Crawling Lucas

OK, so much for posting just TODAY that Tilly would crawl first
because shes "rocking" on all fours. Lucas really likes the puffs can,
and the way it rolls and rattles. I was in the floor of the nursery
while they were playing and Lucas was playing with the can. Its
cylinder shaped and kept getting out of his reach. Before I even
realized it, he was military crawling to get it. After he realized
this new mobility, he started doing it more and more, although he is
still a tad slow.

I had assumed she would crawl first because she is on her hands and
knees, but had only read last week from babycenter that many babies
"military crawl" on their elbows and knees instead. Thats how he has
been doing his "rocking"- but I thought he wasn't strong enough to get
on his hands and knees. Everytime I tried to lift him to his hands, he
would go back to his elbows. It never dawned on me thats this was how
he might crawl.

It will be interesting to see if he keeps this up, or graduates to his
hands and knees. When Duane came home we tested him by giving him a
toy he liked four feet from him, and then watched him crawl to it!!!

I am so proud of our boy- its nice to document his "first" being ahead
of Tillys for a change!!!

Vacation! And update on twins!

My sister and I went to the beach last week. Duane joined us over the weekend. The babies had a blast, although we had a difficult time
getting their second nap in daily. They get "over tired" with
excitement and then won't sleep! We went to the pool nearly every day, lounged on the beach, and the one day we were stuck indoors, I blew up their pool floats and put them in the master bathroom garden tub to play!




On one hand I am really happy about Lucas and Matildas development.
They both feed themselves now atleast two meals a day- Lucas will now
hold his bottle for all his feedings, but Tilly wants to fidget and
can't keep her bottle in her mouth really well except at breakfast
when shes half starved for a bottle- not that us feeding her helps
this- she fidgets so bad we have trouble getting her to hold still,
too. She rolls all around on our laps, and tries to eat on her stomach!

They both can also use a sippy- Lucas just needs to be handed him and
he will gulp down three ounces and hold it right the entire time.
Again, Tilly doesn't have much interest in liquids in general, and
other than hold it and sip for a few moments, once the interest wanes,
she throws it. She will drink half an ounce, anyhow.

Both can pick up finger foods in their thumb and index finger- but
neither like them.

Tilly is now up on all fours "rocking" and we figure she will crawl
soon with Lucas close behind. Both are trying to pull up now, too.

Tilly has a big babble vocabulary. SHE NEVER STOPS. She says "mama",
"dada", "baba", "yum" (when she eats, LOL), "yiyiyi" now when she
whines, "nanananana"... ok, it IS babble, but its cute. She is also a
very gifted squealer. Her squeal- and I am not kidding and have
temporary deafness to prove it- is as loud as a gym whistle. Lucas is
sticking with "dada" and "yaya".

Both understand the sign for "eat" so I ask them if thats what they
want when they act irritable. Thats been a big help.

So, heres my issues... one- NO interest in finger foods- not even the
puffs. They gag and act like they will vomit from them. NO interest in
homemade baby foods either, which we really need them to have since 8
jars a day is killing our food budget. How can we get the food as fine
as the jarred? ANY lumps and Lucas flinches, shakes, squints and vomits!!!

Second, its been two months since they started sitting up, and they
still topple over! They have no interest in sitting up unless they
have something to keep their focus for a few minutes. Today Tilly was
looking at her dresses embroidery and sat up unassisted without
support for ten minutes. The minute she lost interest in the dress,
she looks at me and flops to the side. Is that normal? I noticed how
well Kellies son sits up in his pictures and it has me wondering why
these two won't. Not even the tv is enticement to sit up. To be
honest, they both bore VERY easily and fidget constantly- everyone
comments on how "active" they are. I am constantly moving them from
one activity to another and its exhausting. I was trying to ween them
from the swings and after two weeks of lower back pain, got them back
out last night. Swinging AND watching disney for half an hour in the
a.m. and p.m. keeps them more focused than any other activity. Just
watching alone won't do it. After ten minutes they want ME to come
play again, and I can't get anything done and have trouble lifting
them. We bought a "super playard xl" thinking more room would help...
nope! But they do LOVE to swing an hour a day broken up into two
sessions. They will also entertain themselves in their jumperoo and
exersaucer for twenty minutes- thats my limit for that activity, I
read someplace that longer than that at a time is bad on their hips.
So, I do get breaks- but they are few and far between.

