Our Kids

The girls got their third (and final) Synagis shot yesterday. They took the shots well but certainly let everyone else in the doctor’s office know that they did not appreciate it one bit.

A side not before getting to the important stuff (weights!)… it’s amazing what the girls crying can do to parents. We feel horrible whenever they do cry, especially when it’s because of a shot, but I think I’ve finally figured out why we think it’s so endearing to us: it’s (currently) their only consistent sign of emotion that we get from them. Like Mystique said before, both of the girls are just now learning how to smile for a reason but those little glimpses into their thoughts are few and far between. But when they cry… we see their little minds working especially when you consider pre- and post-cry.

I was holding Lela when she got her shot yesterday… her face contorted into full-on cry position as soon as she got poked and just let loose. Lela has got a good set of lungs, that’s for sure. But looking at her face and all the emotion she was showing just made me want to hold her to my chest forever. Such a sweet little face conveying so much was just heartbreaking. Piper was the same way and I think Mystique didn’t want to let go, either.

Anyhow… blah blah blah get to the weights. The girls are just over three months old now and Lela weighs 10lb 5oz while Piper tips the scale at 10lb 8oz. Double digits! They even got to sit in the scale (as opposed to laying down in the seat). When Piper sat down I thought I was weighing a little statue of Buddha… her little tummy was sticking out just like her poppy’s when it’s football sunday.

Mystique and I are officially working without a net, now… my parents have gone back Scottsdale so no more visits from grammy and grumpy to hold the kids (or bring us lunch!). It was a great month having my parents here and a tremendous help.

The girls have been doing pretty well at night lately which is nice. They’ll usually allow themselves to be put in their crib around their 9pm – 10pm feeding, then they’re up every 3.5 – 4 hours each night for feeding, but they go right back to sleep in the crib so it’s really not bad at all. I have a feeling they’ll slowly extend their sleep times at night, so I bet within a month or so they’re close to sleeping through the night. Optimism runs in my blood.

Ok, that’s about it. Pictures are coming soon… we’ve got some good ones so stay tuned!

jason

Sometimes it is hard to remember that the laundry can wait.
Sometimes it is hard to remember that the house is clean enough.
Sometimes it is hard to remember that your errands will always be there tomorrow.

My babies will grow faster than I think, they won’t always fit so snugly against my cheek, they won’t always need me like they do today. These are the things that I choose to remember today while I watch the laundry pile up and I hold my sweet angel against my cheek while she sleeps.

Today they need me to hold them and that is something I never want to forget.

This time for the parents: Mystique just called me with my first poo update! Woohoo… you know you’re a parent when the sole reason for calling the other person is to provide a poo update.

We’ve started mixing in some formula with breast milk and that’s been going fine except for the fact that since we’ve started doing that Lela hasn’t had a good poo. According to Mystique, though, this morning she unclogged the pipes and let loose with the biggest poo ever… definitely qualifying for what our friend Renee calls a pooptastrophe. Awesome. Glad I wasn’t there

I drove the girls’ honda to work today… and it’s snowing. Just my luck. Ah, nice, it’s snowing so much that my company’s snow-plow service just pulled into our parking lot. The accord is handling it nicely… traction control even kicked in for me on the way to work just like it was supposed to.

The girls have been doing pretty good at sleeping in their cribs at night… usually for the first “shift” we’ll each sleep with our “charge”… either them on our chest (instant heater) or I usually can sleep with to the side of me tucked under my arm. I used to be worried about rolling over and covering them up with my “sympathy-weight-laden” body, but I’ve found out that my body doesn’t move an inch when there’s a baby sleeping with me. Of course I usually wake up and I can’t feel my left arm at all, so there is a price to pay for safety.

After the first shift, though, the girls usually fall right asleep after being fed. Then all we have to contend with in our bed is the “sympathy-weight-laden” body of our golden retriever. He thinks when you get out of bed he’s free to stretch out and occupy as much space as possible. It’s fun kicking him out of the way, though, so there are perks.

