Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Memorial Weekend Trip



We packed up the car (and the box on top of the car), watered the cats and fed the plants, locked up tight and took off for a long weekend visiting Memere and Pepere in Caribou, Maine - 400 miles north of Boston.

Mommy lasted maybe half an hour before moving to the back seat with the twins. It was just too difficult from the front seat to do... anything, really. They needed attention so Stacey bit the bullet and squeezed between them for the ride up - and the entire 400 miles home. She was able to entertain them, cover them with blankets when they were napping, and even feed them on the go. We only really had to stop for diaper changes... they did really well.



Last leg of the trip - both ways - started to get a little out-of-hand fussy... including babies and Mommy and Daddy. But we did it and had a pretty good time!

Got to hang out with Memere and Pepere...



And Pepere...




(new #1 Pepere shirt)

And mommy and daddy got to do some fishing on the first day there, which was beautiful.




(released safely! this time...)

It was very tiring.



But we had alot of fun!



Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Entertaining Babies

We'll do just about anything during that last hour before bath-and-bed time to keep babies happy and entertained. Many times that includes play or tummy time or time on the back deck, but most often it involves entertainment through song and dance.

Also known as... Dance Party!



(By this time of evening they generally are no longer wearing pants and we're lucky if they still have shirts on...)

Monday, May 18, 2009

Colin's Strawberry Birthmark - Strawberry Hemangioma



At about one week old, Colin developed what looked like a scrape on the side of his head, towards the back. It was a little pinkish-red and about the size of a dime, slightly oblong. The babies were still in the NICU at the time, so we initially thought maybe he had just scraped his head by accident during a changing or feeding or something like that... and fully expected it to heal up.

But it became more red and eventually it started to become raised off his skin and we realized he had a Strawberry Birthmark, or Strawberry Hemangioma. It's even shaped like a strawberry, for extra effect.



About Strawberry Birthmarks...
Strawberry Hemangiamas are a "collection of cells that make up tiny blood vessels. Strawberry hemangiomas, while they are technically birth marks, are often not noticed at birth. In fact, they usually do not become obvious until the first few weeks of life. These occur more often in females than males and are more commonly seen in Caucasian infants (10%) than in other racial groups (1%).

After an initial growth phase, it's size only increases in proportion to the child's normal growth. Then over the next several years, the red color of the hemangioma begins to fade the mark dissolves away. Most of the time, there is little if any mark left behind. Strawberry hemangiomas completely resolve in 50 percent of children by age five and 70 percent by age seven. The rest show gradual fading completed by the time they reach the teenage years." (from parenting.ivillage.com)
It grew a little bit as he grew, but quickly stopped and started to become smaller (compared to his huge head - it's like an orange on a toothpick!) and now it's just hanging around there. There is nothing we want to do about it, we just hope it gets smaller - and that eventually his hair comes in and covers it up! There are laser treatments but those are generally reserved for Strawberry Birthmarks that cause physical pain or problems... Colin doesn't even know it's there.

Really, it doesn't bother us at all. What does bother us is that people notice it on him right away if he's not wearing a hat. People say things like "what's he got?" and later, after they've seen him once, they'll ask "how's his head?" His head is fine, it's just a birthmark. Especially little kids, they'll immediately say "what's that?" or something to that effect - but they are kids. Clearly it stands out as often the first thing people notice on him.

So, we hope it gets covered up by luxurious hair sometime soon and we know it could be much worse. If this and reflux are going to be the extent of his "health problems", we couldn't be happier.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sunday Round-Up



We are gearing up for the twins' first big trip to Caribou, ME next weekend. They can't wait to see Memere and Pepere! And we can't wait for them to babysit while we go fly fishing for native Brook Trout in the Aroostook River (hey, we need some fun time too!!)

We even had to purchase an 18 cubic ft Yakima Skybox for the Outback b/c, my goodness, the babies have so much crap! Bumbos, Boppies and bouncy chairs oh my!



Anyways, here's a round-up of this past week's activities...


Ava modeling for us before her bath


Waiting patiently...


