Never a dull moment... our daily walks!

J & S have really been great the last few months as I have tried to get into the habit of walking every day.  Since going to the gym during the day is next to impossible at this point, walking with the babies has been my number one method for getting back into shape post-twins.  We have been blessed to have a great neighborhood friend with a daughter a year older than them that can walk with us.  Having someone to walk with motivates me to walk longer and further... most days averaging between 4-5 miles :-). 

J & S seem to really enjoy getting out in the fresh air, and they definitely nap better on days that we get out and about.  The double jogger from the West Point Flea Market has definitely come in handy and I really feel like I have put that $60 to good use... (plus I know what I do and don't like about it for when we have to upgrade).

I love watching the two of them interact and play while we walk and really enjoy the way they cuddle up against each other while we are walking, often even holding hands (sweet, right?).

Here are a few of our entertaining stories from recent walks:
Last week we are walking along and I see that Savannah is holding a leaf.  It must have blown into her lap while we were walking and she was trying to figure out what to do with it.  She is just staring at it, but knowing that everything ends up in the mouth these days I check to make sure it is whole and take it away... immediately she starts coughing and I realize she has already eaten one... I got the whole thing out of her mouth since she didn't seem to be able to chew it and she recovered pretty quickly.

On Monday we were walking and I watch as Savannah reaches over and yanks on Josh's hair.  Now this should not surprise me since she pulls mine every chance she gets, but for the life of me I could not get her to stop.  So, in order to calm Josh I walked for a while carrying him and pushing Savannah... when that got to be too much, I reclined both of their seats so that Savannah couldn't reach across the divider to torment him anymore... and I added the backpack carrier to the basket underneath to combat future problems...

Today I was pleased to hear Josh laughing hysterically until I look down to find out that he is laughing cause Savannah has his fingers in her mouth...  The poor boy had bite marks all over his fingers from his sister's six teeth... and he found it incredibly amusing. 

This weekend I will be out searching for a new "chew toy" to keep Savannah entertained while walking!

Nine month pictures...

It has definitely become harder to get Josh and Savannah to sit still long enough for a picture these days.  So this month we took as many pictures as we could as quickly as we could in order to get some of them in their "chair."

I also threw in a few of them wearing hats that I had made earlier this year.  Now that we are walking in cooler weather in the  mornings, I am trying to get them to wear hats when we got out... but in true Savannah fashion, it only stays on her head for a few minutes!

Some of our nine month shots:

 

With their hats on:

Showing off her sharp new teeth:

Holding off the blue eyed monster!

I can't say enough how incredibly blessed that Ben and I are to have these two miracle babies.  God is so good!

9 Months Old Already???

Yesterday marked 9 months since the twins were born.  Today we had our nine month appointment at the Well Baby Clinic. 

It was an interesting visit since I made the trip by myself.  We got to the clinic and in the front waiting room they have you strip the babies down and they give you a clipboard with the Age screening paperwork to fill out (in NY we got this in the mail prior to the appt to bring with us).  And at this point, I had to park and leave the stroller... So, with two babies stripped down to their diapers, and diaper bag in tow, I took them to get their weight and height checked.  I got to hold one baby on the scale while holding the other one... then we were led to another waiting room.... where we got a twenty minute powerpoint lesson on what milestones they should have reached and what to expect before their next appointment (This was actually impressive... besides the fact that I had two squirming babies in my lap and was supposed to be filling out the whole clipboard of paperwork!).  About halfway through the exam, the wonderful saint of a Nurse practioner went and got my stroller for me... so that I would not have to hold both babies... I LOVE HER! 

Here are the stats from our visit (this is the first time that they have adjusted for their premature birth, so the numbers are a little higher than usual):

Joshua is 28 1/4 inches tall (80%ile)
His weight is 16lb14oz (12%ile)
His head circumference is 45cm (42%ile)

Savannah is 28 1/2 inches tall (96%ile)
She is 16lb14oz- the exact same weight as Josh again (48%ile)
And her head circumference is 45cm (49%ile)

After checking their soft spots, the doctor said that Josh's has completely gone away.  He seems to have made adequate growth since their last appointment, but she wants to see him back in 5 weeks to check it again and make sure his head is continuing to grow.  His soft spot should definitely still be there since it is not supposed to go away til 12 months and he was a preemie she said.

She also was a little concerned about Josh's weight.  He is 4%ile (red zone) for his weight based on birth and she made some recommendations for getting him to eat more food.  She recommended switching to a formula enriched with rice starch or mixing rice cereal into his pumped milk or bottles, but I don't think we are ready to go that route... so for now, I will just try to feed him more!!!!


The latest milestones:

Joshua is pulling up to a standing position pretty regularly.  He loves climbing the stairs to the bonus room whenever he gets "set free."  And he crawls at top speed and loves being chased!  He is working on teeth 3 & 4 right now and really loves teething rings... he also loves to have his gums rubbed.  He has not started having stranger anxiety yet, and gives everyone he meets the biggest smiles!

Savannah is starting to pull herself up as well and is finally starting to crawl with her belly off the ground!  She cut her 3 & 4 teeth last week and OY! is getting 5 & 6 this week.  She loves chewing on teethers and biting ANYTHING she can get her hands on (to include me... my fingers, my ears, my cheek & my nose... just to name a few...).  She has started getting overwhelmed by strangers and a little clingy, but it probably hasn't helped that she started teething right after the ear infection passed.  She LOVES her daddy more than anything and cries whenever he leaves the room. She gets more excited then me when he comes home at the end of the day!




***And since our photographer is not around any more... and I am just not as good about taking pictures (and uploading them)... the nine month pictures will have to come on another day :-)!

First ear infections (seriously... does that have to be a milestone?)

So the twins just finished fighting their first ear infections.  Josh had been pulling on his ear for a few days so I made an appointment for him to get it checked out.  The doctor couldn't see Savannah the same day, but recommended having her looked at as well, so we made a trip to the emergency room after leaving Josh's appointment.  Josh had an ear infection in one ear, and Savannah had one in both... so they both enjoyed their first antibiotics... :-(  Luckily we are all happy and healthy once again!