Free Entertainment

Love those chubby baby legs!

I have acquired a new love for the spin cycle!

Helmet

Due to her new accessory we've started to call Suzie our SUPER BABY!  

Here is the low down on her helmet.  As I've mentioned in previous posts she was diagnosed at 3 months with torticollis which is a tightening of the neck muscles that results in the baby looking to one side more than the other (super common in twins, especially with baby A).  Her pediatrician told me she had a minor case, but should still receive physical therapy to help correct it.  So we hired a private PT until we could get a free one through the county's Infants and Toddlers program.  The physical therapy has helped her a great deal with the torticollis and she is doing very well with looking to both sides now.  BUT, as a result of her sleeping on mainly one side of her head plagiocephaly (the flattening of the head) set in.  This is a very common side effect of torticollis.  As a result of her head flattening on one side it shifted her jaw forward and cause some asymmetrical facial features.  

At her 6 month well child visit her doctor said it was so minor and with her being a girl once she had longer hair it'd be hardly noticeable.  Since Dave and I were seeing improvement with her range of neck motion and other gross motor skills from the physical therapy we decided not to pursue a helmet.  And then we went on vacation.  We spent that week together and really noticed more asymmetrical features than we had before and knew that if we were going to take the plunge and get the helmet for her it had to be now while she was still growing so it could make enough of a difference to make her wearing it and our paying for it worth while (hows that for a run-on sentence?!).  By the way, helmets cost thousands of dollars that 99% of the time is NOT covered by insurance since it is not deemed medically necessary.  We knew that from the start and that probably did play into our decision a bit not to get it for her at the 6 month mark as well as having a medical professional say it wasn't necessary.

But alas, we didn't want our girl to deal with uneven ears every time she wanted to wear a pair of sunglasses so we set up a consultation, got her fitted and had a cranial shaping helmet made just for her.

First a stocking cap is placed over her head covering her ears

Then reflective dots are strategically placed on

Next the certified orthotist scans her head from every direction to get measurements

Which then show up on the computer to create a model of Suzie's head

 There are different types of helmets our there and I did a bit of research before deciding this one would be best - the Kid Cap.  The helmet is made of hypoallergenic thermoplastic called Durr Plex which is made into the ideal perfect round circle for Suzie's head.  The way it works is to restrict the sides of her head that are already round from growing out any further and allow space for the sides that are flat to grow into the shape of the helmet.  Once she is done wearing it her head will have taken on the perfectly round shape of the helmet.  In order to do that she has to wear it a lot.  We only take it off of her for three 1/2 hour breaks a day and the other 22 1/2 hours it stays on her noggin.  She has had it for a little over 3 weeks now and has not only adjusted well to wearing it, but already shown improvement on the round growth on the back of her head!  The estimated time frame is 3-5 months for her to be in it.  I anticipate she'll still be wearing it when her baby sibling arrives in November.  Once her head has grown into the shape of the helmet she's got a round head for life!  We think it's a pretty good deal.

The white part of the helmet is padding and the holes that are drilled into the helmet are for air flow over the sides of her head that are flatter (which are the front left and back right sides).  The helmet is two pieces fit together by the plastic on the top and a velcro strap that goes around back to secure it in place.

Dave and I are thinking if Halloween comes around and Suzie has her SUPER BABY helmet still on we may just rock this idea - 

Pretty awesome, right?!

Cuddle Bug

Ahhh, I'm falling behind in my posting.  Lots of updates coming, but for now a sweet moment of cuddling with my girl before bedtime tonight - just me, her and my six month preggo belly.  Good thing she's squishy enough to fit in the small space I'm not taking up in the chair.  Oh Suzette, mommy loves you so much!

Happy 4th

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with our good friends, The Fishels.  It also happened to be their oldest daughter's 7th birthday so we got to join in on the cowgirl wild west festivities as well.  It's always a fun time at the Fishels, thanks for letting us come hang out for a 2 in 1 celebration!

