meet me in st. louis

the boys took their first plane trip this weekend. we left on saturday for a wedding on sunday and returned to austin on monday - what a whirlwind! the boys did amazing. on the way out, they slept at take-off and woke up at landing. coming home was a little trickier, as our flight was delayed a few hours, which put us right at their bedtime (typically a fussy time). here's abie catching a snooze on dad at the gate:



they were troopers, though. abie managed to make the biggest poo of his life on the flight home, just as we were hitting weather and the pilot turned on the seatbelt sign. this one couldn't wait, though.

leelee and papa drove down from chicago to meet us in st. louis and they watched the boys for us while we went to the wedding. they couldn't believe how big the boys were and ozzy and abie wowed them with their rolls, updogs, standing, giggles and smiles. here's leelee and papa with ozman:



it was quite a production leaving home for 3 days. i can safely say that we overpacked - but better safe than sorry. the only thing we would have done different is had two small diaper bags - one for me and one for jordan - because the enormous one we were lugging around was a pain in the butt. all in all though, the trip was a huge success and we are very proud of our traveling troupe!

work

i was intent on going back to work after having the boys, however within minutes of giving birth, jordan and i started talking about how we could make it work for me to stay home. we own a rental property on the other side of town and have put it on the market to supplement my salary for a few years. hooray! i will dearly miss all my friends and colleagues at the texas historical commission, and hope to go back to work when the boys get a bit older and start school. at the beginning of the month, the wonderful folks at the agency threw me a delightful farewell party in the garden of the 19th century building we office out of. i think it was just an excuse to see the boys!

me and the boys with anne, amy and andy



my boss larry with ozzy (larry grabs a hold of these babies and just won't let them go - he's the grandfather of 1 year old twins, so has LOTS of experience!)

happy birthday boys!

the boys turned 5 months yesterday and in celebration we took them to get weighed (i know this won't cut the mustard for b-day celebrations in the future!). for posterity sake, ozzy weighs 13lb 7oz and abie is right behind at 13lb 4oz. i am getting so excited about the prospect of feeding them solids in just one month. we frequently talk about all the delicious things they will try - sweet potato, banana, fresh green peas, apricots, plums, pink lady applesauce - what a gastric delight!

growing up

i feel like every day the boys do something new - or something clicks inside their brains, and all of a sudden they are playing with a toy in a new way or doing something unexpected.

over the past few days, here's how our boys have been developing:

- both boys now mimic me when they see me eating. they make the cutest little mushing/munching motions with their mouth!

- ozzy has taken a keen interest in my glass of water! he watches intently and then grabs the glass and pulls it to his mouth. at first i spoon fed him some water. now i let him drink it right out of the glass and he loves it!



- we put together the exersaucer and the boys are enthralled. they love all the toys, especially pushing the buttons that make the animal noises. i didn't know if they were ready for it and they totally exceeded my expectations. i would show abie once how a toy worked and he would repeat my action immediately. so cool!



- the boys are really aware of matilda now and look for her and even pet/touch her face. they haven't started to laugh at her yet, but i hear from friends that this is soon coming...we can't wait (and neither can mati!). here's oz reaching out for matilda.



- the boys are also propping their feet up on the stroller "bar," which reminds me of being in grade school and wedging my feet up on the seat in front of me on the bus, or putting my feet up on the desk. it's hysterical!

- ozzy is seriously physical and only stays on his back long enough to flip to his tummy. he does push ups, up dogs and is intent on moving himself in all directions. he exclusively sleeps on his belly. abie is very non-chalant about rolling. it's very funny actually because when he does go for it, he'll fake a stretch and hang out munching on his hand. just in case he doesn't make it...he wasn't really trying, anyway!

- peek-a-boo is their absolute favorite game. they laugh their butts off every time. they are also super ticklish on their sides. their favorite sound is a high-pitched kissy noise. i think i am their favorite toy right now. they can amuse themselves forever grabbing my nose and lips, which is a perfect opportunity for me to kiss their hand!

adios

we did it! we officially eliminated the middle of the night feed for the boys. it was becoming ridiculous, waking them up at 2am to feed them a few ounces, all of us in a sleepy daze. so we decided to give cold turkey a try last night and low and behold...the boys slept right through it and continued to sleep until their usual 6am wake up time. now that's some glorious sleep!

father's day love

j taking the boys on a tandem bjorn walk! abel shows off his guns.


ozzy delighting in his cobra. you should see his full-on up dog!