In picture-related news… we’ve run up against our upload limit for our free flickr site so that’s why there aren’t any new pictures. Mystique seems to have issues with uploading pics… the last time she tried she sent six copies of the same picture of Lela to our niece Ava’s site. In related news… our niece’s free flickr site has run up against it’s upload limit, hence no new photos there for a while, either

Thanks for reading!

jason

Well I just wanted to say how much I love having two babies. It is so much fun because they are like night and day. So along with twice the work there is twice the joy. They each discover things differently and at different times. So you get the joy of the first smile twice, you can see how they progress in what they like and don’t like. It is so much fun, I can’t imagine just having one. I truly love that they are not identical.

The Baby Bjorn has become a good buddy of mine. When I have one that is extra fussy or just needs to be held, I can put her in it and still get their bottles washed and pick up a few things around the house. This has been great, plus they can look up at you (which they love) and you can gaze down into their sweet faces.

Piper had her first communicative coo the other day. The nurse that came to the house asked if the girls stuck their tongue out at me when I stuck mine out at them. I had to admit I had not been sticking my tongue out at them (must have missed that milestone in the manual that comes with the baby, HA). Anyway so I decided to try it with Piper who is a tad bit more alert. Every time I stuck out my tongue I made a little noise. After about 5 minutes (being a mom has given me a lot more patience) she stuck out her tongue and made the little noise back at me. It was so cute, and a bit surreal. Like communicating with an alien race where no common language exists (trekkie). Anyway, it was great because Jason was standing right there and he heard it too.

Lela is in a giant growth spurt eating us out of house and home:) So I expect she will be chatting it up shortly. Speaking of Lela, her adorable cry is calling me with food.

… are gonna be so embarrassed by us, it’s gonna be hilarious

Look at us — we’re back on the blog bandwagon. Let’s see how long that lasts.

In real news… Lela is just on a milk-guzzling tear lately… she’s eating every two hours or so which keeps us (Mystique) on our (her) toes, that’s for sure. This is similar to how Piper was a few weeks ago, although I think Lela’s eating a bit less each time, but certainly as often.

Piper has progressed nicely into the “Hold me or I’ll cry!” phase. Always a fun thing… sure does make you feel loved, though, when she stops crying and puts on her “I’m content” look when you pick her up. Lately it seems like our swing hasn’t been working very well in putting the girls to sleep, so when we’re not swinging them around in our arms (gently, of course), we’ve found that the vibrating bouncy-chairs work alright. But sometimes there’s not substitute for a little one-on-one time. Or two-on-one time

Bye!

Don’t I have the best husband in the whole world:) Thanks for being my perfect mate. The girls and I are lucky to have you.

So I originally logged-in to post a whiny complaint about how I was sitting here at work with heavy eyelids, guzzling down coffee and tea (at the same time) trying to stay awake after a long night with the girls. But then I realized that it’s their three-month birthday and it all went away. Three months of watching our beautiful girls grow from little handheld babies to full-size laptops. The whole thing is simply amazing — we’ve got a couple great little girls that I couldn’t be more proud of, and I’ve got one great wife who I couldn’t imagine a life without.

So getting up at 1am, 3am, and 5am? Boo hoo hoo. It’s nothing. Sure do love those little girls.

In non-goofy news… tomorrow the girls will get a new ride! Over the weekend Mystique and I decided to buy a 2002 Honda Accord SE V6 that our local Honda dealer had. We were torn between it and a 2002 CR-V (and a 2005 Civic Si, but that two-seater never really had a chance) and went with the Accord because we’ve already go tthe Trooper, so why get another SUV. I’m pretty jazzed about it… it’s fully loaded and should keep the girls safe and sound while giving mom and dad a nice, solid car that we can hang on to for a while.

That’s about it… back to work so I can get home to my three favorite girls!

jason

Well now that Jason and I are seasoned veterans at locating smiles we are on the prowl. This morning Jason swears that Lela smiled at him and I don’t doubt it (I did not see it mind you). Then when I was feeding her I know that she smiled in response to a painting of a tiger that I did in her room. She was just staring at it and when I said do you like the tiger, she smiled. Sigh……

It is so fun to see them change and grow and meet these little milestones. Yesterday she even stuck her legs down and held her own body weight for a second or two for the first time. She has been quite floppy, not wanting to hold her head or put any weight on her legs. But yesterday she pulled up with her arms in Grammy Haslups lap and then held her own weight on my lap. Little things that bring so much joy.

We can’t wait for her first giggle. Lord knows just the sight of her mom and dad is enough to laugh at.