Party of Four

This was taken by Shelley at Photos By Design here in Clarksburg....she is wonderful! I highly recommend her for any of your photo needs!

5 months

My babies are growing up right before my eyes...We are now 5 months old and changing and doing new stuff everyday! No official doctor's visit, but I did weigh them on a recent visit to the hospital (not a sick visit, just a friendly visit) and Graham was 17lbs 2oz and Liza was 16lbs 7oz...these weights were with clothes and diapers but still that is nearly triple their birth weights!!!

Since last post...Liza is rolling over, they both are eating cereal, they also are loving their exersaucers, and they are starting to develop their own personalities!!! I am going to make a prediction and say that Graham is going to a very kind and gentle soul always wanting to do what is right and be a "pleaser" so to speak, Liza is going to be a dare devil and test the limits and break the rules, she of course is going to be sweet but I also think she is going to be the "dominant" twin.

This post is going to be heavy on the pics because I have a lot of cute ones!!!


My very own Gerber babies ; )



Not sure what they liked more the cereal or the bibs...we have since ditched the bibs because all they did was play with the bibs and not eat!!! (G top photo, L bottom)


Our friends Jamie and Kane were in from NV to do the Med Express Triathlon, we went to cheer them on! Jamie and Kane are avid blog readers so a quick shout out...we love you guys and miss you!! You inspire me to be a triathlete, so I'm setting the goal of being able to do the sprint distance or mini next year!!!


Graham making one of his many Graham faces...the kid really does smile but not when the camera is out!!!

Liza snuggling her favorite pink hippo...who doesn't have a favorite hippo???

Well by next blog I predict some crawling by Graham, and also some improvements to the blog....I have asked (nicely) for a flip video camera so that I can upload video..I don't expect anyone to watch it is mainly for for us!

One last think before I wrap this up...I know that it is human nature to for parents (moms especially) to compare their kids to other kids, even though we know we shouldn't and we know that all kids develop and grow at different rates. Well, I don't have to look outside my own house to be able to compare my kids to anyone I just compare them to each other and I need to stop doing this. With every milestone I am constantly wondering if their is something wrong because one is doing it and the other is not! What I have learned is that I am just witnessing the wide spectrum of normal between the two of them!

4 months

4 month stats:
Graham 14 lbs 12 oz 24 inches long
Liza 14 lbs 23 3/4 inches long

Over the past month they have really started to develop their own personalities....it is pretty awesome to sit back and watch, the funny thing is I can see parts of both Chad and I in each of them.

They have been in competition with each other to see who could roll over first....the winner....Graham! He rolled over for the first time on July 23 and he was kind enough to do it while I was home! At their 4 month mark, Liza was still practicing to get the roll over just right (she's a perfectionist, like her Momma). As I have been watching them attempt to roll over I've noticed that they take totally different approaches...Graham will twist the mid-section of his body and stretch his neck to one side until he is in a corkscrew position, Liza on the other hand will flex her hips so that her feet are straight up in the air and then throw her legs/feet to one side! This reinforces that yes they are twins, but they are their own individual unique self! While typing this I have realized that I have no video of them rolling : ( (Note to self: take videos one day you will appreciated them!)

Things we have been up to:

Swinging: I bought them swings for the back porch and they love them!!!


We went swimming for the first time:




I have to include this pic of Liza...while I was pregnant the ultrasound techs could never get a clear pic of her face as she always had her hands/arms blocking the view. I took this pic of her while she was going to bed one evening...this is how she falls asleep...you guessed it hands over face!



A penny for my thoughts.....(well you don't have to pay me, I'm going to tell you anyhow)!

I have had a bit of what I call "one baby/child envy" lately! Basically I am jealous of those who only have one baby! Now understand I am not saying I would give one or the other of them up...what I am saying is when I go to do things such as make a quick trip into the store or when one is quiet/sleeping and the other is not...there is always that thought that this would be soooo much easier with only one (not to discredit you parents of singletons). Chad gets MAD at me for this and he seems to think that one would not be any easier, so we compromise I won't say easier....how about less interesting!!! I have had people tell me that God "knew I could handle twins" this makes me laugh...I don't know if we are "handling it" but we are getting by sometimes we make it up as we go a long but we get by none the less.

