Green-eyed monster?

We spent spring break (week before last) in snowy Wisconsin Dells — where we got 8 inches of snow on our first day. (We still managed to have fun, even though only John remember to bring boots along.) On the way there, we stopped for a couple of hours at my parents house to take a little break, hang out with Aunt Deb, and allow Ethan to ride the rest of the way with Grandma and Grandpa.

My parents recently got new carpet, and both babies LOVE the way it feels. When I was there with Veronica last month, she spent most of her time running her fingers through the pile. Colin’s first experience with the carpet was this visit, and he too thought the carpet was great. Apparently, it provided the perfect surface for demonstrating his new-found rolling ability. 

And demonstrate he did. He rolled back and forth across the living room, exploring the wood coffee table, looking at the underside of the lunch table and generally basking in the glow of the attention he was getting for all of this.

Veronica, meanwhile, wasn’t so sure she liked all of this attention being paid to Colin, not her. In fact, I am quite certain she was looking rather jealous. We weren’t ignoring her — we were trying to encourage her to crawl while Colin was rolling around — but she is used to getting a lot more attention than that. 

My suspicion that she was jealous was furthered that night, when she woke up at 2 a.m. and spent the next hour and a half “practicing” her crawling by getting up on her hands and knees and rocking, rocking, rocking. (I was a witness to all of this, because she was sharing a bed with me during vacation.) It would have been far cuter if she had done this during waking hours, but I have to admit I was more amused than annoyed. 

We discovered on vacation that Colin likes the feel of wood — he would roll toward anything wood and stroke it to feel the grain; likes being under furniture — any tables that were high enough for him to roll under, he would; and that he has discovered that putting his toys under the couch is fun. (We also discovered that he won’t sleep in the pack-n-play, but the car seat is an acceptable alternative in his book.)

We never were able to get the babies into the pool, thanks to uneven napping schedules and the snow. So we don’t have any cute baby in the swimsuit pictures yet. Nor did we get out hiking, again thanks to the snow. That just means we’ll have to plan another trip.

Colin continues to be a roller, but is getting closer to sitting up on his own. He is also opening his hands flat more often, which is a good thing. He had to miss his physical therapy session this week because he has another cold (darn cold spring), but I feel like we’re continuing to make progress even if it is very slow.

Veronica is getting closer on the crawling. On Thursday, John laid her down for her nap on her back, and when he went to get her afterward, she was sitting up in the crib. She has not gotten herself into a sitting position before. (I think she might have been a little surprised.) I would not be surprised if she is crawling at some point in the next couple of weeks. But then again, it could take longer.

I’m hoping we all are able to kick these colds soon. The I-don’t-feel-good-so-my-sleep-is-scattered thing is not working so well for John and I. I think we’re at the point where we are ready to do the whatever-it-takes-to-get-them-to-sleep thing. (Maybe.) As soon as everyone is healthy.

On a roll

Colin discovered he can roll over yesterday, and he’s been on a roll ever since. Literally. Over and over. Unlike Veronica, who can roll from her back to her stomach and back again, Colin has discovered the joys of barrel rolling.

This boy can really move. And he is very proud of himself for doing it too — which is cute. This morning, before his physical therapy appointment, he was rolling around on the bed to get to toys and pillows and whatever else caught his eye. Which means no more leaving him unattended on the bed. (And, it’s time to pull out the gate for the stairs.)

John also had Veronica “crawling” again today. If you get her on her hands and knees and move one leg, she will move the opposite hand, like she would if she actually were crawling. I don’t think she is really close to doing it on her own. But every time we work with her on it, it comes a little easier. 

Personally, I don’t think Veronica is overly motivated to crawl. She knows that we’ll eventually come to her, and she thinks moving herself is hardly worth the effort. Not that she’s lazy — if you watched her bouncing and flapping around you would realize that — but she just has become accustomed to having her public come to her. 

Very soon, our little world is going to be turned upside down again. We’ll have mobile babies, with all the fun that brings.

New photos today

After being somewhat negligent about updating the photos, then losing everything when John’s computer died, I am trying to be a little more diligent about posting photo — so if we lose another computer at least we’ll have some record of our little ones.

Colin's ah-ha moment

While Veronica has been eating like a champ for weeks now, Colin has been a little slow in coming to the table. This is due in part because he’s still not sitting (which makes it harder to swallow). He also still has a strong tongue-thrust reflex, which means he pushes as much back out as he gets into his mouth.


We had stopped solids for Coin for a couple of weeks because he didn’t enjoy the experience (and was having problems with constipation), but started again with prunes (because of said constipation). 


Well, last night Colin appeared to have his “ah ha” moment with eating, just like Veronica did earlier. We had discovered earlier that Colin really likes the Earth’s Best Chicken and Sweet Potato Dinner (no, I don’t really do a good job following the “traditional” path for introducing solids), so John has been giving him that with the prunes. He has been eating some — we’re talking maybe a teaspoon — of each before he started to get fussy.


