Going Dark

We leave tomorrow morning for the east coast for the holidays. I'm pretty much packed and ready to call it a night, but wanted to post a couple of the most recent photos of the kiddos. Christmas has already started for Jack and Sadie. Their Papa and Grammy sent the fantastic stuffed animals in the top photo. The stuffed animals are called Jelly Cats and are a big hit with the babies. I debated bringing one on the plane tomorrow to keep the babies occupied, but with the 5,000 other items already in the diaper bag it seemed a big excessive. The puppet in the bottom photo was a freebie J. picked up at one of the bi-annual twin clothes swaps we went to. The babies love puppets, or at least they're really into them for about 2 minutes until they decide their hands or feet are more interesting.

We'll be in Delaware until January 1st. There should be lots and lots of photos to post in January. I hope that everyone in the Sadie and Jack fan club has a very merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years until then.

Parenthood just gets better and better

This week was ridiculously busy. We had a visit from Sadie and Jack's Grandpop and Paula. John and Jack really took to each other. It was very sweet.

I had an insanely busy week at work. I'm definitely ready for a break from work. And to top off the all the activity of the week Elenora, who takes care of the babies while I'm work, announced on Monday that there would be a Christmas party at the daycare on Wednesday. Elenora's not much for giving advance notice.

Elenora made the Christmas party sound very causal and because I was slammed with six meetings on Wednesday at work I figured that I'd drop by the party when I picked up the babies, stay for a half hour, and then rush home so John and Paula could get some time with the babies before their bedtime at 7:00. I rushed into the Christmas party at 5:30 and immediately felt uncomfortable. Elenora asked if I'd brought Christmas outfits for the babies. Um, no. One of the dads asked about my work and then proceeded to tell me that he'd been out of work for 7 months and asked if we were hiring. Unfortunately in this economy we're getting about a 100 applications for every underpaid job we've got. Elenora then insisted on watching all of the children and ushered all the parents into her dinning room where there was a full dinner set up. Meanwhile I knew that John was back at our house preparing dinner and wondering where I was with the babies. I ate what I could and then excused myself to go back to the babies. Elenora was feeding Jack a bottle because he was starting to melt down because it was getting to be bedtime. I took over the bottle in hopes that I could feed him quickly and get home. Once he finished his bottle I tried to say good bye, but was told that I needed to wait because another parent had gone back to their house to get a camera so that they could get a picture of all the children together. By this point I was sweating.

I finally said that I really had to go and explained how bad I felt, but that we had grandparents waiting for my two babies who were now both melting down. All the parents said they understood, but then started bringing out presents. Presents! Every other family had bought a Christmas present for Jack and Sadie. Elenora had bought multiple outfits for each of the babies! This is Elenora, the woman who ruminates endlessly about how hard it is to make ends meat every morning as I'm trying to quickly drop of my children so that I'm not late to work. I was mortified. I had no idea that I was supposed to get presents. I found myself apologizing profusely and feeling nauseous as I was showered with gifts. Even the family with the unemployed dad had a gift for us.

I did manage to finally get out of the Christmas party, but it was by far the most uncomfortable experience that I've had as a parent yet. I guess that I should anticipate that this is only the beginning. We inevitably have another couple decades of bake sales, fundraisers, birthday parties, PTA meetings, and million other opportunities to not measure up. The only silver lining to this one is that Jack and Sadie won't remember it.

Sleepy Sunday

We've had a nice weekend with these two. Jack's health is the best it's been a month. He's still congested, but he's not wheezing. Sadie's doing well too. She thrives on sleep and has had a few good days of solid naps (she's napping at this very moment). We've had friends over the past two nights for dinner and today are having a quiet day at home. I've got two batches of baby food in the oven and Jack's busy trying to destroy a few of his toys. Today is everything a Sunday should be.

