Here is how it went down -
in bed by 6:45pm
 asleep by 7:15pm
 Ian woke up at 10pm and cried for 1 hr., asleep by 11pm
Suzie up at 5:30am (that's over 10 hours straight!) & ate 6oz.
Suzie asleep by 6am and woke up at 8am
Ian woke up at 6:30am (7 1/2 hrs. straight!) & ate 4oz.
Ian asleep by 7am and woke up at 9am

I wasn't sure how to help them make the transition from what they were doing of sleeping 5 solid hours at night, wake up and eat, sleep 3 hours, eat and 3 more hours of sleep then up for the day to sleeping at least a full 8 hours, hopefully more.  Dr. Hirsch really encouraged me to limit to one night time feeding (at midnight) during their 4th month then at 5 months do no nighttime feedings.  Well, looks like we've jumped ahead to the no more feeding at night part which I am THRILLED about!!!  It was way hard letting and hearing Ian cry for one hour, but my hope is after Sunday night (3 nights in a row w/ no feedings) he'll catch on and just sleep straight through.  And if he cries tonight I'm pretty sure it won't be for as long.  Another sleep update - the twins are now each in their own crib!  We got such great use out of the bassinets, but now that I've got over 30lbs. of baby on my hands it's time for each of them to have some more space to spread out.

In other news their smiles and giggles are just so dang cute.  I read in a book somewhere that these are the golden months where they smile and laugh a ton and start sleeping more.  And now that I'm starting to experience BOTH of those I couldn't agree more, golden indeed.

Suzie is fascinated with mirror images of herself and has started to grab and hold on to toys more often.  She has joined Ian in the talking world and already it sounds like she has a specific purpose in the message she tries to get across.  Suzie can roll from her back to side on both sides, but no rolling all the way over yet.  During tummy time she is still a rock star holding her head way up.

Ian is growing taller and stronger each day.  He loves to "stand up" and keep his legs straight and feet flat on the floor.  His preferred method of movement is still scooting on his back while laying down.  Sometimes he can turn himself in a 360 degree circle.  His legs are so strong now that if we don't strap him into the swing and bouncer he'd surely find a way to flip himself out.  Ian has gotten much better at tummy time and is getting better neck control while sitting in the bumbo as well.

We have had some concerns about Suzette's head for a while now and yesterday we got an actual diagnosis.  She has mild torticollis with a moderate head tilt.  Torticollis is a condition 1 in 5 infants have in which they experience trouble turning their heads to the side because of tight or weakened neck muscles.  Just take a look at a few photos and you can see Suzie really prefers laying on or turning to the right side.  Because of this there are some a-symmetrical features on her face, like her right cheek comes out further than her left because the jaw on that side has shifted a bit from the pressure of her always laying on that side.  The treatment is physical therapy with special exercises to help strengthen and stretch the neck muscles on the other side.  Really, I have to give credit to my Aunt Kath who is a physical therapist and the first person to notice it in Suzie and comment on the condition to us.  Hopefully she'll be a okay after I work with her for the next couple months to encourage her to look to the left! 

Wisp

My Christmas present from Dave this year was an overnight stay at a ski resort, which I just cashed in on Monday!  He had arranged it with my parents to take care of the babies while we were gone so once they came over Monday morning we were off.  Dave choose Wisp Ski Resort because it wasn't too close (the fear of no snow) and wasn't too far (only 3 hours northwest of us) so we wouldn't be spending all our precious baby free time driving in the car.  And since it snowed last weekend it was pretty good skiing conditions.  Once we arrived the first thing we did was...take a nap!  Oh how lovely that nap was.  It seemed to have magical restorative powers because we woke up with tons of energy for the evening.

Since the lifts closed @ 5pm we decided to stick with snow tubing for Monday night and just use our lift tickets to ski all day Tuesday.  Snow tubing was AWESOME!!!  Looking at the hill it wasn't uber impressive, but I tell ya once you get on that tube and start going down you really build up some speed!  Dave and I did every combination possible - together, alone, racing in side-by-side lanes, on our bum, on our belly, with a running start, getting a push from the employees, screaming, laughing, eyes closed, eyes wide open...oh it was grand!  Highly recommend snow tubing to anyone looking for a good time.

The one picture we got before the camera battery died, boo

We kept saying how we can't wait until Ian and Suzie get old enough so we can do things like that with them.  After snow tubing it was time for a ride on the mountain coaster!  I totally under estimated the thing and ended up loving every minute of the ride.  It actually pulls you up to the top of the mountain then releases you down the tracks which curve and bend all the way to the bottom, super fun and again I screaming and laughing the whole way down.  Good times!