abie and dad

nanna nan

the boys spent a glorious week with their nanna nan who visited from chicago. nanna had them in stitches most of the day with her crazy antics, funny facial expressions, kissy noises and nursery rhymes. we took the boys out to eat a few times, went on lots of walks, did some shopping, but most of all we played, played, played! we were all very sad when nanna left.

summer fun!

the boys took to the pool in true aquarious fashion! now i just need to figure out how to take them swimming by myself. hmmm...whoever comes up with the best idea gets a snow cone!

rolly-poly

oz finally gave us a roll on his gym! when he gets on his belly now, he tries to get his knees underneath. uh oh, i wonder when this kiddo is going to figure the crawling thing out.

the nap easy solution

ozzy roles!

when i went in to check on them during their nap, i found ozzy sleeping on his stomach. he did it! way to go ozzy! now maybe you'll actually sleep during your naps, instead of being obsessed with getting to your tummy. i only wish i had seen the first one, but i know there will be lots of rolls for us to witness in the coming days.

out takes

call it the special features section of the blog! here's a handful pics that just didn't make the cut, but keep us roaring.

four month factoids

here are some basics about the boys at 4 months:

- ozzy weighs: 12lb 8oz abel weighs: 12lb 4oz
- amount of milk they get each feed: 4 - 5 oz
(i know this because i have been a paranoid freak when it comes to breastfeeding and them getting enough. we rented a scale this week that measures by the tenth of an ounce. i can even measure how much comes up with a spit up - gross i know, but this is what happens when you become a parent. btw, for all the parents out there w/ spituppy kiddos, a humungous spit up is about a 1/4 of an ounce, so you have nothing to worry about)
- number of times they eat each day: 6 or 7
- average length of time they nurse each feed: 10 minutes
(btw, nursing has become a pleasure for the three of us. we are back to tandem feeding and have become fast and efficient. i can't believe we made it to 4 months...it's going so well, i may have to revise my 6 mo. goal!)
- number of hours they sleep each night: 11
- number of hours they sleep each day: it's anybody's guess, these boys fight naps like it's their mortal enemy
- number of times we bounce them on the yoga ball to soothe them/help get them sleepy: at least 3 times
- number of times a day we get in the car to take an afternoon emergency power nap: 1

ozzy is "this close" to rolling from back to front. he arches hard and gets to his side with his hips all the way turned to the front. it's the arm that gets in his way, but i think he'll figure it out in a week or so. abie started the arch a while ago, but i guess lost interest in pursuing it the way ozzy has. oz practices in his crib, every time he's on the play gym, etc. it's a compulsive thing for him and he won't rest until he gets it!

abie had his first swim yesterday at deep eddy, a natural spring fed pool that's on town lake. the water was COLD, so i wasn't sure how he'd react. he loved it! i kept him close to my chest with arms around him and he wasn't fazed the least. and he looked super cute in his board shorts! ozzy napped the whole time we were there, which was a good thing because i wasn't sure how i would manage two in the pool. i actually had my mesh sling with me, thinking i could wear ozzy and hold abie...maybe another day.

they are both talking so much now, babbling to their hanging animals on the play gym for sometimes 15 minutes. they love to rough house with mom and dad and giggle up a storm when we "rawr" at them while tickling their tummies. they both are enchanted by the outdoors and immediately settle when we take a walk in the stroller, in the bjorn, go for a car ride, or just sit them in front of the window.

they also recognize each other all the time now, which has become a bit of a distraction for them while nursing. they stare at each other and then start smiling and cooing. ozzy seems particularly interested in abie and talks to him all the time, as well as grabs his hand and arm and pulls himself over to face him.

we think they are teething; they are drooling A LOT and naw on things, especially our knuckles, at every opportunity. we do sit ups and squat exercises throughout the day, where i pull them up by their hands to a sit position and then they push themselves up to a stand. they absolutely love to be on their feet and have really strong legs, but we're trying to emphasize belly time and sitting first.

we love our lives with these boys!!! i honestly can't imagine being any happier or more in love.

mack daddies part II

mack daddies

abel stylin' it with dad


oz-man


the boyz

abel cracks up

this was taken a few weeks back when my brother was here. mark had abel in stiches, which is not hard to do most of the time!

time

the boys will be four months old this sunday. well, that's four months to the date of their birth - the 27th. they already hit the 16 week mark last weekend, but calendar time and weeks old time (translated into months) don't quite coincide, and i never know which one to actually use. i guess it really doesn't matter, except when someone asks me how old they are and i accidentally say two weeks younger then they actually are. time certainly does fly.

