Girls' Weekend Plus Four Months Old (Adjusted)

Matt was gone for most of the weekend celebrating the end of Steve's bachelorhood, so it was just me and the girls.  No wild parties or crazy shopping sprees, but we did have a good time spending time together.  And, as a side note, today the girls are four months old, based on the adjusted age.  The other milestone is Abby has been home from the hospital now for four months (yup, that's an easy one to remember - same day)! 

Happy Birthday, Karen

Today is Karen's birthday, and so yesterday (Friday) the girls surprised her with very special onesies!  I think she liked them. ;)  Afterwards we had a mini photo shoot (of course).

Random Shots ...

...otherwise known as a photo dump.  Lots of cute pictures of the girls this week (as always)!

Flying the Friendly Skies

Look!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's...Hazelbear!

A Tale of Two Nights

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...and is a great success story (so far).

Friday night, the girls slept okay, and as usual (lately) Abby woke us up around 7 on Saturday.  Breakfast time!  We did our usual eat-play-nap cycle (with a walk thrown in during the playtime, which Merry especially loved).  At about the normal time, we fed the girls again ("elevensies") and then had a play period again.  But, instead of going down for a nap at the usual time (12:30/1:00), we put the girls in the car and went to the NICU reunion.  So, end result, the girls missed their second nap and never took their third (optional-yet-not-really-optional) nap.

Papaw Visits His Girls

We had an unexpected but welcome visitor this weekend!  Matt's dad called on Friday; his weekend had opened up, and he wanted to make a quick trip to see the girls.  Of course!  And, fortunately, the house wasn't in too bad of shape for visitors (aside from the various baby items strewn all over the living room...but that's par for the course, I think).

It Was A Good Idea, In Theory...

The girls were super fussy and didn't want to go down for a nap on Saturday, so Matt pulled out his guitar and started playing/singing to them, in the hopes it would calm them down.  No such luck:

NICU Reunion

We attended our first NICU reunion this afternoon.  After loading up the car with the girls and the stroller, we took the still familiar drive up north to St. Davids.  The girls napped in the car, but were awake when we arrived, and after shaking off the sleepies had a great time looking around at all of the people and activities (geared mostly toward older kids, like a bouncy house, face painting, and a balloon artist).

Feeding Strategery*

Back when the girls first came home from the NICU, I told several people that (in my opinion) while one person could handle twins, the better number was two adults (man coverage) or, optimally, three adults (Cover 1 defense) for two babies.

Exersaucer-ing Plus the Hollywood Pose

Each morning after breakfast, the girls spend some time playing.  Matt and I enjoy this time (as much as you can instead of sleeping), since both Hazel and Abby are usually in a good mood which equals laughing, babbling, and lots of smiles.  (Smiles are the BEST.)

Two Little Monkeys...

Cute coordinating outfits with monkeys on them...so of course I have to take pictures:

Blog Dump

If there are still any readers out there, sorry for the long delay in posts.  I've been keeping up with writing on the blog, but it took me awhile to finally add all the pictures.  So, without further ado, I'll be publishing the last two months or so of posts and pictures.

And, hopefully, I won't get this backlogged again.  :)

Baby Jenga

Or Twister?  You decide...

Baby Conference

Yesterday morning the girls had a conference to discuss the state of affairs. Topics included milk, playtime activities, and pooping. 

Horseys, Jumperoos, and a Whole Lotta Lovin' Goin' On

My parents came into town this weekend to visit the girls.  They were so excited to see them!  For the 24 hours Mimi and Granddad have been here, the girls have been covered (and covered) with kisses.  It's pretty cute.

Les Petite Princesses

On the way back from a hearing last week, I stopped at the Disney outlet store and couldn't help myself.  So, without further ado, meet Hazel aka Rapunzel (pink & purple) and Abigail aka Cinderella (blue):

There And Back Again

Abby can go from happy to sad to happy again pretty quickly.  Here's a series of pictures from a few days ago...I was trying to capture her recent trick, pouting, on film.  BTW, these pictures are posted chronologically and taken in the span of a few minutes.

Six Month Pediatrician Appointment

It was a crowd!  Matt, Karen, and I, plus the girls, plus two car seats, all in one not very big room.

Hazel weighed in at 13 pounds, 8.5 ounces, and 22 3/4 inches long.  Abby was 12 pounds, 10 ounces, and 22 1/4 inches.  Little chunks!  Dr. Ramirez said they looked great.

Happy Six Months!

The girls are SIX months old today (and 3.5 months adjusted)!  Hard to believe their half birthday is here!  Seems like they knew it was a special day, because both woke up in really good moods (and slept until 7:15 am or so, as an added bonus).