We had a lovely dinner in the lodge restaurant and after filling our selves with crab & steak (for me) and the best burger Dave's ever had we had to a really difficult decision - which dessert to choose from their 3 tiered display tray totaling over 20 options!  We went for their pear and apple layered torte, it was scrumptious :-)  We headed back to our room for a much anticipated uninterrupted night of sleep and upon waking up at 7am we got dressed in our ski gear, packed up and checked out, loaded up the car then went to the ski lodge for a hearty breakfast and were one of the first ones to get our ski rentals and hit the slopes!  I haven't skied in over 6 years so I needed to relearn a bit, but once I did I was good to go.  We had lots of fun doing our zig zag skiing down the runs and riding the lifts up the different sides of the mountain.  We left in the late afternoon to head home and stopped for dinner at Cafe Rio (yummmmmmy!) before being reunited with the babes.  A wonderful and very thoughtful Christmas present from my sweet hubby - I'm not sure how he's going to top it next year ;-)

No Contact

Dave was told by a dermatologist today to not have any contact with the twins for the next 3-5 days because he was just diagnosed with shingles.  Anybody who has not had chickenpox can get it from someone with shingles.  I've had chickenpox so I'm good.  The babies, being only 3 months old, of course have not.  The lack of sleep that comes from working a 7pm to 7am schedule (which is what he did last week) has taken its toll on my poor hubby.  A weak immune system and stress are two common causes of shingles.  

According to WebMD - When the virus that causes chickenpox reactivates, it causes shingles. Early symptoms of shingles include headache, sensitivity to light, and flu-like symptoms without a fever. You may then feel itching, tingling, or pain where a band, strip, or small area of rash may appear several days or weeks later. A rash can appear anywhere on the body but will be on only one side of the body, the left or right. The rash will first form blisters, then scab over, and finally clear up over a few weeks. This band of pain and rash is the clearest sign of shingles.

The rash caused by shingles is more painful than itchy. The nerve roots that supply sensation to your skin run in pathways on each side of your body. When the virus becomes reactivated, it travels up the nerve roots to the area of skin supplied by those specific nerve roots. This is why the rash can wrap around either the left or right side of your body, usually from the middle of your back toward your chest. 

And that is exactly where it is on Dave.  Poor man, it sure isn't pleasant to have and such a bummer that he'll feel that nerve damage for about a month even after the rash goes away.

Of course I do not want to take any chances with Suzie or Ian's health, but can I just express how much my heart sank when he told me he cannot have ANY contact with them for the next few days.  I think my eyes started to tear up right there on the spot with thoughts of constant round the clock day in day out feeding and care giving of the babes.

Dave worked nights last week I went almost 72 hours of doing all the feedings myself and it just about turned me into a looney person.  When Dave works days and comes home from work I usually go into our bedroom and am "off the clock" so I can rest and he does the evening and bedtime feeding.  This is great because it helps me get a few extra zzzs and rest up for getting up in the early morning.  Without that window of rest I turn into a robot - no emotions, no feeling, one word communication, loss of all sense of time and my personal hygiene tends to go out the window.  It gets bad, fast.  And now that's what I'm in for again.  Blah!!!  

I guess if I were to try to look at the sliver lining in all this it would be that he has it and not me.  If I got it we'd really be up the creek without a paddle!

Proof

For all those who wonder can twins really become accustom to each other's cries and sleep through it?  Or those of you who just don't think it's possible, here is your proof.  And it didn't just last for the length of the video, this is typical during naps everyday with the roles of sleeping and crying swapping between Ian and Suzie.  

Before you judge me for recording this instead of tending to my wailing baby, just keep in mind the video is less than 30 seconds long, for crying out loud (pun intended, hehe).

Yes, I realize our bassinet days are almost over as their arms and hands totally go through the slats when they stretch out.  They're just so perfect for twins and for our small nursery room I want to squeeze as many more weeks out of them as I can.  Rest assured I have 2 cribs in the basement waiting to come up when the time is just right (aka Ian and Suzie gain 2-3 more inches in length).

Three Months Old

I figure before 2012 comes I better finish blogging about the end of 2011.  The day after Christmas (12.26.11) Suzie and Ian turned 3 months old!  With no doctor visit this month and having already been in 3 month clothing for a good few weeks now it seemed a bit anti-climactic, but don't worry we still documented with pictures.

Gotta love those chubby legs!

Ian turns into a little ham and sure does turn on the charm when the photo session starts.  This is super funny since it is a totally false representation of how he is normally.  Ian is a sweet boy, but mostly one who likes to sit and observe the happenings around him.  Suzie is usually the one who is smiling up a storm all day long, but for her the camera brings on the opposite effect than it does in Ian and her smile gets tucked away until the camera is off.  One of these days I'll have to capture it because it is dang cute.  So our Mr. Ian is quite the talker these days.  His ah-goos are too cute.  I love laying in bed in our room and hearing him down the hall in their nursery "talk" to Suzie after we put them down at bedtime.  She just quietly lays there listening to all his stories.  We try to mimic his sounds back to him and it's fun when we go a few exchanges and he totally thinks there is a real conversation going on.  Ian is gaining better control of his arms.  He can bat at the toys dangling from the activity center mat very well now and enjoys hearing the sounds they make.  His legs are quite strong as well, while on his back on a blanket Ian can push himself clear across the room!  Tummy time is hard for him since his head is really heavy, but he is doing better each day with lifting it up higher and higher.