Last night, Colin was doing really well with the food, and John kept having to refill his little dish. But the real sign that Colin was really into eating came when John paused for a minute to say something to Veronica. Colin grabbed John’s hand with the spoon and shoved it into his mouth looking for more.


Now we’re hoping that as Colin’s solid food volume grows, his need to eat all night long will decrease, and maybe John will be able to get some sleep again. (Okay, so it hasn’t really happened that way with Veronica, but we can dream can’t we?)

Early birds

Poor John. All three of our kids are proving to be early birds — and he is definitely a night owl. This morning, Veronica woke up (or was in a very light sleep) at 4:30 and spent an hour plus happily thumping her feet in her crib. (Glad she was happy, still couldn’t sleep through the thumping.) 

Meanwhile, I could hear Colin in his room starting at about 5:00 (which means he probably was up at about 4:30 as well), chatting happily away. Like Ethan, he’s a talker from the get-go. Which also makes it hard to sleep once he’s awake. 

I finally gave up with Veronica at 5:45 and got her up with me. I hoped feeding her would help her get back to sleep, but no such luck. We ventured in to see Colin for a bit, but he was finally starting to fall asleep again. 

So now Veronica is down here playing in the kitchen, and looking very proud of herself. (I’m not sure why she feels proud, but she definitely has an “I’m proud of myself” look on her face.) I’m hoping that she’ll be ready for her first mini-nap after she has her cereal and fruit here. Otherwise it may be a very long day (again).

Really, I'd never guess

The twins had their 9 month checkup on Tuesday, and we had a substitute doctor because ours was on vacation (much overdue, I suspect). Both babies are growing well — Veronica is up to 17 pounds 1 ounce and is 27 3/4 inches long. Colin is now 12 pounds 7 ounces and 25 1/4 inches long. 

The doctor was plotting Veronica’s weight/height on the growth chart and told us: “Veronica is in the 25th percentile for weight, and the 50th for height.” So John asked whether that was based on her actual or adjusted age. 

The doctor looked up and said, “Were they preemies?” To which we responded that they had been born at 28 weeks. 

She looked at them again and said, “Wow, I never would have guessed.” That’s the best compliment I could imagine for my babies. 

Colin is at about the 4th percentile for weight (based on his adjusted age) and the 25th percentile for height (again, adjusted). This is a big gain for Colin, who wasn’t even on the chart until last month. 

Veronica continues to roll over in her sleep and then proceed to freak out when she wakes up on her tummy. She does better with it at nap time, but at night it is becoming a real problem. I’ve been having her in bed with me, because she doesn’t roll over there (because she hits me before she makes it all the way over). 

While I don’t want to get her into the habit of needing to be held to sleep, I am too tired right now to deal with the constant reassuring and turning necessary to get her to sleep in the crib. We’ll deal with that after vacation. 

Colin is 98% of the way toward rolling completely over, and has figured out how to scoot his way across the floor to where he wants to go. I am afraid that as soon as he figures out that rolling is quicker, we’re going to be in trouble. (We still haven’t gotten around to baby proofing yet.)

We’re all recovering from our spring colds. Veronica’s nose is no longer running non stop, and Colin is breathing better (although still faster than normal) again and only needed a handful of nebulizer treatments this time. Ethan and I are pretty much over it, and John only flirted with getting sick. I'm hoping we’ll be in the clear for a while now.

Right on track

Colin and Veronica had their three-month follow-up from Early Intervention on Wednesday. (Three months from the last assessment, that is.) I was at work, so I couldn’t be there first-hand, but John called and gave me a report after the team (occupational, physical, speech and developmental therapists) was done.

As we have noticed, the twins are doing really well, and have made great strides with their therapy. Both babies are between 6 months (their adjusted age) and 9 months (their actual age) in everything. Colin is ahead of Veronica in some areas, and she is ahead of him in others — just like with normal kids. 

Neither baby has any areas of specific concern. They will continue to both receive occupational therapy, and Colin’s physical therapy will continue as well. They are on target with their speech development, and are not showing any overall developmental delays.

Colin’s progress in therapy is amazing. Every week he rockets forward. He is now sitting upright (supported) for long periods of time as opposed to immediately trying to flip back to a lying down position. On his tummy, he is now able to lift his entire upper body off the floor, and rolls both ways with very little resistance. 

He is having problems with constipation, and his physical therapist thinks that may be contributing to some of his remaining resistance to sitting. So we’re working on adjusting his diet to see if we can’t eliminate that problem for him.

Veronica can sit by herself for hours on end, and is moving closer to crawling. She discovered gravity yesterday, and spent a good half an hour holding rings from the stacker toy watching them tumble from her hand to the floor. Her ability to reach for things far away or behind her is also improving daily. (That’s apparently a precursor to crawling — it helps her get into the right position to get on her hands and knees.)

Both babies have colds right now, so our sleep habits are completely shot. But we’re hoping to be past the worst of the colds this weekend (so Mommy and Daddy can catch up on our sleep). And then, I hope, we’ll all stay healthy for a nice, long stretch.