Earlier I said that I haven't taken any video....I just realized that I also have not printed any pictures since they were born (welcome to the age of digital photography)!

The blog is serving it's purpose of serving as a "baby book"! I am not organized enough to do an actual baby book so it was my hope that this blog would take the place of that and it has! In a few moments of my "spare time" I went back and read my entire blog and it amazed me to see pictures of me pregnant and I literally stared at the computer in disbelief that those pics were me and that I carried twins to full term! I know it was only four short months ago, but I am not lying when I tell you that I can hardly remember what it feels like to be pregnant.

On to month 5!!!!

4 years and counting

On July 1st Chad and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!!! We were able to go to dinner at Shogun by ourselves (thanks mom and dad for keeping G & L), it was the first dinner since the babies were born that we ate together where one of us was not holding a baby!!! I was looking back at pics and it made me think the two people in this pic



Had no idea this was in store for them


Happy Anniversary Chad, here is to many more....there is noone I would rather be on this CRAZY journey with!!!

Twins

I am often asked if twins run in my family....I am sure I have mentioned before that Graham and Liza are the 6th set of twins from my maternal grandmother down...so yeah they run in my family (there is possibly a 7th set prior to my grandmother but that has not been confirmed). My mom's extended family got together for a birthday and 3.5 sets of the twins were present here is a pic. Of course Graham and Liza, then there is Eli & Isaac, sons of Theresa who is also pictured with her twin Madea. And then their is Frank his twin Francis was not present. So this pic is called Twin Cousins

Month 3

Month number 3 is a blur to me....So much happened that I don't think that I remember it all!! That is the purpose of this blog, for me to journal and archive so that I can look back and remember, but the fact of the matter is that I don't have time! And when I do find the time, I usually end up doing some other household chore! By the time I get around to blogging I have forgotten everything I wanted to blog about! So this is my best shot at blogging about month 3!

We haven't been back to the doctor, so I do not have any official weights but my best guess is that Graham is on his way to 15lbs and Liza is around 14lbs. That is some super charged milk that they are getting : )

I returned to work on June 7th....now most people ask me how I handled that and then look at me with a pity look, but the truth of the matter is I was ready to go! Now, when I returned I was only working 3 days a week and my mom and mother-in-law are watching them so I didn't feel that added stress of strangers caring for my babies and I was only going to be gone for 8 hour stretches in non consecutive days! I looked at it as an 8 hour vacation and believe me when I say my paid job is soooo much easier than my job here at home! An added bonus is that I like my job! The downside of returning to work (other than leaving my babies) is how organized I have to be, the night before my first day I spent at least two hours ironing clothes, packing my bags (pump, lunch, purse), making bottles, and making sure diapers and such were stocked for the babysitters! Thank goodness the sitters are coming to our house, I can't imagine the nightmare it would be if I had to get myself and two babies out the door, I would never make it there on time!

The sleeping and spitting are going much better! I have felt for a while that Liza would sleep through the night, since Graham woke up to eat I would wake Liza up to eat also. I finally had the guts to not wake her and she slept like a champ! I have since gotten Graham to drop his middle of the night feed, but we still have to get up and put his bink in his mouth! The spitting has decreased but they still have their moments!

We had the babies Baptized on June 6th




Chad's first Father's Day is one that I am sure he would like to forget...we spent it at the funeral home for his Aunt Becky's wake, but we were able to spend some time with some friends at Deep Creek Lake prior to which was a nice break from the sadness. Here is Chad and the dynamic duo sporting their shades getting ready to take a spin on the lake!


My brother Matt was able to make it home from Alabama so that babies got to meet Uncle Matt for the first time in person, we have Skyped many times (love technology) but it's not that same as being there!

I keep telling myself things will get easier, but I have come to the conclusion that some things will get easier and then some other speed bump will come up that throws a wrench in your routine....and this will be a never ending cycle. I have come to the conclusion that around the time of 7-12 weeks it becomes harder (at least I thought so) and my hypothesis is that the adrenaline and newness of it all is wearing off, the sleep deprivation is taking its toll, and you begin to realize (or at least I did) that this is for real!!!!

