First Christmas

The girls' first Christmas was great! We had so much fun being with our family over the last few days.

On Sunday, we went to Great Grandpa's house for dinner with my sisters, my dad, and his brothers. It was fun for the girls to see everyone and meet their cousins. Mark and Kathy gave Violet and Lily Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals and board books. It was the first present they've got to open and Lily loved pulling out the tissue paper!

For Christmas Eve, we went to Grandma's house for a party! The food was DELICIOUS and the girls especially liked the meatballs! My mom throws great parties! Lily was crawling around like a crazy woman and decided it was time to figure out how to climb up stairs! She made it to the top and we all clapped and said Yay!!! Then she did it again!

 

 

Santa came to our house! Santa brought the girls a stuffed animal pillow chair. Violet LOVED hers! She was lounging and checking out her new toys and sucking her thumb. We opened presents, which Lily was sort of getting the hang of, and then headed out the door. We went up to Grandpa's house and had our Christmas morning omelets. Yum, yum. Great Grandpa held Violet while I fed her and she loved the eggs! When it was time to open presents, the girls made a haul! Toys, books, clothes galore! We went back to my mom's house after that for more gifts and lunch. Later that night, we watched Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas together (cartoon version). Our little Violet is so much like Cindy Lou Who! She even looks like her!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a wonderful first Christmas with our girls! They are so precious and sweet. Just think, a year ago I was pregnant and huge and so uncomfortable! I'm so happy our little ladies are so healthy and happy. That's the best gift I could ask for.  

Time Flies

Where does the time go? Violet and Lily are 10 1/2 months old! Updating my little blog has been on the back of my mind for quite a while, but every day is so full. When I do have down time, the last thing I want to do is write! Some find peace or relaxation in writing, but not me! Regardless, here I am. Let's do this!

Violet:
Sits up
Squeals in delight
Purrs
Says "Mama"
Has beautiful, fine, sandy blonde hair
Is very ticklish
Has a squeaky, high-pitched laugh
Is a monkey (loves bananas)
Can pick up and eat small things like puffs
Has one tooth
Baby hyperventilates when she's upset
Waves if she feels like it
Still loves the swing
Hates being on her tummy
Loves standing (with help)
Content to sit on your lap and chill
Started sucking her thumb at 8 months (nerd!)
Sucks only her left thumb with her palm up
Loves reading books
Sleeps like a rock (on her tummy)

Lily:
Sits up
Crawls all over the place
Gurgles and sings
Says "Mama", "Baba", and "Dada"
Likes to whisper
Has crazy long, thick brown hair
Laughs and giggles at everything
Eats everything!
Especially loves spaghetti sauce
Slaps the table when she wants more
Can pick up and eat small things like puffs
Smiles and squints her eyes at the camera
Has two teeth
Waves at everyone (even people on the news)
Is on the go (wild thing!)
Won't sit in your lap longer than about 30 seconds
Pulls herself up to standing and has started to inch around too
Loves bath time with Daddy (splashes, kicks, plays with toys)
Pulls the DVDs off the shelf
Loves reading books

 

I'm lucky I have such amazing, beautiful twin girls! I can't wait to see what is coming next!



Chocolate Balls

I know I haven't posted anything in for-e-ver (working full-time and twin girls keep me pretty busy). If you are reading this you really want to hear about my girls! Sorry. I'll update soon! This one's about chocolate.

 

I have a major sweet tooth after meals. I feel like I NEED dessert. I found these amazing chocolate balls at Costco that are perfectly delicious. They're dark chocolate with acai and blueberry or pomegranate inside. Doesn't sound too unhealthy, right? Well of course Costco stopped carrying them! They have some that are Kirkland brand now but they're just not the same! The chocolate isn't as creamy and the fruit is bleh. As I'm searching up and down the aisles in case they cruelly moved the good chocolate balls, I find dark chocolate and coconut covered almonds. I tried them today in my lunch. Yesssss! All is well. Sweet tooth satisfied.

Baby food

I decided to make my own baby food and I'm so glad I did! It's quick and easy to make. I have a pressure cooker so it's even faster than steaming or baking! Everything cooks in 2-5 minutes. I use the pressure cooker, a stainless steel bowl, my immersion blender (love that thing!), ice cube trays, and quart-size baggies to freeze it. So far I've made sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, green beans, peaches, and zucchini. I've also mashed up bananas and avocado. It's so fun to see the girls' reactions to different foods. We've added in whole milk yogurt too. I'll mix a fruit with that and they really seem to like it, but their favorite is definitely sweet potatoes! I'll add a little olive oil to the veggies for extra calories and I added a little cinnamon to the sweet potatoes. Yum!

We have a little routine down for meal times. After they drink milk, I put them in their high chairs, put their bibs on, and wash their hands with a warm rag. Then I feed them until they aren't interested any more. I wash their faces and hands and then get a small cup of water. Both girls love grabbing the cup (with my help) with both hands and drinking from it. It took a few days of water running down their front, but now they actually drink from a regular cup! It's the cutest thing!

