Girls are accelerating!!

Naomi and Keira are very mobile now!!  Naomi loves crawling on her knees and pulling herself up on furniture.   I can't believe its only been a week since Naomi started to crawl!! Keira is content with sitting or standing in one area.  Pretty soon, the girls will be cruisin on all the furniture. So Rick and I have made a commitment to spend the weekend babyproofing the house!!

The girls are on and off with their separation anxiety but it quickly fades away if daddy is home or if someone they know well is in the same room, thank god!!  I think their anxiety is associated with their mobility, they know that people can move away from them and they won't be able to catch up!!  But no biggie since they are ok with mom leaving the house and great in public.

Girls are starting to sleep and eat a lot better now that their teeth have cut through the gums, Rick has been doing a great job sleep training them to fall back asleep without any bum patting in the last few days.  They normally go to bed around 7-8 and wake for a feeding at 5-6 am and then sleep until 7-8 am!!  Occasionally, if they learn a new skill, they will practice it at 5/5:30 and fall asleep an hour later in their crib.  There's some crying/fussing involved but each day is getting better.  Keira still wakes up a few times on and off due to separation anxiety but she is learning to fall back asleep very quickly:)  I think they are learning to ignore each other's cries now.  Hard to make two babies happy in the same room!!

They are down to two naps, four feedings, three solids meals and on the road together to 12 hours of sleep overnight, finally!!  They are big kids now :))  The baby stage is almost over, boo, but I'm also looking forward to them walking and talking in a couple of months.

Here's a cute video of them playing footsies after finishing a meal.  They do this everyday :)

Going on to 10 Months!

Last week the girls had their nine month check up, they are doing great.  The girls on are track with their weights and on the same growth patterns.  Naomi is over 18 lbs and Keira is almost 17 lbs!  AND of course, they still have 90th percentiles heads compared to other nine month olds!!

The girls are sitting up super well now, and its awesome! I can plunk both girls in the shopping carts and go shopping!!  Finally, I can pick up a full load of groceries rather than sticking stuff underneath the stroller.  The best places to take the girls shopping is Canadian Tire. The girls love the police carts.






Now that the girls are staying up a lot longer, its so much easier to do things with them, like going out for dinner or having dinner parties or going to all afternoon parties.  We've been going to lots of playdates too. Here's a recent picture of three sets of twin girls!   They actually play with each other now. Its soo cute.  The babies have known each other  for over a year!!






Its been a very hot summer.  So hot that both girls tan and sweat within minutes of getting out of the van. Here's a video of the girls enjoying a nemo mister at a recent birthday party.

New Milestones:  The girls are creeping and crawling.  They love clapping, waving and saying da da!  Here's a few videos demonstrating their new skills :)

And finally, I have full time help!!!  Its super awesome. I feel like a new person.  Having another person around to attend to one babies needs is sooo much easier than having to tend to both babies needs all the time.  I have a great live out nanny right now whose helping me till end of August.  We recently went swimming. Here's a cute video of them swimming :)

Fighting! Nine Months old!!

Smiley Keira

Independent Naomi

Keira is learning to say 'mama' when she's upset now.  Just before she goes to bed, she likes to see mommy and if she doesn't, she will yell out "ma ma' until I see her and then she falls asleep :) Out of the two, Keira is more dependent on mom but each day, its getting better and better.  She also has a little tooth sprouting out of her gums. The other day, I taught her to clap her hands and now she loves doing it, here's a quick video:

I make an effort to get the girls the exact same toys now.  Otherwise, they fight!! Naomi is impulsive, she gets what she wants and rolls around the living room getting it.  Keira is more comfortable playing in her little spot and sometimes steals toys from Naomi but Naomi is often ok with it.  Here's a video of them fighting.  Notice that Keira looks at me when her toy is stolen :)

The girls have been on and off refusing solids for a few days each week.  I realize that their gums are sore and they don't want to eat.  Now that each of them have a tooth, they eat a lot better.

The girls have very different personalities!  If I had to guess, Naomi is much more like me and Keira is much like Rick.  Naomi loves to smile and laugh out loud with teeth showing.  She loves being noticed, gets what she wants, and talks out loud.  She's restless too, she can't sit in one spot for too long.  Keira is more dainty, much more dependent on mommy and daddy to get her toys back, she's content with sitting in one spot and smiles a lot with no teeth/gums showing.  Identical girls with opposite personalities (at least for now!)