Their six month pediatrician appointment is tomorrow, so that's when we'll get the next length/weight measurement.  I think they get shots tomorrow too, and since Matt will be there, he'll get to enjoy that experience (which includes Hazel turning into a tomato).

Babble Babble Babble

Abby likes talking, which is super cute. But notice Hazel's reaction to all of this chattering in the video...

Best Friends In Training

Such cute pictures of the girls.  They already look like they are going to be best friends....I love that.

Schedules

Current typical day:

0700 hrs  wake up, bottle (6 oz), playtime

0900 hrs  naptime!

1100 hrs  second bottle (6 oz), playtime

1300 hrs  naptime!

1500 hrs  third bottle (6 oz), some playtime

1630 hrs  optional third nap (although the girls almost always take one)

1800 hrs  wakeup, play

1900 hrs  bottle (6 oz)

1930 hrs  bedtime

We've been following this schedule for a few weeks (started the last week of August) and the girls seem to have adjusted really well to it, Hazel in particular.  My joke about that is according to birth order theory, firstborns tend to like schedules/routines/rules, so Hazel being one minute older than Abby (and thus the first born) seems to have made a huge difference!  :)

There have been a few times when the girls - Abby mainly - have woken up during the night.  If it is before Matt and I go to bed, we've usually just waited a few minutes and she goes back to sleep.  If it's in the morning (normally around 5:45/6 am, if they do wake up), we'll give them the Wubbanub (along with this schedule, we also stopped giving them the pacifier to go to sleep - it definitely seems to have lessened the wakeup/pacifier/wakeup/pacifer/etc cycle we had been in for the few weeks prior).

Abs does the touchdown pose in her sleep.

Hazel likes sleeping on her stomach now.

What can happen if we follow the schedule... ;)

Visitors

We've had lots of people come by to visit the girls.  I didn't snap pictures of everyone (bad me), but know that every visit, meal, offer of help, etc, was greatly appreciated.  Thank you so much for being a part of our lives.

The Chavarrias with Abby in June.

Hazel, Darcy Jane, and Abby in early July.

Uncle John and Aunt Toni with sleepy girls in July.

James and Hazel.

Jenna and Abby.

The pot pie (which was really tasty) brought by the Dennehys.

Marshall Parks (his birthday is four days after theirs, but he was full term).

Cousin Matthew, in town for his monthly graduate class in August.

Our NICU nurse Rachel visiting over Labor Day weekend.

Rolling Back to Front

Hazelbear has a new trick!  

Denim Darlings

My friend Lynda purchased denim dresses for the girls when she was here for my shower in March.  The girls fit in them now, and so I got them dressed up for when Matt got home from his business trip yesterday.  How cute is this?

Good Morning, Daddy

With Matt out of town the last few days, it's been just me getting up and feeding the girls each morning.  Fortunately, the girls have been good sports about it, and every day I've been able to feed one (Abby, usually) before the other wakes up (Hazel, usually).  And, afterwards, we get in some play time before Karen arrives (also allowing for a pumping session).

Almost every day, though, I've sent a picture to Matt of the girls after eating.  They like posing for Daddy, I think:

Tuesday:  Abby (l) and Hazel (r) contemplate a week without Daddy.

Hazel likes munching on her fingers.

Abimus gives a quizzical look.  "Where's Daddy again?"

 

Wednesday:  Good morning Daddy!  

Thursday:  Hi Daddy! So far Mommy hasn't let us miss a meal!

Saturday:  Daddy, um, we hear it's football season but Mommy won't let us watch.
You need to talk to her about that.

Sunday:  Hi Daddy!  Playing on the mat is fun.  Can't wait until you're home!

 Life without Daddy.  Has it been a week?  Seems like forever.  

Monday:  Yay!  We hear Daddy comes home today!

Football Season is HERE

Yesterday was the opening day (of sorts) for the college football season.  Thanks to the girls, I was up early and able to watch the Notre Dame/Navy game, which started at 8 am local time since it was being played in Ireland.  Beth came over to watch her Penn State Nittany Lions (who unfortunately lost to Ohio), and then *late* last night my Sooners finally took the stage against UTEP in El Paso.  Ugh, what a miserable performance...they better get better quick, because that wasn't pretty at all.  And, of course, I've gotten used to going to bed earlier now, so a 9:15 start time - with a halftime at 11:30 - just about did me in.  Steve, who came over to watch part of it that night, even told me I needed to go to bed.

But, lest you think this turned into a football blog, no worries!  

Caught Red Handed

It's all fun and games until someone grabs an ear...