Nine Months Old

Official Stats

Suzette - 23 lbs. 10 oz. (98th %tile) / 29 inches (92nd %tile)

Ian - 21 lbs. 4 oz. (76th %tile) / 30 1/4 inches (98th %tile)

Wow, can you believe those stats?!  My babies are growing so fast and so big!  I knew Ian was getting longer, but wasn't expecting to see a number over 30 at the doctors office today.  And Suzie Q, oh my, she is my chunker.  I could feel she was getting heavier, but didn't know it'd be 3 pounds more than her last check-up.  Ahhh, this is going by so fast.  I'm in love with my big babies.  I do have to remind myself of that at times when carrying both of them in their car seats at the same time.  But secretly I would take a chubby baby over a skinny one any day.

 This past month as both Ian and Suzette have started to become more mobile.  And thus begins the baby proofing.  I knew this day would come.  Suzie enjoys pushing the flap on the VHS player, opening the drawer with the plastic bags and pulling down the cable box.  I figure before I go crazy baby proofing it'd be helpful to know what I need to do exactly.  Hence seeing how much the twins can reach, what they can and cannot open and how far they can go.

 Caught in the act!

 Ian has started to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.  Suzie has been doing this for a while now and has skipped right over belly crawling into hand and knee crawling.  I'm thinking Ian is about to follow her lead.

 But for the most part he is our rolly polly man.  When he is sitting up he'll fall straight back then roll onto his tummy, then again over onto his back and so forth until he reaches his desired object or destination.  On this day is was under the coffee table.

It has been fun to hear more talking from each of them this past month.  Ian and Suzie are now both saying da-da and ma-ma and ba-ba.  The grunts from Ian and squeals from Suzie have continued and provide an interesting soundtrack while driving in the car.

The twins have also gotten really good with eating table food and bringing even small pieces to their mouth AND getting them in.  Today their pediatrician told me to be prepared for going 100% table food and no more baby food at the 12 month mark...not sure I'm ready for that (i.e. more mess, longer feeding times, more food stained laundry), but I know they will be.  Good thing I have 3 more months to prepare myself.

Naps have been going well, but we always seem to fall short of the golden standard of 2 naps a day that are 2 hours long.  Usually it's been 2 naps that are 1 - 1 1/2 hours long with them both still sleeping 12 hours at night (so thankful they've been doing that since the day they turned 4 months old!).  The other day a lady mentioned to me that soon we'll be transitioning to the one nap a day schedule.  Really?!  Could that be coming so soon?  I need to count my blessings now because their nap times, even if they do end up only being 1 hour, have saved me through the first half of this pregnancy.

As for teeth Suzie is getting her second one on the bottom and Ian is still going strong with the six he has.  I thought for a while there that he was getting his molars because he became super fussy at every nap time for about a week, but I haven't seen for felt anything back there yet.

Nine months old, crazy.  They have now been out of my body longer than they've been in it.  Wild.

And on that note I will leave you with a candid out take photo from their 9 month photo shoot today...

  Pretty cute, right?  I couldn't agree more.

First Father's Day

Dave and I have always thought of the roll our fathers have played in our lives on this day, but this year was the first time the word DAD applied to Dave.  I wanted to make sure it was a special day so we decided to celebrate with only our little family soaking up just being together.  We started off by going to church in the morning AND stayed for all 3 hours!  

Yes folks, this has not happened up to this point.  I was pretty hesitant since naps and feedings are always missed or delayed because of church (I had visions of us walking up and down the hallways with unconsolable crying babies by the last hour), but up for the challenge and it turned out not to be that bad at all.  After sacrament meeting Dave and I feed and changed the twins in the kitchen, because guess what - that is one thing I cannot do on my own at church in the mother's lounge.  In our building the mother's lounge is actually a room only accessible from inside one of the women's restrooms.  So even if no one else was in there at the time Dave couldn't just come in to help.  I propose a family lounge be put into all church buildings so fathers can help when needed.  Luckily in our church building there is a pretty big kitchen with a table and chairs in the middle so it actually works out well.  

