7 Months

I am hurrying to get this month number 7 blog up before they turn 8 months!!! Time is flying by and it is amazing to think that we are now closer to their first birthday than the day they were born. I know I say this A LOT but it just does not seem possible!

This post may be heavy on pictures for two reasons...first I have lots of good pics from this month and second sleep has been hard to come by in this house and my brain dose not like to function especially at this time of night (for an ex-nightshifter that is pretty pathetic as it is only 9:20pm)

As for the not sleeping bit....well month 7 was a sleeping roller coaster! And let me tell you, it is a ride that I would like to exit!!!! We started out the month "sleep training" and the first few weeks were "ok"....L has historically been the better sleeper but G was holding his own and I was getting up a few times a night to pat his butt or put his bink back in! So I prematurely thought to myself...this sleep training is easy stuff! Well easy until the wheels fell off, I am not sure what happened but somewhere in the middle of the month the sleep training took a wrong turn and there were nights where there was no one sleeping in this house! We are slowly getting more sleep, but I have come to the realization that sleep is going to be an ongoing battle....one that I used to be determined to win but am now I am willing to settle for a draw. One more thing on sleeping....a quick shout out to my friend Melissa who has twins about 1 1/2 months younger than G & L, she and her husband have also been sleep training and she has gotten me through some days that otherwise I don't know how I would have made it through..either with a text, phone conversation, or facebook post! So...Melissa thanks....I think the reason we both have twins is so that we could become friends!!!!

Both G & L are mobile, which makes life even more crazy! Liza crawled first and she hasn't looked back since. Graham was a few days behind her, although he does this army crawl. He will get up on all fours and try to crawl but then drop down on his belly and just pull himself wherever he wants to go with his arms! Now that they are mobile they are attracted to everything that they are not supposed to touch!! They love electric cords and the furnace vents!

At 6 months they started solid foods...their first veggie was carrots and for the most part both are pretty good eaters, messy, but good! Prior to babies, Chad was meticulous about our hardwood floors, if something was spilled he was always giving me a hard time about it, now it is more of a surprise if there isn't something on the floor. I am told we need a dog to clean up all the food that the babies drop, but adding a dog into this household would probably be the deciding factor of securing my space in the loony bin, so for now we will have dirty floors!!!!

Like I said I have some great photos and would love to include them all but here are a few from the month, I still haven't figured out how to upload video from my flip camera to the blog but hope to soon...

Liza and Graham eating carrots! In the pic of G check them out holding hands..they do this alot when they eat!


We went to Mountaineer Madness...a family pic, one of Daddy and Graham, and Liza and Momma! We didn't stay for "madness" but we did get their "Huggy Bears" signed by Coach Huggs





Fun with leaves and a laundry basket...who needs toys??? Finally found something useful to do with the tons of leaves we get every fall...take pics of babies!!!!



Well that is it... next month standing, hopefully and update on sleeping through the night (HA!!! but a girl can wish), halloween!
Side note both the blue and gold hats and the pumpkin hats were knitted by my mother, I am trying to convince her to go into the baby hat business! I used to knit prior to babies, but no time these days!!!!

6 months

Six months how can that be??????? That is half a year...it seems impossible to me in every way that my babies are on the downhill slide to being a year old!!! On a side not...I can recall a conversation Chad and I had when G & L were around 6 weeks old... it went something like this..."things will be so much easier/better when they are 6 months old"....and to this I say "Ignorance is bliss"! At that point in time we just needed to feel that yes things would be easier! Now that we are at the 6 month mark the conversation should have went like this..."when they are 6 months we hopefully will be getting a touch more sleep and that will allow us to cope with raising two children better"! My friend Pam who is the Momma (and an awesome one too!)of college aged twin girls told me when I was pregnant..."the first 3 months are HELL, but the good news is you won't remember them"...Pammy truer words were never spoken!!!



Ironically on the day of G & L's six month "birthday" it was also the one year "anniversary of Chad and I finding out that there was going to be a G and a L not just a G or a L!!!!! It is amazing to think that one year ago Betsy showed us this on an old grainy ultrasound machine...
Even as a member of the medical profession, I look at the above two pictures in true amazement of the miracle life truly is!!!!

Last week we had our six month check up and the stats are in....Graham weighed in at 18lbs 8oz and 26 inches long....Liza was 17 lbs 14oz and 26.5 inches long! Both have more than tripled their birth weight! But, the most astounding number to come out of the whole visit was that combined 8 shots and two oral vaccinations...can you say OUCH!!!!! But they were not alone, Chad and I also rolled up our sleeves and got our flu shots too! So do you hear that flu???? You are not welcome in the Saas household!

Speaking of the flu, this past month we experienced our first sickness!!! In late September we traveled to Virginia to attend a conference for Chad's job! The first night Liza ends up with a fever! We are in a hotel, I hadn't packed any supplies to deal with this situation, I ended up making a midnight Wal-mart run to gather the things I need (to bad they don't sell Grandmas at the Wal-mart). There was very little sleep that night, the next day things seemed to be getting better to go south quickly! By the end of the night Liza, Graham, and Chad all had fevers! Fun times!!! I escaped the "sickness" until we returned home and then was saddled with it the whole next week! Being sick and being a mom, I've come to realize go together like oil and water...they just don't mix! We are all well again, and thus the reason we could not get our flu shots fast enough!!!! Heck, I'd get 20 if I was allowed!

This month saw the beginning of football season and the two newest Notre Dame fans were ready!!!


Not to worry G & L will be sporting their Mountaineer gear come basketball season!

As you can tell from the first pic in this post both G & L are sitting up on their own!!!! They are still trying to crawl, but cannot get the hang of it yet! There is nothing better and at times nothing funnier than watching them both figure out new things!!

This past month we celebrated my 32nd birthday, we did so by going out to eat and seriously eating the fastest meal in restaurant history to get out of there and back home before there were any major meltdown by either baby or by mom!!! My present was a flip video camera so as soon as I figure it out I can post some videos on here, more for myself but if you want to watch...go right ahead!

I'll end this post with a couple of my favorite pics and also a video clip just to see if I can figure out how to post!
First pic Graham trying to figure out this crawling business!!! Second, Liza with a napkin on her head....anything in her hands she put directly on her head!



Up next month...Hopefully crawling, eating their first food, Sleep training 101 and I'm sure some craziness!

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