Now that I look back on the first few weeks, I no doubt had a serious case of the baby blues, nothing out of the ordinary but the baby blues for sure. I thought that I had it conquered and that my teariness and crying spells were over, when I had to miss my best friend's wedding. When I finally gave up hope of being able to attend I was a mess to say the least! First I was missing the most important days of one of my closest friends life and second it was another reminder of how life has changed....don't get me wrong the change has been good, but it has changed none the less. In our pre-baby life Chad and I would have been the first ones on the plane, but now it isn't as easy! I was there in spirit and from the pics that I have seen the new Mr & Mrs. Aye were stunning...Congrats G & T.

Bring it on month #4....I am excited/afraid for what is in store!!!!

Month 2

Well we have survived month number TWO! Where has the time gone??? On May 28th, Graham & Liza (G & L) were two months old! It's funny.....in a way I feel like these have been the quickest but at the same time longest two months of my life!

At their two month check-up...I was surprised at how much they had grown!!! I knew they had gotten bigger, but when you are with them everyday you don't realize exactly how much they have grown! Graham weighed in at 11 lbs 8 oz and was 22 inches long, and Liza was 10 lbs 1 oz and 21.5 inches long. That makes both of them very close to doubling their birth weight...simply amazing! Both of them got a clean bill of health, so we must be doing something right!

Here is a picture of them on their two month "birthday"



Here are my thoughts on Month 2.....
I like to call this month The Month of the S's, by this I mean...Spit, Shots, Screams & Squeals, & best of all Smiles!!!!

Spit....I mentioned in my last post that my kids could spit....well I wasn't lying!!! I think it got worse and now it is getting better (thank you lord). For some reason the spitting about puts me over the edge! I feel like my kids should have a warning label on them....can and will spit at any given time! It obviously is not interfering with their growth, and they do not act like they are in pain so we do not feel that it is anything to worry about. Like the pediatrician said, "they are babies, that is what they do"! But, after I change clothes for the third time in one day....I'm ready to spit myself!

Shots....What's worse than a baby getting shots???? Having two babies getting shots!! They did well getting the shots....it was just the car ride home and then the next 4-5 hours of fussing! I know shots are necessary and I am an advocate of immunizations....but the aftermath in our house was not pretty!!! Acetaminophen was definitely our friend! I also borrowed an adage from my great sensible friend Dennelle....she always told her daughter that the shots hurt, but that they are meant to help her and keep her healthy. Seems right to me, the shots may hurt and the fussing may be mind numbing, but it is a heck of a lot better than getting Tetanus or polio.

Screams and Squeals....my kids have found their voices and they are not afraid to use them! By the end of month one we were able to tell their cries apart....Liza has a higher pitched cry! I think they are also starting to realize that they can make noise and are squealing and cooing just to hear themselves!

Smiles....They are both smiling! I was so excited for this! I have captured Liza's smile on camera, but have not been able to get Graham's. This may sound weird but when I see them smile, it makes all the not so fun times bearable! I just love when they wake up in the morning and smile at me!

Other tid bits....

They have been on a couple of road trips and have done quite well! Chad and I are used to going and doing...we know that a lot of things in life will never be the same as they were, but we are doing our best to adapt to our life with kids but we are also trying to have G & L adapt to our lifestyle!

As I noted on Facebook...I conquered Wal-Mart with both babies by myself!!! I had Liza in her car seat on top of the buggy and Graham was in the Baby Bjorn carrier strapped to me! I got lots of weird looks to say the least! I was proud of myself and I think part of the reason I did it was to prove to myself that I could! Now with that said it is not my preferred way to grocery shop!!!

Still breastfeeding....I'm proud of this too! Back in week #1 I never thought I would make it this far! Like I said before it is hard, but it is rewarding! Not only rewarding....but it is a heck of a weight loss program ;)

Here are a few pics: My first mother's day, Liza smiling, and Graham doing some "tummy time"





Up next month 3!!!!