Wednesday, January 29, 2014

9 months

9 months??? What??!?!!?  I seriously cannot believe it. Actually they will be 10 months on February 5!

Mary left Vivian right
Here's a breakdown of their main habits. In case anyone is interested. If you aren't, I totally get it;)

Sleeping

Vivian likes her sleep more than Mary. They both *usually* take a 2-3 hour nap in the AM, roughly 2 hours after they wake up for the day. Mary sometimes likes to live life on the edge and cut this down to 45 minutes. Not cool. I LIVE for that morning nap time. I usually just relax and catch up on emails or take a nap while Norah watches a movie or catch up on laundry/cleaning. So it really cramps my style when Mary decides to not sleep;)

Then they will take another 45-60 minute nap about 2-2.5 hours after they wake up from their morning nap. I like them to be awake by 4 or else we have trouble going down for bed.

Their bedtime has been pushed back to 630 or sometimes 7 depending on the day instead of 6 or 615. They go down very nicely usually and wake up 2-3 times. We visited Grandma and Grandpa Chaplin this past weekend and they slept TERRIBLY. They knew it was not home. Mary slept worse than Vivian, her personality is more intense than Vivian's and she just couldn't settle in as well.

If one wakes up then I automatically wake the other. Its just easier that way. Mary is usually the one who wakes up. They sleep in separate cribs now in the upstairs attic/loft bedroom. I have rearranged my house literally 5 times since the twins came home and I think I finally have the perfect set up!! Kyle says that it better be what I want because he's not taking the cribs apart again;)

Eating

Messy mary
They both still get the majority of their nutrition from breastfeeding. A couple months ago they started refusing bottles when I go to work. So now they get breastmilk in a sippy cup when I'm at work. Mary usually flat out refuses it, but Vivian will drink it down;) They nurse probably 8-10 times per day. Or more depending on how fussy they are. Sticking it out and nursing them was the BEST thing that I have done. Its so easy now to nurse them and they are so healthy!! I know that its breastfeeding that has played the biggest part in that. 

Vivian is a little neater
We started solids in January when they were 9 months actual age, 6 months adjusted. They do pretty well with them. When we started out they did not like any chunks, it had to be completely smooth. I never fed Norah purees but did more baby led weaning, so this has been all new to me! Lately they have started doing better with tiny pieces of cooked veggies, etc. 

Mommy how dare you laugh at me!!!!
One of Vivian's favorite foods so far is hummus. Go figure. Mary wants nothing to do with it. They both love greek yogurt. They like avocado but only if its spiced up with some garlic powder and salt. Can't blame them! They love bananas, and a lot of times I will puree a banana with a hardboiled egg yolk so they get some protein/fat with the banana. Mary also loves fresh spinach pureed with a banana. Vivian does not like it. They don't quite have the motor skills to pick up small pieces yet, but are working on it. I just ordered them new high chairs from IKEA, and can't wait to get those!!  I'm hoping learning to independently eat will provide a nice distraction and break up our day more. Both tried some steak the other day when we went out to eat in Ottumwa and LOVED it. I cut off a strip for them and they sucked all the juices out of it but weren't able to bite pieces off obviously. True Iowa girls;)

Both still have just the two front bottom teeth. But they are HUGE. And sharp. Take it from me! They went through a stage of biting while nursing but after a few firm no's they stopped within a week.

Oh! Weights. They will be weighed Friday, but as of January 9 Vivian weighed 12 pounds 14 ounces and Mary weighed 12 pounds 4 ounces. I have no idea how Viv got so far ahead! I knew she was feeling heavier but wow. They have never been that far apart. I know that they both have grown a lot this past month. They are starting to bust out of some of their clothes and fit snugly in others. Its nice to see them getting some chub! They still aren't on the growth charts..but gaining appropriately so its all good! They will most likely be the babies you see that are walking and wonder how they are walking because they are so tiny.

Motor Skills


Vivian is wondering how exactly she can get her hands on that amazing toy Mary has.
Ruffle booties! Also you can see how tiny they really are in this pic.
Our little Christmas presents;)
They sit up like pros now, but so far do not crawl. They get very mad and frustrated on their tummies and end up rolling onto their backs. They have both attempted army crawling once or twice but just can't seem to get it down. I am SO READY for them to crawl. I know, I know, it will be crazy, blah blah. But try spending the day with two squirmy 10 month old babies who just want you to hold them and do all the moving for them that they wish they could do. Its about as fun as it sounds. I know it will all happen in time, but HOLY COW. They just want to stand and hold on to things. Preferably me. I feel like a human jungle gym. If you consider their adjusted age of almost 7 months its pretty normal that they wouldn't be quite crawling yet. I have to keep reminding myself of their adjusted ages as usual. They do a lot of suicide dives for toys over my legs and a lot of trust falls when the let go of whatever they are holding onto expecting me to catch them. Haha.

 They still like their exersaucers and will sit in those for 10-15 minutes at a time. They are very grabby, and you better not have anything within reach that they aren't supposed to have! When we visited Grammy and Gramps in Cedar Falls last week Mary spilled my lukewarm coffee and Vivian spilled my water glass all during one meal. They do great with picking up toys and transferring them hand to hand, etc. Still working on fine motor skills to pick up little things. Its funny because with Norah I pretty much had no clue what was normal and what wasn't and what the developmental stages were. But with the twins being preemies I am much more aware of what they are/aren't doing.