Sechelt, Vancouver, Maui and Regina

As promised, here's a quick video of the trip.  The girls had a great time being with family, friends, attending a wedding in Maui and their celebration party in Regina.  They also loved swimming in the pool.  Some cool places they went to included the Maui Aquarium, a beach in Maui, Banyan Tree and the Regina Museum. They are travel gurus now, they've been on the plane at least 8 times already!  Enjoy!

Canada Long Weekend!

The family had a very, very busy weekend.  It was awesome to get out and party like normal people.  It started with Rick attending a stag and I sttending a birthday party, we each took turns watching the girls sleep at night.  It was a great break for both of us.  

On Canada day, we dressed the girls up to celebrate!  Here's Naomi with her Canada day outfit.

We went to Westboro beach with another family of twins too!  It was lots of fun seeing the babies do their neat tricks!  Laura's daugher Anna supermaned out of the bumbo onto the sand.  She wasn't hurt but it just reminded all of us to not leave the girls unattended in the bumbos anymore.  Growing up fast!  That night, we had a bbq at our house with all four girls eating solids at our deck, it was super fun!  It was a great ending to Canada Day

The next day, it was a loong day for the girls.  We had a wedding to attend so we dressed the girls up in two different outfits, one for the ceremony and another for the reception.  Although the girls had to nap in the carseats all afternoon, with only a 45 min nap in total, they were actually really good at the reception.  The girls had a great time eating solids and dancing with mommy and daddy.  They even went to bed at a decent time, 8 pm!  Our future live in nanny took care of the girls for the rest of the night so mommy and daddy could  go back to the wedding.  We abandoned the van and drove back in style in our crossfire!!  

Here's Sharon and Marty in their gorgeous outfits.  Their wedding was super beautiful!

The next day, we had an easy day, we lounged in the deck, girls swam in their pool and had company over.  Here's Ruwan with the the girls :)

 

Both girls are able to say "mum mum" now, I think it means food.  The love feeding themselves too.  

As for me, I recently weighed myself and I have a few lbs to go!!  BUT, I still have a twin tummy and more than a few lbs of blubber :)  I've definitely lost alot of muscle, time to hit the gym !  I've accepted the fact that my body will never be the same, but I'm ok with that, there's always plastic surgery, lol.

Sleep and Teeth

The girls are way too big for the bassinet, so we decided to take one last photo of them co-snuggling.

The girls like playing outside, so at least once a week, I bring them to a park to eat solids or let them play in the deck.

The girls also love cheerios, bread and baby cookies (arrowroot, cereal cookies and rice rusks!)

Sleep Pattern: The girls are growing older, sleeping longer and napping less!  For the past three days, they average 10.5-11.5 hours of night time sleep.  They nap no more than three hours in the day and they won`t sleep long in their car seat or stroller, so it has to be at home.  They generally sleep well, going to bed around 7:30-8 pm and waking up for one early morning feed.  Occasionally, they take turns waking up for the dream feed out of habit.

Teething: Last night, Keira had a lot of trouble sleeping.  She woke up at 11ish and couldn`t go back to bed, she kept falling asleep and then waking up fussing or partially playing.  This was very abnormal.  I realized she was in pain.  I finally told Rick to administer some baby Tylenol and within minutes, she stayed asleep.  Unfortunately, I realized this too late; it was 2 am.  This morning, she was drooling constantly and her gums have a lot of large bumps.  Naomi already has some teeth breaking through her bottom gums.  Both haven`t been cranky during the daytime nor really fussy at all so I wonder if the worst is yet to come!

Personalities: I really can`t complain about the girls.  They seem pretty easy to take care of, and generally, they are easy going, happy babies who play well while we eat our meals.  I`m just exhausted because there`s two babies who have the same needs at the same time!  Everyone whose taken care of them, including my future live-in nanny, family, and mother`s helper have all said that they are easy babies.  I mentioned to Rick that its only recently that the girls have been waking up in the middle of the night and not going back to bed (likely due to all the travelling or teething).  For the past 8 months, I don`t think Rick and I have ever experienced them not going back to bed by themselves.  Usually, when I feed them, they fall asleep on their own right away....but not so in the last few weeks.  So, I started sleep training them again and generally it`s much better, unless they're teething, then nothing soothes them.

New Moves: Keira is scooting on her back and turning while sitting reaching for things.  Naomi is doing the same thing. I`m pretty sure that they are going to crawl pretty soon!!  We have to baby proof our house asap!