9 month checkup

This past Tuesday we went for the twins' 9 month checkup. Wasn't it last week we arrived home from the hospital?!! Man time is flying by, that surely never changes...
They both were getting over a cold - one that their mother got hit by like a freight train (ug.) - so we were unsure if they would have any issues with their shots. Turned out all was fine. They behaved beautifully (again) and Ben was even picked up by a nurse who just couldn't resist and both were cooed over by a Doctor who was passing by the checkup room.
I must admit, albeit quite biased, that the two of them are quite Adorable. (notice capital A!) You just want to squeeze them and their cute little chunky cheeks.
But I digress...
Audrey weighed in at 18lbs. 15 oz. and was in the 50th percentile for weight and height.
Ben weighed in at 19lbs. 15 oz. - a full pound bigger than Audrey, and was in the 50th percentile for weight and 60th for length. He's growing like a madman.
Some people have been confused about the percentile and what it means:
Percentiles rank the position of an individual by indicating what percent of the reference population the individual would equal or exceed. For example, on the weight-for-age growth charts, a 9 month old girl whose weight is at the 25th percentile, weighs the same or more than 25 percent of the reference population of 9 month old girls, and weighs less than 75 percent of the 9 month old girls in the reference population.
If you land on the 50% mark as ours do, you're pretty much right on target for what a healthy baby should be at their stage of development - 50% of population is bigger, 50% is smaller. Granted if they would be higher or lower, that really doesn't make much difference either, unless mentally they are lagging behind. Fortunately we are right on target all the way around!
As July marches on we are preparing for our travels back East and can't wait to see the faces of all the friends and family who will be meeting the twins for the first time...
Wondertwins June

First Father's Day

This past weekend we celebrated our 1st Father's Day with the Twins.
Grandma C is back once again visiting for a couple weeks and was able to join us in the celebration.
Since it was his day, David decided to reprise our Mother's Day trip to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. When we went in May, both Audrey & Ben started singing and babbling aloud in the museum. And although it was cute to hear, most museum dwellers didn't appreciate the distraction, so we ended up cutting the visit a bit short. This time Audrey & Ben did much better and we were able to walk through the whole museum and the outdoor gardens before they started getting antsy. Pretty soon they'll know the difference between the Degas & Manets!
We are well into the month of June now and both babies are growing and exploring by leaps and bounds.
Audrey's favorite pastime now is peek-a-boo. She's mastered it quite quickly! She also loves to play music - xylophone, piano and cups being her instruments of choice. She's finally begun teething and has one whole tooth in (bottom) and at least one other peeking through. With the amount of drooling she does in a day, you would think all of them are coming in, but alas, she's taking her time...
Ben is forging ahead in everything. He has 6 teeth now, two bottom and 4 upper. He is literally spinning circles on his belly and bum and he is standing almost on his own - It's all he wants to do now and I fear it won't be long until he's strutting along. Then we're in for a world of fun, chasing little Benjamin all around!

Here's some of our memories of May...
click here for latest pics of WonderTwins

First Mother's Day

Well, tomorrow will be my first Mother's day with the twins - outside the womb! It's been a year now since we first told everyone that we were having twins. It's hard to believe a year has passed already.

Audrey and Ben were just little peas this time last year and now they are easily close to 19 lbs.
Both are still eating and sleeping well. We really couldn't ask for better behaved 

little ones.

Last month we saw a ton of relatives as my Aunt Shirley, Uncle Jack, cousin Jackie, her two little ones, cousin Joe, wife Aida, their newest addition Aneesa, and Aida's Cousin all visited while Paco was in town. It was a great visit and the twins really did well with such a big group of people googling and cooing at them.

The twins are usually cooped up in and around the house during the week, so we try to get out as much as possible on the weekends. Three weekends ago we went to the Cowboy Music Festival here in Santa Clarita. We used the baby bjorns to schlep them around and they really seemed to like being strapped to our chests watching all the horses and cowboys walk about. Last week we finally got ourselves a new jogging stroller and quickly used it to go to the L.A. Zoo. They both had a great time observing all the people. (I don't think they had a clue as to the fact that there were live animals there!) Some day...