i met a new friend in our neighborhood who has a 4 week old boy. it's great having a walking partner during the day, another adult companion to swap stories, laugh and kavetch about motherhood and other things. i love sqwaking to the boys about anything and everything during our walks, but it's nice to have a compadre. tonight we went for a walk and her boy had a melt down mid-way. it brought me back to 3 months ago, when motherhood felt a lot more uncertain - is he too warm/too cold? is he hungry? maybe a wet diaper? does he not like the stroller? too windy? and then desperation sets in and your heart breaks because your baby's cry has turned into a high pitched quivering wail. i felt like a seasoned pro during this episode, offering her my best suggestions and my calmest energy. and not that i am a seasoned pro by any means. it's just that so much happens in 3 months. you learn so much about your baby(ies), what makes them tick, how to soothe them, etc. you also learn so much about yourself and how best to handle situations. and they learn so much about being in this world. it seems like just yesterday, and yet an eternity away, that my boys were this young. and i loved the time that they were so small and precious. but it's a whole different ball game now that we smile and giggle at eachother, have coo conversations, go for long walks where they are mesmerized by the world around them, etc.

every day they do something that amazes me. today ozzy spent 10 minutes smiling and giggling at himself in the mirror while on his tummy (i think we finally found the key to making tummy time enjoyable for him!). he also grabbed the rattle with both hands and spun the rings around to make it sound. abel rolled from his back to his side yesterday and spins around each night in his crib so that his head ends up where his feet were. they both have been sleeping 11 hour nights for a week now and we can lay them in their cribs awake at bedtime and they put themselves to sleep within 10 minutes - no crying at all! the nursing challenges i struggled with seem like a distant memory, even though it's only been a week since the improvements started. i actually enjoy breastfeeding these munchkins now! my motto of "it changes as fast as it changes" never lets me down.

so at four months we find ourselves in a very good place and i look forward to every new day with my family - my incredible and loving husband, two healthy and happy boys, the sweetest dog in the world, and even a quirky cat i have grown to love. time is an amazing thing.

sleep update update

j and i toasted to ferber tonight. it's that good. last night and tonight the boys went down with ease. not a peep from ozzy both nights and he was sound asleep within minutes. abie fussed for a few minutes, which turned into talking for a minute, which turned into sleep. 5 minutes tops for both of them to reach dreamland. since we started doing this, the boys are eating like champs and napping better. my breastfeeding challenges from the past few weeks have all but vanished and they are back to tandem nursing. they aren't even spitting up as much! it makes me think that all along they may have been sleep deprived.

we love sleeping babies!!!

mother's day bliss

what a priveledge for me to spend my first mother's day with my mom on her 39th. it's really something to take a step back and witness how your mom has influenced you becoming a mother - your style, disposition, how you handle difficult situations. jordan said to me recently how much of my mom he sees in me. i've always been compared to my dad in both personality and looks, but i think now more than ever i'm taking on my mom, which is such an honor for me. when i think of my mom i think of unconditional love, complete generosity and giving of her joy and spirit, a groundedness to her actions, a calm, sensitive anf patient soul. i also think of the fun we always had growing up - just going to the grocery store was an adventure. if i can be even a little bit of these things to our boys, i'll consider it a success.

grandma and the boys


and w/ ozzy


we spent this special day with my sis-in-law at the crossings spa, while mark and jordan were with the boys. it was a gorgeous day and we hiked, swam in the infinity pool overlooking the balcones canyonland and lake travis, and had amazing massages. i got a watsu, which is a water massage. it was a transforming experience, a dance in the water. the woman who gave me this experience, judy, is a true artist and healer and this is her gift to the world. everyone should have the priveledge of this experience...the world would be a different place.

pure relaxation!

family

this week and last was full of family. my mom came in on her birthday last week and my bro and sis-in-law came in from minnesota over the weekend to meet the boys for the first time. it was so much fun having the boys meet their uncle and aunt. mark had the boys in hysterics most of the time and laura had a wonderful calming energy and had these spirited boys sleeping for their naps in no time.

here mark and laura take the boys for a walk with matilda and give mom an awesome hour to take a bath and relax!

sleep update!

holy cow was last night awesome. abie stayed a textbook case and woke up in 7 hours to eat. but the oz-man slept for 9.5 hours!!! now i'd say that's sleeping thru the night by anyone's definition. we'll see if this was just a fluke or if oz is truly a sleeping prodigy like his mom. go oz go!