Lily wants to do it herself! She grabs the spoon from me and puts it right in her mouth. I give her a spoon to play with so when she sees the spoon coming, she opens wide and in it goes! She's so eager. I love it! Violet just started grabbing for the spoon, but before she wasn't as sure of solids as Lily was. She'd open her mouth and I'd put a little food in. She'd look at me like, "What in the hell did you just put in my mouth?" I'd say, "It's sweet potatoes, Violet! Yummy!" Then she'd smile with all the food on the tip of her tongue. Half of it ends up on her bib, but that's alright! They're just learning new flavors right now, although I know they need to grow faster so the extra calories are good for them.

We also let them suck/gnaw on big chunks of food. We went to our favorite Thai restaurant last weekend and I gave the girls each a piece of my bell peppers to suck on. They loved it! They also love cantaloupe and broccoli. It's fun to just give them manageable pieces of what we're eating.

They are doing so well, and still drinking a ton of milk so hopefully their weight continues to grow at a steady rate. I just have to remind myself that they were premature and they're twins so it's ok that they're little! They're happy and healthy! What more could I ask for?!

Yummy broccoli!

I love bananas!

Goodbye summer

Summer's coming to an end and I have mixed feelings about going back to work. This has definitely been the best summer of my life, with my two sweet little girls to be at home with. They have grown and changed so much the last few months! They are rolling all over the place, cooing and laughing, and they're almost sitting up on their own. Their little personalities are so precious! They've recently figured out how to do raspberries. It's so funny! I wonder what I'll miss when I'm at work. That's the hardest part! I think I have the best job for being a mom though. School ends at 2:15 and I have every holiday off, including extra days in the fall, winter, and spring, not to mention summers off! I really do love teaching. I'm excited to meet my new students. I spent all day at school Tuesday and my classroom is pretty much ready to go. The girls went to Mary's that day. When I went to pick them up, I heard one of the other kids say, "But I don't want the babies to go!" They already have friends there! I know it's so good for them socially and their immune systems will be stronger from being around more kids. It's such a great day care too. The kids are always playing in the backyard and are laughing and happy. Mary and Val are so sweet and take good care of the kids. I just need to remember that I can work and be a good mom! I have a great example...my mom! She worked full-time, and I can say all three of us sisters turned out alright!

At one of our favorite restaurants.

Working on those raspberries!

The Sandlot

I was able to get tickets to see The Sandlot at THE Sandlot! It really is a sandlot. They just mowed down the weeds and put up a big blow up movie screen. Luckily, we brought a few blankets to sit on. I didn't realize it's on private property, behind some houses on Navajo Street. You actually have to walk through someone's driveway to get to it. Most of the cast was there, as well as the director and producer. They did a little Q&A before the movie, which was a lot of fun! The actors are really funny, especially The Great Hambino! They were all happy to be back to Salt Lake after 20 years. Once the sun went down, we watched the "Making of" and then the movie with about 1500 other people! Some were standing in line for autographs the entire time! Even though it was way past the girls' bedtime, they did pretty good (Lily got a little fussy) and slept well that night too.

At the Sandlot! The cast is in front of the screen.

A coughing kitty

Sometimes when the girls are tired or hungry they get a little fussy. Violet’s fussy cry sounds like a cat meowing! Lily’s fussy cry includes little coughs! It’s actually quite funny to hear them both going! Reowww, cough, cough, reeeowww!

Snuggle buddies

The girls go to bed at 8:00 and have no problems going right to sleep. Ryan and I go in and check on them before we go to bed, usually around 10. Almost every night they are snuggled up together. Sometimes I'll move them apart a bit so they have plenty of room to stretch and so their faces don't get covered. Last night they were right next to each other and Lily was holding Violet's arm. I moved Violet to the other end of the crib, and she immediately rolled back to Lily! A few times Lily has been sleeping on her side and has her legs up on Violet. Other nights we go in and see they are in the exact same position; they have both arms up above their heads or straight out to the sides. Violet smiles a lot in her sleep, sleeps with her eyes half open (apparently I used to do this too), and will sleep on her knees with her bum in the air! Lily will sleep on her tummy with her head face down on the mattress. She's funny because she'll be fast asleep and then lift her head up like she's looking around, and then slam her head face down back to the mattress. She does this about three times before she's settled. We love going in to check on them every night. There's nothing like watching babies sleep. We could watch them all night!

 

 

Six month appointment

We took the girls to their six month well visit today! Violet weighs 10 lbs. 8 oz. and Lily weighs 10 lbs. 14 oz. They're getting taller too! Violet is 24 1/2 inches and Lily is 24 inches! They've gained weight since their last appointment, but apparently not enough. Their weight curves have leveled out a bit. So Dr. Cox said I need to supplement with formula or take some medicine to increase my milk supply. We decided to go with the meds because I worry my supply would drop even more if we gave them formula. She gave me a Rx for Domperidone which works better then Reglan, but isn't covered by insurance. One month supply is $90!!! At first I felt alright with the news that I'm not producing enough, but then I started to feel really guilty. Have they been hungry for two months? Was I taking them off too soon? No wonder I'd only get half of what I needed when I pumped at work. Luckily I had a stock in the freezer. Ryan talked to me and made me feel a lot better. I'm so glad I've been able to breast feed at all! It doesn't work out for some moms. We haven't had to buy formula either, so I really can't complain! The rest of their visit went well. They got their shots and cried just a little. They LOVE Sita and Dr. Cox. They smile, smile, smile for them. We talked a little bit about baby-proofing (ah!) and starting solids. Dr. Cox said to give them avocado every day because it has those healthy fats and should also help them gain weight. We've already had success with avocado and bananas so that should be fun!