The rest of the second hour was spent in the lobby with the other moms and babies.  And for the third hour we braved it going our separate ways each taking one of the babies.  Since it was Father's day Dave took Ian to priesthood and I had Suzie in relief society.  Both did great!  I think by that time they were beyond tired and just didn't have the energy to cause much mischief.  Needless to say we didn't even get out of the parking lot after church before both Ian and Suzette were out cold.  Dave and I talked about how nice it felt to be there for the third hour meetings again.  It just allows more opportunity to not only socialize, but completely recharge our spiritual batteries as well.  It felt great and we knew we'd finally made the big step and crossed over to attending all 3 hours as a family.  So that was Dave's 1st gift and here are the others...

 When getting home from church he received a photo card from Ian and Suzette with the 'We Love Daddy' keychain inside,

woo hoo, check out that 20 week preggo belly!

 a homemade grilled margarita pizza(using the best recipe ever!) with super yummy corn and tomato salad for dinner that were DELISH,

mmmm, mmmm, good!

 and a little memento to keep with him while at work - a water bottle with photos of Ian and Suzette.

 I think the scrumptious vegetarian dinner will become our Father's Day tradition.  As for the gifts this year I really wanted simple things that would be meaningful, useful and that he could keep with him.  It has been my pleasure and joy to watch Dave enter into fatherhood with such ease and grace.  His patience with and love for his children are amazing.  It brings such peace to my heart knowing these children will grow up having such a wonderful man in their lives who holds their well being in highest regard and cherishes them beyond measure.

Six Years

June 16, 2006 we were here...

and June 16, 2012 we were back in the same place with two new munchkins and one on the way (plus a little more weight and a little less hair, but we won't focus on those things)!

 Saturday was a beautiful day and we started off celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary by visiting the place where we became an eternal family.

Next we headed to Little Bennett Regional Park to have a picnic on the grass near the stream.  The weather was perfect with a cool breeze and birds chirping all around.

Say cheese!

Dave and I enjoyed some chicken salad sandwiches, potato and pasta salad and cherries while Ian and Suzette fought over the bag of strawberries. 

Ian, it's my turn!

No Suzie, it's my turn!

Okay, let's compromise and both chew on the bag at the same time!

After lunch we headed over to wade in the stream for a bit.

Ian was a little cautious, as usual :-)

Suzie loved every minute!

Showing off her 1 bottom tooth

 We had fun celebrating our first wedding anniversary with children, but after our awesome day at Little Bennett the babes were worn out.  We put them down for the night then Dave and I headed out for a celebratory dinner while my Grandpa was on babysitting duty.  We found a list 100 cheap eats in the Washingtonian magazine and had already starred all the ones we wanted to try.  Freddy's Lobster & Clams caught my eye right away and Dave agreed to indulge my love of seafood for our anniversary dinner.  It was PURE HEAVEN!!!  Reminiscing over our previous years of marriage and sharing our hopes and dreams for our future has always been a great way to celebrate for us and this year was no exception.  Not to mention the scrumptious food did nothing but enhance the experience.

 We each got 2 of their famous dishes, the lobster roll and lobster stew.  I debated about getting the lobster roll warm with butter or cold with the house paprika mayo.  After reading some reviews I decided to go for the cold version and I couldn't have been happier.  They put the meat from one whole lobster on the roll and I savored every bite!  Simple sweet and succulent goodness filled my belly and I was oh so happy.  Dave had the lobster stew, which he shared with me.  It was also divine with a cream base and huge chunks of lobster.  The hot stew and cold lobster roll were the perfect combo.