Back to bottles- Tilly only drinks a full bottle at breakfast. The
rest of the day she wants two- three ounce "snack bottles". She
probably wants a bottle 5-6 times a day- but just for a quick snack,
where as with her jarred food she is all attention and gobbles every
last drop and then some with full attention. I know when she wants one
as she will start getting frustrated and whiney. Two ounces later she
tosses the bottle and is back to being a cutie.

Also, still three naps a day. When do they cut back? They sleep about
15-16 hours a day. Its just too bad that I never know when they will
marathon nap. It might be an hour at breakfast and two ours at lunch,
or, two hours in the a.m., and an hour at lunch, or both one hour naps
then a 45 minute dinner nap...

mama and dada

Quick update. The thing I worried the most about having twins is that
they would be behind in their speech like some twins in studies. I
have tried so hard to read, sing etc to them... even talking on the
phone while I hold them if I run out of things to say.

Well, in the last two weeks, both of them have started saying "mama"
and "dada". I am so thrilled. They also grab the spoon out of my hand
when I feed them. I don't think they know WHO mama and dada are, but
its good to see they are actually a tad early on speech, instead of
behind!

They are also both rocking now and up on all fours. I think they will
be crawling by the end of month eight.

Lucas and Tilly are 8 months old today!
16.5 weeks with twins!

7 months old!

Well, they had their 6 month checkup at 7 months one week!

Lucas measured 27 3/4 inches and weighed 16 pounds 7 ounces.
Tilly measured at 28 inches and weighed 17 pounds.

Lucas remains in the tenth percentile for weight, but 50th for height.
Tilly is in the 90th percentile for height, and 50th for weight- which
is good, it means she lost some of her "baby fat" that made her look
obese on the charts in December!

They both are sitting up without support, but the thing that impressed
the pediatrician was that Tilly now holds her own bottles and feeds
herself. Apparently she has made this milestone very early. I don't
think it means anymore than she inherited my hand eye coordination. I
probably never mentioned it here since its not very relevant, but, I
can juggle- I used to be able to juggle as well as a circus performer,
LOL. I still can pick up tennis balls and juggle them without any
practice. Makes for fun at parties, anyhow.

I think I posted part of their weights last week when they were sik,
but this was their actual exam.

How funny that we are all getting asked to add more baby foods! I was
told to add more baby food because mine still drink up to 12 ounces at
a feeding. They normally eat 8-10 at every meal, and sometimes Lucas
wants more. She said by 6 months I should have seen a drop off in
interest in formula, and that if they still drink this hardily, they
need more baby food. We had been putting off adding more babyfood
because everything *I* have read says that the bottle is the most
important nutrition the first year, and food introduction is mainly to
teach them textures and tastes- not for calories.

I finally introduced oatmeal. I postponed it as long as possible, but,
they are past the 6 month mark. They never ate rice, so atleast now
they do get a grain.

Pogo Stick and Crazy Head

Lucas is finally having more solid bm's, although Tillys diapers are
still scary and she takes mylecon for stomach cramping.

Lucas is now able to find his paci and reinsert on his own in the crib
at night. We consider this a HUGE hurdle! Lucas also works his oceans
aquarium and plays the music and such by himself at night when he
wakes up, instead of waking us up, he just plays by himself. And
Tilly- who won't even turn her head to search for her paci- now holds
her own bottles for atleast half of her feedings!

Lucas now likes to jump up and down on our laps, and Tilly likes to
have "crazy head". That infant thing where they shake their head "no"
really fast. She thinks its funny. Today she was crinkling up her nose
at me whenever I crinkled mine at her. So cute! They both growl at us
like dogs. We don't know where they learned that, but we growl back.
We figure its some form of communication any way.

I am canceling their shots until next week. I want to let them heal.
Tilly has the worst diaper rash I have ever seen- and to think she had
never had it before we started solids. :-( The rotavirus just made it
ten times worse.

Lucas and Matilda 7 months

pregnancy update

Well, I am now totally confused about my Due Date.

