I'll try to make this short and sweet - giving as many details as possible on the past month without making this too long and unbareable to read, but I feel like the girls have done so much in the past few weeks that it might be hard to keep it short...let's see...
First Halloween...
We left off right before Halloween. The girls will kill me when they grow up for these costumes...
Maddie is the hotdog and Melia is the mustard. We wanted to coordinate the costumes. I originally wanted to do a hamburger and french fries, but that costume wasn't as readily available - so hotdog and mustard it was. It was pretty adorable if I do say so myself. The biggest problem I had on Halloween was the weather. Here I am with the girls dressed in heavy fleece costumes and it was abot 70 degrees out! Of course, we had to make our rounds, going to Aunt Marissa's salon, Nana's house, Grandpa's house and then Aunt Marissa's house to see Uncle Joey and their cousins - so the girls spent a lot of time getting in and out of the car - literally sweating. They handled it so well though. They really are very happy babies - we are very lucky! They wake up talking in the morning and I can listen to it for hours - of course, it would never quite last that long - after about 15 minutes, the talking turns to crying - but on the weekends when I get to be home when they wake up, I love waking up to the sound of them talking back and forth across the room to each other. Madison is more vocal than Melia...she seemingly has a lot more to say, which doesn't surprise me...she's always been the busy-body and I think she'll be the gossip queen. ;-) They are sleeping for about 12 hours overnight now - going down between 8-9pm and sleeping until 8-9am. We've started them on a nap schedule too with them going down immediately after lunch (around 12:30pm and they're napping for 2-3hours). They're eating 6oz every 4 hours now - I just started with the 6oz about a week ago because after certain feedings it seemed like 4 oz wasn't enough. They're not taking the full 6oz at every feeding, but they are for the most part. The dinner feeding (between 4pm-5pm) is consistently their worst feeding of the day. They'll take 3-4oz of that feeding, but they'll usually take their full bottles for the rest of the day. I've been putting 3 scoops of oatmeal in each bottle and they really seem to do well with that. It's funny, they had their check-up and immunizations on November 5th and the pediatrician talked to us about starting them on cereal in December (once they turn 6 months chronologically) and I was a total chicken and didn't tell him that I already started them on oatmeal (in their bottles only, they're not spoon feeding yet, though the doctor wants us to give it a try in early December). He was so insistent about them starting off on rice - and I just didn't want to get into it - the girls are doing so well with it that I figure there's no need for him to know. ;-) At this check-up they had their weights taken for the first time in a while. Madison was 10lbs 9oz and 22 1/2 inches long. Melia was 11lbs 12oz and 23 inches long. They are weighing and measuring great, with Maddie right at the 50th percentile and Lia just above it. It's amazing though how with only a 1/2 inch and a little over 1lb difference between them, there seems to be such a big difference when holding them. The doctor was very happy with their developmental skills, their ability to hold their heads up and their trunk & leg strength. Also at this check-up they got their second round of immunizations and their first synagis shot (the RSV vaccine). They were so tired and as they were falling asleep they got their shots - which seemed to work well for Melia since she got annoyed by the pinch but went right back to sleep, meanwhile Madison did not appreciate being woken up in such a manner and she totally freaked her freak - poor baby - I'll never get used to watching that - but all-in-all they both handled it well. We go back on Thursday for another synagis shot - unfortunately, that vaccine is only good for 30 days, so every 30 days during RSV season (November-April) they'll have to go back for a shot.
First overnighter...
Two weekends ago we had our first overnighter away from the girls, well, I guess that's not technically true since we spent the first 8 weeks of their lives away from them overnight, but you know what I mean. Mike planned a surpise party for my 30th birthday and got a hotel room for us to get a night away. Because of my crazy control freak ways he did end up telling me about the party, but didn't tell me any of the details, like where it was or who would be there. But he felt like he needed to tell me about it in advance because had he sprung an overnighter away from the girls on me, I would've panicked if I wasn't fully prepared. He arranged for my dad to stay at our house for the night so the girls would be home, which also made me much more at ease. The girls, Grandpa, Grandma Rosie, mommy and daddy all did just fine! I wasn't worried at all. I had a great night out and the girls were excellent - or at least that's what we were told. ;-) And for the first time that night, Melia held her bottle on her own for an entire feeding! I go away for one night and she does this! I guess that was my punishment. ;-) She'll teach me to go away without her!
First Thanksgiving...
Last year on Thanksgiving Day I spent my morning in the hospital having the first part of the IVF procedure, the egg retrieval - and I spent my afternoon in bed. Mike was working, so he had taken the morning off to be with me at the retrieval and then went to work. Neither of our familes (with the exception of Marissa) knew that we were even thinking about concieving, so I told my family that I was having dinner with my in-laws and I told my in-laws that I was having dinner with my family - meanwhile, I was home and had a plate of turkey with all the fixins delivered to me bedside by Marissa. It's crazy to think back to one year ago and know that at that point I was just thankful that my doctors were willing to help me try to concieve given my late stage of endometriosis. I was thankful for my doctor's optimism and the mere idea of being able to get pregnant. One year later we've been through so much to get where we are now and I couldn't possibly be more thankful that my children are here and HEALTHY! Thanksgiving will always be special to me because it will forever represent my children - it is the day that they were concieved, albeit unconventionally. This year Mike had to work again, and I really wish that he was home. I picked Grandma up in the morning and brought her back to my house for a dinner with just us. Of course, we stopped by the firehouse to see daddy. And we ended our day at Grandpa and Grandma Rosie's house. It was a busy day toting around the girls on my own and I look forward to 2011 when Mike is finally not working on Thanksgiving!
First Christmas decorating day of fun...
The day after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree and other decorations. We put the girls in their bouncers and I introduced them to my favorite Christmas movie - classic Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer...I really can't get enough of that movie and the poor girls are going to learn to love it, or end up hating it. Haha. After that was over they watched their first baby einstein video, Santa's music box. I have to say, baby einstein is odd - but they were into it. Between the video and the lights on the tree, they didn't know where to look first. I decorated the tree and enjoyed one of the last years that I'll have control over where the ornaments go. ;-)
Other miscellaneous firsts and soon to come firsts...
The girls are now smiling ALL THE TIME! Even Madison who used to make us work for smiles is smiling now just for fun...and now, they're laughing out loud too. They're not extremely consistent with it...something that might make them laugh now, might not make them laugh 2 minutes from now...but they are laughing on a regular basis and it's pretty much the cutest thing ever! Yes, ever!
On Thanksgiving night Madison legitimately attempted to roll over for the first time. I woke up at about 5am and went to check on them. They're still sleeping propped up on their boppy pillows because of their acid reflux, but now that seems to be very much under control so I've been saying that I want to start trying to sleep them flat. So when I went to check on them, they'd both slid down off of their boppies and were just about flat, so I took the boppies away for what would be the last few hours of their night. Melia did fine with this. Madison on the other hand took this as a green light to roll around and all swaddled up tried to roll over. About 15 minutes after laying her flat I heard the cries of discomfort and when I went into the nursery Madison has herself in a crazy position that she landed in and couldn't get herself out of after attempting to roll over. So, lesson learned there - if I start sleeping them flat, the sleep positioners will be key! Since then, for the past couple days, they've both been spending a large part of their days on their activity mat and they're both trying sooooo hard to roll over. Madison gets so frustrated when she can't do it. Melia seems bothered, but deals with it much better than Madison does. They are both really close to being able to do it - that is a first that is not too long off!