sleep

we started "ferberizing" the boys this week. it was a tough decision, but after a lot of discussion and soul searching, we decided they were ready and this was the method to use. up until now, they have both been great sleepers, just not great at going to sleep. we would spend lots of time bouncing them on the stability ball to sleep, then very carefully laying them in their crib so as not to wake them. inevitably one would wake up and the whole process would start over. we realized we were perpetuating a very bad habit, one where they were totally dependent on us to sleep, which poses a lot of problems, especially when i'm alone with them.

wednesday night was our first venture. they both cried - ozzy dozed after 45 minutes and abie an hour. they slept a full 7 hours, woke to eat, and went right back down without a peep. it was delightful and they were happy campers in the morning. last night went even better. ozzy didn't even cry and was off in dreamland within 5 minutes. abie was more textbook and cried for 25 minutes before dozing.

i know this technique is not for everybody, and i seriously had my doubts going into it and searched for a gentler approach. j and i are really excited about how well they have done, however, and the freedom that this technique has given us. and i'm looking forward to using it to establish solid napping during the day once the boys have mastered going to sleep at night. they are both so spirited that it makes sleep during the day pretty difficult...but one step at a time.

now abel is sleeping....


and now he's not...

it just doesn't get much better

(ozzy is miraculously on the right of all these photos)

twin talk

we get a lot of attention when we go out. it's inevitable, the twin thing and all. what surprises me though is how much of that attention comes from other twins/parents of twins/etc. every time, and i mean EVERY TIME, we go out, we meet another twin or twin parent. and they are always so excited to introduce themselves and meet the boys. yesterday at whole foods i met three other twins - a 20-something fraternal brother all punked out, a 40-something balding identical, and a classy fraternal woman in her 50s. i get hugs from perfect twin strangers almost weekly. it's almost some freaky clan or subculture that you don't know about until you unknowingly become one. i love it. and i can't say it enough, it beats the moron non-twins that can only say inane things like "double trouble" when you walk past.

here are some twin tidbits about the boys so far:

- they hold hands when they nurse (sometimes more aggressively than others)
- they stare, and i mean stare, at each other
- they sleep in the same crib (which is getting smaller and smaller)
- they never dress the same
- sometimes we confuse them, even though they are fraternal
- it's rare that they cry at the same time. when one freaks out, the other is usually dead calm and will do something hilarious like start laughing or wink at me
- they almost never wake each other up when one is crying, flailing about, etc.
- they kick eachother in the head/face/body all the time when on the play mat and could care less

mirror face

one of the boys' favorite thing to do is have mommy and daddy play with them in the mirror. we can spend hours looking at our reflections, singing songs, kissing the boys' heads, laughing and other general merriment. the boys are always looking at us in the mirror - we can't wait until they recognize themselves and eachother!

ozzy on his tummy-tum-tum

three month turn

we can't believe the boys turned three months old last friday. i never quite understood the cliche, "how time flies" until we had these boys. it has truly been a glorious whirlwind and i can't wait for the next 3 months.

the boys are now 10 lbs. we had a bit of growing "pains" over the past month where ozzy put on very little weight. we have it under control now and he's back on track. two weeks ago, abel had him beat by 6 oz. now, he's upped abel by an once. i have a feeling this is only the beginning of many competitions between the two!

feeding has been our biggest challenge to date. i'm nursing them still, but they're just not getting/taking in enough. so we're supplementing a few times a day with either pumped milk or formula, depending on what we have on hand. i've made it my goal to breastfeed these guys until 6 months, and after that, all bets are off. i feel very ambivalent to breastfeeding these days. sometimes i love it and i feel an incredible intimacy with them during. other times i just don't think i can do it anymore.

sleeping is where most babies/parents struggle, but this is one department where the boys really shine. they've been sleeping 5-6 hour stretches since they were 8 weeks old and it just keeps getting better and better. they switch off who can sleep the longest, many times going for 7 hours!!! we struggled with when to stop swaddeling them, and finally kicked it about a week ago. the first two nights were tough, and thank god we had my best friend and her boyfriend in town, as they helped out tremendously. the boys just didn't know what to do with their arms, after sleeping the past 3 months with them burrito-ized. they would flail about doing crazy kung fu arm thrusts and wake themselves up every few minutes. by the third night, though, they were used to it and back to sleeping like champs. now they snooze in sweet little sleep sacks, which keep them cozy warm without the risk of a blanket. we just now instituted a bedtime ritual consisting of a bath, massage, a few books (which they usually sleep through), and then a bottle of either breast milk or formula. they usually zonk out before we even feed them (typically around 9pm), so we are going to move up their bedtime to an earlier hour and hopefully it will all make more sense. it's funny doing this whole routine that is intented to get a baby to fall asleep with two babies who crash out right after the bath!