Movies

I always make a summer to-do list, and this year is no exception, although my to-do's aren't as big of projects as they've been in the past! Our movies are in alphabetical order, but they've gotten a little mixed up lately and pretty dusty. "Dust and organize movies" was on my list! As I'm going along, I'm thinking, "Wow, we have a lot of great movies! We always end up watching the same ones." I had a brilliant idea to start at the beginning and watch from A to Z. We won't be going crazy watching a movie every night, but now and again if we feel like relaxing on the couch and don't know what to watch, it will be an easy choice! I'm thinking we can sort through them too. If there's a particularly boing one, out it goes! We'll have to go out of order sometimes though...holiday movies especially. Plus the 20th anniversary of The Sandlot is coming up! We hope we can get tickets for July 20th! We'll definitely watch that one soon. So far we've watched 12 Monkeys (#s at the beginning or put that one in the T's?) and Akeelah and the Bee. Next is Almost Famous! Love that movie!

Celebrating the Fourth

The last few days have been busy, busy! On Wednesday, the girls turned 6 months old! I took them to the zoo with my dad, Andrea and Addy, and Demi and Danny. Unfortunately, Ryan and Matt had to work. I haven't been to the zoo in a few years. It's nice to see all the changes they've made to the different animal habitats. The girls were really good! I think they like the different sights, sounds, and smells even though they don't really get what's going on yet. They fell asleep in the stroller after a while. It started to get pretty hot, so we left and went to lunch at Ruth's Diner. The girls were so tired later that afternoon that they napped for almost three hours! That's really long for them.

 

Thursday was the Fourth of July! In the morning, we went up to Park City to escape the heat. The girls love being outside and in their stroller. I have noticed we get a lot more attention when we're in the double-wide than the Snap-n-Go. In the Gap, three Asian girls stopped us and were totally freaking out over the girls! One asked Ryan if she could take a picture and he said she could stand behind the stroller for a picture. They kept telling me how lucky I am (I totally agree) and how cute they are. We also ran into a mom who was shopping with her twins, who are about 20. She said it gets better and better. The girls said they love being twins and are best friends. I love hearing nice things like that! Once in a while people say, "Oh, I'm sorry," when they see we have twins. Ugh! That really gets to me! Anyway, while in Park City, we had a yummy lunch that we ate outside on a picnic table. I fed Lily outside and Violet in the car (we parked in a nice shady, breezy spot). Later we went to my mom’s house for a barbeque. Yummy food and time with family; just what you need on the fourth! The girls were soooo tired! We put them down for a nap before we went to my mom’s, but they didn’t sleep. When we got home, I fed them and then we gave them a bath. We put on the ocean sounds and they went right to sleep! They even slept right through the super loud fireworks the people in the neighborhood set off! In a few years, we’ll be out doing our own! I hope the time doesn’t go too fast!!!

Ryan had to work a half a day on Friday. In the morning, the girls and I went on a nice long walk on the parkway with Sarah, Rob, and the girls. In the afternoon, we were out and about, running errands, when it was getting time to feed the girls. I suggested we go to Sugar House Park and find a shady spot, and then I could feed the girls one at a time. Luckily, I had our picnic blanket in my car. After I fed Lily, Ryan took her to get some dinner from Chipotle. I fed Violet while they were gone. It had been so hot lately and was kind of hot even there in the shade, but a storm was blowing in and it cooled right down for us! The breeze was perfect! While we ate, the girls were all smiles and talking and laughing! We were all so comfortable with that nice breeze! When we were ready to go, we got everything and everyone back in the car, and as soon as we started to pull out of the parking spot, it started raining! Talk about perfect timing! It was so much fun. We need to do more spontaneous stuff! After that, we stopped by Demi’s and Danny’s house for a minute. My dad was there too. It was a lovely evening all around!

Six months

I've been a mom for six months! My girls have grown so much since birth! They're huge to me, but they're still in 3 month clothing so I know they're small for their age! Violet is rolling, has a tooth coming in, and "talks" quite a bit. She's getting close to crawling too. She's got her back end going and snakes around with her head. Lily is a rolling machine! She rolls all over the place! She "talks" up a storm, reaches for your face, and is getting close to sitting on her own. Both girls' smiles will melt your heart!

It's fun to see how aware they are of each other. They reach for one another and smile wide when they see each other. They always look for each other's hands when I'm nursing them. It's so precious to look down and see them holding hands! (Not so great when they've gone for their sister's hair instead!) Ryan and I check on them every night before bed. They are often snuggled up together!

I didn't know that I would love being a mom so much! Violet and Lily have changed my life for the better. I can't imagine my life any other way now! Having two babies at once is definitely the way to do it!!