Colin lifting his noggin' before his bath


Waiting impatiently...


Ava letting us know she thinks Colin is a nut


Colin sitting like a big boy


The twins trying out puree de green beans


Random crazy faces

Have a good week!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Ava Snacking in the Bumbo

Movie Madness finds Ava in the Bumbo wondering... "where is that waitress with our food???"

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Colinville Horror

Movie Madness continues with this latest installment, Colin's new method acting skills on display in the horror genre...



Truly frightening!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Nap Wake Up

Our little "Pearl" loves saying hello after a nap in the pack n play... Movie Madness week!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!!!



Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy... hopefully we slept through the night and you are eating your orange zest ciabatta french toast with bacon and a couple over easy right now... it looks to be a beautiful day.



We love you very much and couldn't put into words how much you mean to us.



Believe us when we say that you are the center of our universe - and everything revolves around you, as far as we're concerned. You may think the opposite - that we're the center of the universe - but we know the truth.

You deserve your own day, we hope you have a great one.



To all the Mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day! To the Mothers who are no longer with us, we love and miss you and always think about you on this day...



And to those Mothers having their VERY FIRST MOTHER'S DAY, congrats and have an extra wonderful day!



Happy Mother's Day!!!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Sweet Potato Twins


Like a very cute, cheerful scene from The Exorcist...

Mommy made us sweet potatoes! Meaning, she made us sweet potatoes to eat, she didn't turn us into sweet potatoes... you understand.

She peeled and cubed and steamed them up, then pureed them with her hand blender, using a little bit of the steaming liquid to get the right consistency. She added a little formula to the final, cooled product to thin them out just a little more.

We loved them! Well, we loved them after getting used to the texture... we hadn't had anything that thick!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Notebook



We know exactly how many poops Colin has taken since he has come home.

We know precisely how many ounces of formula Ava has eaten. We know how many diapers have been changed, we know the times-of-day of every feeding they've ever had, and we even know the amount of time - to the minute - each baby sleeps on a daily basis.

We not only know how many minutes they've breastfed, we know on which breast!

How do we know all this? We write everything down in The Notebook! Actually, we're on our second notebook at this point, having already filled the first one with information. We write down overnight sleep and waking times, start and end times of each nap for each baby, times of feedings and # of ounces (which we orginally were measuring down to the milliliter), minutes breastfed, and each pleasant occurrence of poop and pee.

Here is an example page from this past Saturday featuring "Chubbs" (Colin) and "Angel Face" (Ava) - they get different handles every day....



As you can see here, this was a big poop day - double doubles, certainly a rare treat. Colin woke up at 3:45am and was breastfed - on the Left breast - for 5 minutes. Colin totalled 28.5 ounces of breastmilk/formula and Ava tallied up 24.5 - a pretty good day. Plus, "RC" (rice cereal) after the 4/4:30 bottles. Colin banged out a 2-hour nap from 11:30-1:30 and slept quite a bit that day, Ava napped a little less.

Crazy overkill? No doubt. Maybe it's Mommy the Scientist that wants to record all this information, but we've found the main reason comes down to what we call "Mommy Brain" and "Daddy Brain" - we simply don't remember anything. Due to lack of sleep and the introduction of what amounts to two new full-time jobs, we can't remember the last time WE ate, much less them. So whenever we ask each other when the last time so-and-so did such-and-such, we can just consult The Notebook.

Who knows how long we'll keep doing this but, for now, we'd feel a little lost without it.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Dear Brianna...



Dear Brianna,

Thank you for taking care of us while Mommy is at work. Because you give us love and hugs and kisses, we feel good while she is away. We love when you dance and play with us, and we can't wait until the weather is better so you can take us outside for walks.

We are thankful that you are patient with us when we don't want to eat, and that you are willing to go the extra step to make sure that we're okay. We promise to give you lots of smiles and coo's every time you come over, and we can't wait to show you all of our milestones this first year of our life.

We can't promise, however, to be any less messy... sorry!

We love you very much!
Colin and Ava
XOXOXO

Sunday, May 3, 2009

A Twins Lazy Sunday...