Suzie is fascinated by all black&white and bold patterned objects we have for her to gaze at.  She'll be quite content to lay a look at them for over 1/2 an hour all the while smiling and cooing.  And I love to lay right beside her and gaze at her the whole time!  I'm loving seeing her little girl features emerge.  Her lovely eyelashes, the rosebud lips and dainty girl movements.  She is so precious.  She doesn't have quite as much control over her arms as her brother does, but during tummy time she is a rock star.  Suzie is now holding her head high and pushing herself up pretty far.  Dave and I will clap and cheer for her and she just smiles and continues to hold the pose even longer.  It's a good time for all!  As I said before, Suzie is our smiler.  She greets me in the morning with smiles and while chatting on the changing table some of the biggest grins come out.  It melts my heart every time.  

It is so fun to see these guys grow and even more fun to see them become more aware of their sibling next to them.  I feel so lucky and privileged to have a front row seat to seeing these boy/girl twins develop a bond that will unite them together for life.   

Christmas

Our celebration this year began on the 22nd with a trip to see the Festival of Lights at the DC Temple.  It turned out to be a very rainy evening, but we had fun seeing the lights and running into some good friends while there.

a little blurry, but you get the idea

Next we spent Christmas Eve with the Traxler family.  It was our first semi-long trip away from home (3 hour drive round trip) with the twins and they both did very well.  We hit up the Hagerstown outlets on the way for some last minute shopping (I think we should get a prize for doing that with twins!) and arrived just in time for the yummy dinner Dave's mom and sister, Wendy, spent the afternoon preparing.

Wendy and Dave's brother Leamon had not seen Suzie and Ian yet so it was fun to watch them hold them and meet their newest niece and nephew for the first time.  Of course their cousin Victoria was anxious to hold them again and commented, "Their heads feel like peaches!"  I told her she was exactly right :-)  We opened presents and my favorite was one Dave's dad got Ian and Suzie - a pack of diapers that he went to the store to buy on his own.  I love picturing their Grandpa Traxler standing at the check out line with a box of diapers, classic!  Towards the end of the evening they started to get a bit restless since they weren't able to totally get to sleep during their nap time - wether it was a new environment or just the excitement of Christmas Eve we're not 100% sure (wink wink), but we knew it was time to head back home.

After feeding Ian and Suzie and getting them in their Christmas jammies we read the account of our Savior's birth in Luke.  It was really nice to have such a sweet peaceful moment with all four of us where we were totally focused on the real meaning of Christmas.  Next year I'd like to start a tradition of making an angel food cake and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas day.

pardon Suzie's bulging diaper ;-)

Once we put them down to sleep I was greeted with my first of many Christmas Eve's where I stayed up to wrap presents well past midnight.  When I was older I always knew why my parents were so tired Christmas morning, but now I really understand it!

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year we had the added trip of going to church Christmas day which made for a bit of a hectic morning.  Once we were dressed for church, which was at noon, we got Ian and Suzie ready to head over to Dan & Anne's house where Christmas morning was in full swing.  Jamie & Brook and my parents were there so after eating a yummy breakfast we got down to business of opening gifts.  It was an enjoyable time for us and one Ian and Suzie mostly slept through.

sleeping before going to church...

and sleeping after coming home from church

We dashed off to church and enjoyed the carols and musical numbers that were performed.  My favorite was Mary Did You Know performed by one of the Young Women.The lyrics definitely got me all teary eyed -

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You've kissed the face of God

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rules the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the Great I Am

We got back to the house just as all the extended family started showing up.  After a quick feeding and wardrobe change the twins were ready to be adored!  They spent the rest of the day being passed around from one family member to the next.  I enjoyed seeing the happiness in everyones eyes as they held them.  

It was a lovely Christmas afternoon with a wonderful dinner by my Aunt Deb and Uncle Tom featuring shrimp scampi, salad with the most wonderful dressing, honey baked ham and potatoes, yummy stir fry over jasmine rice and the BEST rolls ever!  Nobody had a belly that wasn't filled by the end of the night.  This Christmas was a first for a few different reasons.  It was Ian & Suzie's first Christmas, but it was also the first Christmas my family has had without my Grandma Quayle.  We knew Christmas 2010 would most likely be her last due to the terminal illness she had and we celebrated well!  But this year it was still hard to get through the holidays knowing a loved one is not there.  My heart smiled when I heard my grandfather, who claims no religion but a belief in mankind, commented that he felt her presence in the house on Christmas day and I would agree.  All in all, a lovely first Christmas with our son and daughter and we can't wait to experience more and create our own family traditions along the way!

Tummy Time

We love it when mom puts us on our tummies!  We're getting stronger and learning a little better each day how to hold up our big noggins.