Social
Chewing away

Sick but dressed up! Mary left Vivian right
Their favorite form of communication is growling. For real. They growl at each other and at us all the time. I'm not sure if they picked it up from the dog, or what. Its pretty hilarious. They scream a lot too, but aren't babbling much yet. That's one area that they are FAR different from Norah in. She was always (and still is!) a big talker. They *should* start making consonant sounds soon. As Kyle likes to say, they are true Chaplins;) Which means they only talk if there is something to say haha. Mary is the more serious one of the two, and likes to just observe. Its pretty rare for a stranger to get a smile out of her, and sometimes even mommy daddy and Norah have to work pretty hard to get a smile. Vivian is more laid back and smiley, and likes pretty much everyone. Until they pick her up, of course. From a distance you are pretty nice though! Both are VERY attached to mama. I mistakenly thought of course twins can't be as attached to me as Norah was. hah. Yeah, I was wrong. They LOVE their daddy though, he is a very close second and for that I am thankful. Norah was suspicious of him until about 15 months lol. 

Mommy and Mary
They love singing and music, and will stop whatever they are doing (playing, crying, etc.) to stare at the TV when the West Wing theme music comes on. I have developed a little addiction to the show lately...lol. It is SO FUNNY. And I always get lots of smiles when I sing "My Favorite Things" song from Sound of Music. 

Norah is a HUGE hit and the only one to successfully get them to belly laugh so far. Kyle and I can if we tickle them, but they will laugh outright at funny things that she does. She of course loves it and will continue the activity ad nauseum. 3 year olds!!

They don't really pay much attention to each other still. Its like they just take each other for granted. Occasionally one will really notice the other and stare at her like what the crap is that other baby doing here?!?! And there is a good amount of grabbing faces and ears and pulling each other over while they are sitting next to each other. No smiling or talking to each other yet though. However, they can sense a mile away if their sister is nursing and they are not and they let it be known very loudly that they need to nurse too;) They do steal toys from each other too....whatever twin has the toy that is moving is the one that gets it taken. Babies are so weird!

Miscellaneous

Christmas cousins in furry vests! Shockingly this is the best picture we got;) Vivian is NOT HAPPY
We finally found a distinguishing feature! Well Grandma Lory did. They were taking a bath at her house and she pointed out that Vivian's belly button is an inverted V shape! How cool is that. Mary's is just round. I guess we chose the right names for them when we randomly assigned names to them in the NICU;) I feel bad it took us 10 whole months to figure it out. Its nice to have something concrete to count on to tell them apart. 

Two girls and their dog;) Java gets almost as many smiles as I do! 
We are still sticking close to home and have stopped doing play dates or anything until spring. All three girls were sick with colds twice within one month over Christmas time, and it was SO DRAINING! They handled the illnesses just fine, with the exception of both twins getting double ear infections after their first cold and having to go on antibiotics:( I realized that it was Norah who got them sick both times, so my main priority is keeping her healthy. We will still occasionally go out to the mall at a non busy time just to get out of the house. I can't wait for March when we can go for walks and to the park! Norah and I REALLY miss our friends. Its sad not being able to see people. I do still get out during the evenings and that really helps. The girls are getting Synagis shots every month to help prevent/fight against RSV and that has been such a relief to me knowing that they have that on board.

I've started working out in the past month and it has helped tremendously with my stress levels. I go 4-5 times per week after I put the twins down for bed. Kyle then spends some time with Norah and puts her to bed while I'm gone. It works great!! I've also lost a few pounds so I'm definitely not complaining about that;)

Norah is going to take some swim lessons this summer, and will start preschool in the fall. I would also like to get her in a ballet class. We are going to make up for our isolation this winter. We have a few fun things planned for the summer too, a trip to Chicago and a meet up of some other Mono-Mono twin families! I have met a lot of other momo twin moms online and a few of the families are going to come to Des Moines in June for a weekend. SO MANY BABIES! And most of us have older girls as well as the twins so it should be a good time for all;) I can't wait to meet in person the ladies that have been such a huge support to me in the past year and have truly walked in my shoes.
Norah and Vivian

Hmm well I feel like this has kind of turned into a Christmas letter type post. Haha. There are many details in here that I am sure you don't really care about so....sorry.I did warn you!

It will be a year exactly on February 6 that we found out about the twins. I can hardly believe it. So much has happened in a year. God has been so good, and we are very thankful to be on this side of things. We are very much looking forward to an amazing summer with our 3 little ladies;)

Oh and for the twins' first birthday I'm planning a big party/open house. If you are reading this consider yourself invited! I know many of you won't be able to come, but we just want in some way to thank everyone for their support this past year. We also want to give people a chance to meet the twins! Many important people in our lives have not met them yet, so this will be a sort of coming out party:) The date of the party is April 19, and I'll post more details closer to that time and get an invite out. 

Again, thanks for reading!! Here are some parting shots...

My first little girl and I

Twins!!!


Tandem babywearing!

Merry Christmas!


Grandpa and his girls. They are all wearing Iowa State Cyclones shirts;) It was the end of the day so nobody was really very happy 

Mary and I with my mom!

Pretty little Vivs

Mary with the Vandekrols! Another shot to show how tiny they are. The twins, not Kevin and Amanda;)