Guacamole Faces

Sleep Training Baby Steps

This is how I found Sadie in her crib the other morning - perpendicular from the position I'd left her in the night before, wedged in the corner, and stuffing her blanket in her mouth.

My friend Mary posted on her blog a few weeks ago about how she is not the mother she expected to be. As for me, I expected to be the kind of mother who embraced sleep training. That was before I had ever heard one of my children cry of course. I've been avoiding sleep training. It's been easy to do with Jack sick. What kind of god forsaken parent lets their sick child cry it out until he falls asleep?

But with there being no sign of Jack being anything but sick for a while I've had to face the facts: life with infant twins who are not sleep trained could be hell, and these two cuties are going to be too old for sleep training soon. With that acceptance we've gently started sleep training. Our first step is to wean the babies off their sleep aids. We've had to say good bye to the swaddle. It's been frightening to retire the one technique that was guaranteed to put the babies to sleep, but we've gone 4 nights so far with limited or no swaddle and although it takes a lot longer to get them down, they seem to be sleeping longer.

Next week we may have to take the next big step and start putting the babies down in their cribs awake and letting them sooth themselves to sleep. I'm not looking forward it, but it would be nice if we could get through sleep training and all get a good night's rest.

No topic, other than cuteness that is

Auntie O

Olivia and I took the babies out for burgers and beers at a nearby greasy spoon, The Bucket, the other day. The babies were sooo good. They sat and watched us eat, and generally seemed to enjoy themselves quietly for over an hour.

Olivia said that when she was a baby her mother would give her little sips of beer now and again because babies, it turns out, love beer. This was news to me. It can't be too harmful because beer is recommended as a medicine to increase breast milk supply. If babies can have beer in breast milk why can't they have it directly? I decided to hold off in offering beer to Sadie and Jack until I could check the trusted Internet for warnings and affirmations on the subject. I googled "babies beer," which not surprisingly yielded nothing of usefulness. Does anyone reading this have any knowledge of babies and their love of beer?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This pilgrim's looking a bit scared of the big indian next to her.

Mealtime observations

I was noticing tonight, at Jack and Sadie's third meal, how much Jack enjoys watching Sadie eat. He has spent a good portion of his first three meals watching his sister. I can't really blame him; Sadie does eat like she's royalty. After she finishes each bite she opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue singling her readiness for the next bite.

Jack's other favorite pleasure during meals is grabbing the spoon before it reaches his mouth. Jack's always been under the impression that he can assist in feedings. He often wants to hold his own bottle, which he inevitably drops within 5 seconds. Tonight he grabbed the spoon at one point during the meal and started banging it on his tray when I did not deliver another spoon with food on it fast enough. I was quite impressed.

Sadie and Jack's First Meal!

Jack and Sadie had their first meal today! I was very proud of myself - I prepared homemade organic sweet potatoes for them. The sweet potatoes were a big hit. They both loved them. They did have radically different approaches to solid food though. Jack was very aggressive and grabbed the spoon to try and bring into his mouth with every bite. Unfortunately Jack's hand coordination is still not the greatest. As a result a good portion of the sweet potatoes ended up everywhere but in his mouth. Sadie, on the other hand, could not have been a more dainty eater. She sat still and open her mouth for every bite. The high chairs post-meal tell the story better than I can. Despite being a bit of a hog, I think Jack did get immense pleasure out of the whole experience.

Our little sicky

Jack is sick...again. For the past two months Jack has been sick constantly. Because Jack was born with Respiratory Distress Syndrome his lungs are not as mature as they should be. The result is that Jack is very susceptible to colds, and every cold he gets goes right into his lungs. Today was our seventh visit to the pediatrician in two months. The doctor said that we have to come back tomorrow, so we'll be up to eight visits.

My blog posts have dropped off a bit simply because we've been getting out less during this extended period of sickness. According to the doctor the effects of RDS go away after one to three years, so this will not be lifelong problem for Jack, but J. and I have resigned ourselves to the fact that for the time being illness is just going to be a part of our lives.