the boys are also great companions to go out with. we try and get out every day, either to run errands or visit friends, or just to go for a walk. we also take them out to eat with us all the time. j and i enjoyed a lovely dinner at the south congress cafe on friday night and the boys just snoozed away next to us in the booth. we are also part of a new moms/babies class every friday morning. there are about 7 moms and babies and we sing songs, swap stories and talk about the joys and challenges of being a new mom. i love being part of this group and it makes it so much easier to soothe a fussy baby (or two!) when you are with a community of other moms and babies. i just don't understand why we have this culture of "doing it alone" here in the states.

the boys are doing all the typical 3 mo. stuff like clasping their hands, grapping-swatting-smiling at their toys, drooling a lot, putting things in their mouths, making lots of noises, laughing and smiling at every thing, etc. they're also doing some atypical stuff like consistently rolling over from tummy to back, mastering a pretty mean cobra and upward dog, wiggling their way arcoss the mat on their bellies, and being able to do awesome leg squats. these boys continue to be the scrappiest boys around.

the many faces of abel

milk coma

oh so content...here is how/where we hang out a good part of each day!

blessing of grandparents

i've been wanting to write this post for a very long time but time has escaped me. now that i have one of my rascals sleeping in the sling as i type, and the other cozy in his bouncy seat, we'll give it a go.

the boys are especially blessed because they have incredibly wonderful, generous and loving grandparents. j and i are blessed even more. we couldn't have handled the past 9 weeks without the support of grandma lee-lee, grosspapa, nanna nan, and recently grandpa mickey.

my mom and dad (lee-lee and papa) hopped on a plane from chicago to austin the morning i gave birth - talk about excited new grandparents! they made sure jordan and i were fed, cleaned the house, walked matilda, doted on ozzy and abel, took on late night feedings, sterilized countless bottles and nipples, ran to babies-r-us for all the things we desparately needed but didn't know about ahead of time, etc. my dad flew the coop after 10 days but mom stayed a full month to help. my mom was my partner by day in feeding and caring for the boys. i will forever be grateful for the month that she gave to us. i was in a crazy state for the first two weeks after giving birth, physically and emotionally, and she was a wonderful stablizing factor for us all. it brought me an incredible joy to see the boys peacefully sleeping on my mom's chest - a joy that you can only realize once you become a mother yourself. and witnessing how gentle and careful my dad was while holding them, their tiny heads cupped in his slender, artists hands...gosh, it brings tears to my eyes bringing back the memories.




the first month passed faster than i could imagine and it was nanna nan's turn to meet her grandsons. j's mom is a bundle of energy but i think we caught her off guard with the business of our household. a notorious bad sleeper, she zonked out for a full 8 hours the second night she was here! nanna was full of songs and nursery rhymes for the boys, and cooked delicous soups and meals for us all. she was a zealous multi-tasker and would manage to clean the house, cook dinner, rock the boys and do laundry all at the same time! my mother-in-law is an incredible woman and i am so lucky to have her in my life. she brought us unconditional love and laughter at a time when the boys went through a major transition and growth spurt. and i got a glimpse at how much fun the boys will have with their nanna as they get older. we were all crying when she left...the next day i was on my own from 8 to 5.




j's dad, grandpa mickey (mark), met his grandsons just a few weeks ago. i didn't know mark that well before this visit, so i didn't know what to expect. he was so hands-on with the boys from the get-go, holding and cuddling them, singing them songs in his deep baritone, burping them, taking them for walks and basically doing anything we asked. it was so wonderful having him in our home and i relished in seeing how much joy jordan found in watching his dad with our sons.





we are ever so grateful for our parents - for the role models they are for unconditional love, kindness and generosity of spirit. we love you!

love this invention

i splurged and bought a sling today. it's absolutely brilliant and oh-so-fashionable! the boys can be snug as a bug in here and i can be hands free. i'm wearing abel as i type this and he's snoozing away.

the one i bought is from zolo wear and made from a solarveil fabric which protects my fair lads from the sun's rays and is very lightweight and breathable for the hot texas summers. check out this great austin company at: www.zolowear.com