OK, the timing of visability in my uterus matched my original due date
(at 5w 0d), as did the size of the babies for the first 8 weeks.
However, now they are measuring way ahead. Today baby A measured 13w
4d (which corresponds to my lmp), and baby B measured 14w 0d!!! Lucas
and Tilly never measured ahead- they always measured on time! So, this
has messed up my due date and I *know* when I ovulated! I am 13w 1d.
Or, 13w 0d. Anyhoo, I shouldn't complain as this gets me an earlier
section as I am now 13w 4d-14w 0d. Heh!

OK, I LOVED Dr. Hamner. I went into the appointment expecting to hate
anyone affiliated with Dr. Miles, and he was WONDERFUL. First, he
won't let me go past 38 weeks, although he doubts that will happen
anyhow and anticipates an earlier delivery. He also recognizes that I
can't do bed rest for 15 weeks this time.

As far as my lovenox, he said he isn't sure I need it since I don't
have a recurring loss issue, and my blood tests were one indicating
LAC and one only suggesting a clotting factor deficiency (the DRVVT
corrected the second time), but, if it made me feel better mentally to
be cautious, he said "Then lets keep it!" and dropped the subject when
everyone else has acted as if it was an issue for me to want to stay
on it as far as complications etc from the drug itself.

He mentioned regular cervical checks this time, so I won't have to
monitor changes at home. He said I was a very "busy person". Duane
laughed out loud about that, and told him having twins had been very
good for all my ocd issues!

As far as the NT, both babies had a nasal bone present. Baby A's
nuchal fold was 2.0-2.2 Baby B's nuchal fold was 1.6-1.8. Baby A's
bothered me, but they weren't concerned and said they both were in
very normal parameters- and also added that with them measuring ahead,
it would elevate the measurements, too. However, the taller baby had
the lesser fold. They said the mesasurements don't flag a risk until
they hit 2.98. I get my blood work back this week. If there is an
issue, we can schedule an early amnio as soon as 15 weeks.

The nuchal was first, the sonographer did that. Then I met my new peri
who may very well be my favorite doctor (after Fischy). I mentioned
that I had left his partners practice last time because of the anxiety
and idea of delivering at 39 weeks caused me, and he said "Everything
suggests delivery of twins after 38 weeks creates additional risks.
You will find us to be laid back in this office". I swear, I think I
could deliver at 37 weeks with this physician!

THEN, he took a peek himself and remarked on how active the babies
were, and how great their growth was. Then he did a gender assay!

!!!

At 13 weeks?

OK, and when he announced the genders, Duane and I were totally
unprepared- not expecting anything until my level II 5-7 weeks from
now. I nearly fell off the table when he told us, then became dizzy
and they had to get me a juice. Duane-who was paci tending Lucas- spun
around and kept saying "Did he just tell us their genders?" I
exclaimed something really ridiculous in a loud shakey voice and the
peri commented that I had an odd sense of humor.

He said we wouldn't confirm anything until my full anatomy scan at
18-20 weeks.

Duane said "I didn't expect him to be looking at their butts!".

Since it is early, we aren't going to confirm the genders and are going to go about as we had planned and try and be surprised. Surely they could be wrong at 13 weeks?

13w ?d twins
Lucas and Matilda 7 months

rotovirus

I knew it was a bad bad thing that kaiser neglected to offer the twins
the rotavirus vaccine within the timeline the oral vaccine can be
started... both my twins have it, and the only place we can think of
that they would of had "fecal oral" contact would be at the twins
consignment sale that I went to last weekend. I bought lots of good
deals, and sanitized everything, but apparently I didn't sanitize
myself enough and somehow passed along a pathogen.

Anyhow, no time to post, we are literally drenched in diarrhea and
vomit. We are worried about Tilly, who won't take pedialyte, so we are
giving her ginger ale mixed with pedialyte. Both babies are sobbing
when we change their diapers.

And here I haven't taken them ANYWHERE to avoid rsv, and keep germx in
the car and on my hands at all times!!!

BTW, our growth seems to be just like Susans whose Anders was born 1
inch taller than the twins... Lucas was 27 inches tall at 6 months,
and he weighs less however at 16 pounds 3 ounces. He is tall and
skinny! His height and head circumference is in the 50% percentile,
but his weight is 10%. I don't know Tillys yet.

Here is a couple pictures when they were feeling better last month!

Kindredly~
Lizzie
13w 0d twins
Lucas and Matilda 6 months old