We've got some more firsts this past week as well. Ben has gotten his two upper teeth - just peeking through. He hasn't even shown signs of it bothering him. He now has four teeth altogether. No teeth yet for Audrey. But she did say "cat" this morning! And no wonder, as our two cats are always walking by them. And as they do, we say over and over and over C...A...T, caT, CAT, CAT... Both Audrey and Ben are fascinated by them. (sorry Aunt Annie!)

And finally, we've scheduled their christening for August 16th in Pittsburgh. They'll be 10 months at the time and hopefully just as well behaved, well adjusted and happy as they are now. We can't wait to see more relatives and show off all their new skills.
...now, the 5 hour flight to get there... that is not really something I'm looking forward to! :P
click here for the latest pics of the wondertwins

6 month checkup

We went for the twins' 6 month checkup on friday. All went GREAT - so well I was actually pleasantly surprised. Audrey has had precedent with having a meltdown at the doctors office. Also, in weeks past she had taken to crying when strangers popped into her view. So I was prepared for the worst. Not only was she happy and playful the whole time, when it was time to get her shots (they had two each this time) she only cried for a brief moment. Huzzah! Maybe we have turned a corner? It goes without saying that Ben was delightful as well. :P

Audrey weighed in at 16 lbs. 12 oz. and 26" long which puts her in the 50th percentile for her age. Her head actually bumped up from 40 percent at four months into the 80th percentile! - she's a brainiac!!!

Ben weighed in at 17lbs. 2oz. and 26 1/2 inches long. That put him in the 50th percentile as well. He is continually moving up the charts! Double Huzzah!!

I want to thank everyone who sent happy thoughts our way. It has paid off and Audrey has gotten a few firsts for herself. First off, she is sleeping through the night!!! (You have no idea how happy this makes us!) Not only is she sleeping through the night, but they BOTH have dropped their 9:30 pm feeding and are now going from 7:30pm - 6:30am sans food.

This past week Audrey decided that she would hold the bottle herself, thank you very much... Audrey has also rolled over on her own several times now. Last night she woke up at 1am crying and when I went in to see what was wrong, she had rolled onto her belly and couldn't roll back. She did this again at 6am. Hopefully she'll figure out how to roll from her belly to her back soon!

All in all it was a great checkup and they are both doing amazingly well. On to the next milestones...

Month of Firsts

Another month has past and this one marks many firsts for the twins.

It began with Ben leaving his beloved swing behind for sleeping solely in his crib...

He protested a bit at first, but with a little training he grew quite accustomed to his very own crib, and as a result it was followed by Ben's first sleeping through the night!
Did you hear the cries of elation??!!
(A feat his sister still has yet to master, much to her parents lament. wa.)

By mid month they were both sitting up on their own for the first time. They really enjoy this and have taken to leaning forward if they are placed in the reclining bouncy seats so they can sit up.

We began feeding them solids for the first time, and although they got a slow start, they both seem to be doing well and getting most of the food in their belly instead of their lap.

We started with rice cereal and are adding vegetables a little at a time. Audrey had some "issues" with peas, so we skipped over that veggie and went to carrots for her. Ben in typical fashion has no problem with anything, he just goes with the flow.

Almost simultaneously upon starting solids, Ben got his first tooth! Followed immediately by his first second tooth! He handled both of them well and only occasionally wakes up and whines at night. Again, Audrey is letting her brother take hold of that first and she doesn't seem like she'll be teething soon, although she does have a handle on the whining, so when the teeth do come, she will be a pro at complaining! ug.

Another first came in the form of me leaving them for more than 2 hours since their conception and starting back to work. It's a difficult transition for me, but I'm trying not to let it bother me and enjoy the time I do have with them in the morning and weekends.

And finally, starting this Monday, Leila our nanny will be home alone with the twins for the first time. I think she has gotten a real good handle on caring for them, so hopefully it won't be too difficult a transition. ...And Yes! This also means Dave and I will be on our own for the first time since the twins were born, a fact I must admit I'm a little nervous about. Dave has admitted it too. It's been a dream having the grandparents take care of them at night and pick up the slack around the house. We are so grateful for all their help. So we're not looking forward to having no "backup" for the duration - now it's down to business!

Please keep us in your thoughts as we try to get Audrey to obtain some extra firsts of her own - especially sleeping through the night!
In the meantime, here's the latest round of pictures for March...
WonderTwins March

Busy February

This has been a VERY busy month for the Wonder Twins. The grandparents did another tag team hand off. We started off with Paco helping us out January and into February and Grandma H came in for the last 3 weeks of February.