Goof Balls

I'm not sure if goof balls is one word, or two. As the Sadie and Jack get older and their personalities emerge so does their goofiness. Here they are just chilling on the back porch after a bottle.

The world's in the palm of his hand

While Sadie's plotting her escape, Jack is happy as can be taking control of everything he can grasp with his hands. He has no interest in rolling, crawling, or standing; he simply wants everything he can find either in his hands or mouth. J.'s working on training him to hold his own bottle. Jack's working on his own to take down every hanging toy in sight. In the top photo you can see their different aims: Sadie's checking out her brother as she tries to roll away, while Jack is intently, and surprisingly strongly, pulling on the butterfly toy.

Sadie's new happy places

Finding activities that occupy Sadie is always a challenge. While Jack has found his feet to be the most interesting toy around for weeks now, Sadie gets bored with most activities and toys after about 30 seconds. Fortunately any activity that simulates independence is a big hit with Sadie. She has become obsessed with standing (with assistance of course). So it's no surprise that she instantly took to the jumperoo, which combines standing AND bouncing (always a Sadie favorite). Her other big past time right now is hanging out in a bouncy chair in the window box. I think it might be a hit because she believes that she's outdoors on her own.

The Family That Votes Together Stays Together

Sadie and Jack got their first taste of democracy today. They proudly sported their "I Voted" stickers after we submitted our ballots.

Bloomers

I must say I'm getting a bit jealous how adorable baby clothes are. I really enjoying dressing

the bebes (as Olivia calls them) every morning. Meanwhile I tend to be in my bathrobe until about 3:00 in the afternoon on non-work days. What's the point of getting myself dressed when Sadie's looking this cute?

Close Ups

Roll Away, Baby

On Halloween Sadie got to hang out with her friend Tatum, who had recently learned how to roll over. (The photo above is of the two girls hanging out. Tatum was still in her Scooby Doo costume and Sadie is pulling her tail.) Sadie studied Tatum's rolls very intently. The next night as J. and I were in the nursery with Jack, and she was in the living room with her great aunt Mary Anne, she did her first back-to-stomach roll. J. and I could not believe we missed it! To top it off she refused to repeat it. Mary Anne was, of course, excited to have witnessed such a big first, but it was a little hard on us to have missed such a giant occasion.

So tonight, after Jack went to sleep, J. and I put Sadie down on her blanket to see about this rolling stuff and, low and behold, she rolled right over! She did a full back-to-stomach-to back 360. I couldn't stop screaming I was so excited. It was better than a Dolly Parton concert. She proceeded to roll over two more times, but then we brought out the video camera and she developed performance anxiety. We did get some cute video of her blubbering that we'll try to post. In the meantime we'll be drilling Sadie on rolling over.

Play time

I'm not sure who's about to do what to whom here, but it certainly looks like someone's about to get it.

Happy Halloween

They did not last long in their costumes, but they sure were cute octopi.

Our little carnies

We took Sadie and Jack to the Santa Monica Pier this weekend. The pier has a great old carousel. We took the babes for their first carousel ride. They're still too small to ride on the horses, but we took advantage of some seating on the merry-go-round. Sadie was completely fascinated by the whole experience. Unfortunately Jack was not as happy. I must be getting old because I was dizzy for an hour afterwards.

Big Kids

Well, something's working right because these kids are growing. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and both of the babes were weighed. Jack weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs and 6 ozs. Sadie's not too far behind at 11 lbs 4 ozs. They've both more than tripled their birth weights in the first 6 months. No wonder my arms are sore!

Just because Jack's a cutie

Sadie & J.

While it may seem small, the latest developmental milestone conquered here is the ability to roll on their sides and stay there. Sadie and Jack have been greatly enjoying getting off their backs and squirming around.

Enjoying Fall

Put a lid on it

Here's Jack trying to shut up his sister, and enjoying every minute of it.