 Dave likes seafood, but does not have the same LOVE of it that I do.  He told me during dinner that for him it was the entertainment factor in watching me enjoy my food that made it all worth while.  While sitting at the table we saw a sign for a twin lobster deal on Wednesdays - 2 whole lobsters for the price of 1!  Jokingly he said, "Hmm, I wonder if your birthday is on a Wednesday?"  Guess what folks, it is!!!!  Ahh, Freddy's thanks for the good eats and we'll be back!

 We've made it up to counting our years of marriage on two hands now.  I've learned many things along the way and recently came across this blog post that summed up my thoughts in 11 points.  It's written better than I ever could have articulated, so if you have a minute check it out.  For me each year has confirmed to me Dave is without questions the best person I could have ever decided to marry.  His strengths compliment my weakness so well and he'll be the first to tell you that it is vice versa also.  We've been on (and currently are on) some crazy adventures together and the best part of it all, we are honestly more in love and even happier today than we were the day we got married.  Before I was married I used to think people were crazy when I heard them say that - how could you ever be more in love than you are on your wedding day?!  Well, now I know and it is pure bliss.  To have such a complete and deep love for another and feel the same in return is one of the greatest joys in life.  

 How grateful I am to have the knowledge that our union is an eternal one and will continue forever.

Half Way

Today I hit the 20 week mark for this pregnancy.  It's still hard for me to believe I'm really half way there.  Luckily, this baby has been taking it pretty easy on me so far.  Morning sickness didn't set in quite as early this time and usually comes in mild waves of nausea around 5am and 5pm and is very manageable with my prescription for zofran.  During the first trimester I ate mostly bland starchy foods (baked potatoes, pasta, rice) as nothing really seemed too appealing, but now that I'm in the second trimester I'm happy to say my appetite has returned!  My sensitivity to smells has also diminished a bit which helps in wanting to eat a better variety of foods.  I seem to have a bit more energy, but not a ton.  It's still a lot of work taking care of the twins everyday and sometimes it's hard for me to tell if I'm tired because of this pregnancy or just from being with the twins all day.  I also worry soooooo much less with this pregnancy.  Having just gone through it with twins and that having been my first I had so many concerns and worries right from the start.  With Ian and Suzette having been born strong and healthy and doing so well now I just feel at peace knowing chances are pretty good this baby will be okay too.

I've started to accept my body image issues and even embrace them going from frumpy loose fitting shirts that would hide my postpartum belly to form fitting shirts that show off my 5 month baby bump.  I gained 45 lbs. with the twins and lost 30 lbs. before becoming pregnant with this baby.  I am happy that I haven't gained anymore weight yet, but I know the the second half of the pregnancy is really when the pounds start adding up quickly.  As long as I don't get back up to the same weight I was with the twins at the end I'll be happy.  No denying it now that maternity pants and shirts are often the only way to go.  And if they weren't so dang comfortable I might care, but since they are I say bring them on!  It's been really funny to be out and about in public and look at people's faces when they see me with the twins then glance at my belly and wonder if that's just left over from a twin pregnancy or if I'm really pregnant with another already.  If they start up a conversation with me sometimes I just leave them guessing and sometimes I excitedly say, "Isn't it great my twins will have another sibling soon?!"  We had the warmest reaction from so many people at church who are genuinely excited for us.  It has been so nice to have the support of those who share the same values as us.  When pregnant with the twins so many would comment with, "You're so lucky, since you're having boy/girl twins you can be done!"  I'd always reply saying that Dave and I thought it may be nice for them to have more than one sibling each.  Haha, little did either of us know how soon that'd come!

Overall I feel so blessed with this pregnancy.  To me it truly is a miracle and I try not to take anything for granted.  I am beyond grateful my body is able to function in this capacity and thrilled another child will be joining our family.  It really will be so fun for the the twins and this baby to grow up never knowing life without the others.  Heres to hoping the last half of this pregnancy will be just as nice to me as this first half has been!