The twins had their 4 month check up the beginning of the month, but because Ben was starting to get sick and had a slight fever their shots were postponed two weeks. Then Miss Audrey caught her brothers cold and we postponed their shots another week. Everyone ended up getting sick, but for some reason the Cold Gods were good to me and I was able to dodge the cough, stuffy nose, aches and fever!

(click on pic to enlarge)

In the meantime I took them to the polls for the history making primaries. I held Audrey as I voted, being very proud as a registered voter, woman and mother. We also celebrated their first Valentine's day and more importantly, prepared ourselves for their nanny.(click on pic to enlarge)

I go back to work in a week and we decided to go the nanny route instead of daycare. Leila, who is Persian and lives the next town over, started this week. The babies love her already, which makes my going back to work a little less stressful knowing they are in such good hands.

The twins are more and more active. They are both on the verge of rolling over, they babble - (especially Miss Audrey, who I'm afraid will take after her father with the gift of gab!), they are intentionally grabbing objects and tracking everything in their sight. Ben raises his right arm for high five at every opportunity. In a week or two we'll introduce solids - can't wait for that fun :P!

We are now getting ready for another Grandparent hand off for the month of March as Grandma C gets her second tour of duty!

Here's some more pics from the month:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/90777815@N00/QNq8N2

4 months and a year

The twins went for their 4 month checkup this past Friday.
Audrey weighed in at 13 lbs. 9 oz. and is 24 inches long. This put her in the 45th percentile for 4 month old girls. Good job Audrey!
Ben weighed in at 13 lbs. 15 oz. and is 24 inches as well. And although he weighs more than his sister, he's at the 25th percentile for 4 month boys. Still, his growth chart looks great as he wasn't even on the chart when he was born!
It was a year ago at this time that these babies were conceived and we found out I was pregnant. What a year it's been!
A friend commented that our lives have changed more than anyone she knows this past year. That is true TWO fold!

Here's some video of Audrey chatting and Ben Smiling...

Another month older

In a few days the twins will be 3 months old. They are continually growing by the minute and starting to really recognize voices and take notice of their surroundings.
Ben is continually smiling and cooing and has learned to grab things while Audrey is more serious and would rather let you do the work while she soaks in all the sights and sounds around her. It's amazing the differences in them at this young an age. Ben is solid, a true boy through and through. He moves with conviction and squirms like mad when you hold him. Audrey is light and dainty to the touch and will gladly let you cuddle without any struggle. Both must be closing in on 12 lbs. by now.
We dressed them up for Christmas and had a little fun - something that I'm sure we won't get away with in years to come! Here are the latest pics:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/90777815@N00/8DBXB2

Two Months Old

We went for their two month check up today. Can't believe it's been two months!
I'm happy to tell they are both healthy and growing fast.

Ben surpassed his sister weighing in at 8 lbs. 12 oz and 21 3/4 inches long! He doubled his weight, while his sister Audrey is pacing herself and weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. They got their first round of shots - seeing them poked and prodded and the ensuing crys were heartbreaking. But we got through it.

Many of you haven't seen the twins in action - so I uploaded some video to show their talents... which at this point consists of burping, crying, pooping and squirming... enjoy!

The many faces of Audrey:



Audrey and Ben at Thanksgiving. You can really see their personalities in this one - Ben: calm and collected, Audrey: active and boisterous!

Two week Checkup

Went for our two week checkup on Tuesday.
I'd like to say time is flying by, but the fact is, with very little sleep and so much to do, the days are dragging out and blending into one another. Personally I will sigh a bit of relief when they finally get out of primi status and can fit into newborn clothes. Maybe then they will be able to sleep more than two hours at a stretch.

But a good portion of relief came as their two week checkup went great. They surpassed their birthweight by leaps and bounds. Audrey weighing in at 5lb. 15 oz. ( almost 6lbs!) and growing a whole inch to 19".
Ben weighed in at 5lb. 4 oz and keeping up with Sis growing an inch as well to 18 1/2 inches.
Phew! Stuffing their faces paid off! Now if we can just figure out this sleep thing!
:)

Here's some pics from their first week:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/90777815@N00/2n1061

I'll try to post more, but can't promise anything as I have to give up my precious nap time to do anything other than feed, change and comfort them back to sleep.

JOY!