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!

Funny Videos

Here's a cute video of the girls at Canadian Tire.  They sit up really well now.  Rick often takes one of the girls  out on errands (usually Keira) and plops her in a regular shopping cart!



Here's Keira and Naomi doing their usual thing during meal time :)



Here's Naomi enjoying her swing:

Wow - 8.5 months!!

I can't believe how much the girls have changed.  The pictures above were taken in late March in Monterey.  Fast forward three months and now they look like little kids!  Here's a recent picture of them:

They eat three solid meals plus a snack per day now!  There are so many changes every week, I've stopped keeping track.  Both seem to do it around the same time.  They talk, they giggle, they get mad when the other steals their toy, they each need the same toy, they roll all over the floor to get to their toys, they sit up well and talk to each other a lot while they are eating.  Its super cute!!  

Now that the girls are more mobile, they also started having a bit of separation anxiety when I leave the room.  Its very minor, it only happens once in awhile but I never really noticed this until recently.  Feeding the twins so many meals, nursing them, cleaning up after them, I feel exhausted!  They also like to get up really early.  They are also napping differently now, so they are not always on the same schedule.  I find it really hard to get out sometimes for longer periods of time.  Naomi also refuses to feed on the go (she gets too distracted) so I have to nurse at home in a quiet area!!  Keira watches Baby Einstein when I feed Naomi in a different room. 

With all these changes, I've decided to get some help for sanity purposes. I have a mother's helper right now because Rick plays volleyball one night a week.  Starting mid July, I'm getting a part-time nanny.  In September, I'm getting a full-time nanny.  I CAN'T WAIT.  

Here's a funny picture of Keira's new hairdo.  She gets really sweaty when she wakes up from a nap:)

Travels are done...for now!! Part 1: Sechelt

Keira and Naomi have been super awesome troopers travelling to Sechelt, Vancouver, Maui, and Regina, adjusting to three different time zones, putting up with crazy long red-eye flights and early awakenings.    The girls visited lots of family and friends during their month long excursion.  We took so many pictures and videos that I will have to break this blog up into travel chapters!!

First visit was to Sechelt.  It was super relaxing visiting with the girls' grandparents.  This was the first visit to their Dad's home town.  And for the first part of the visit, they got to hang out with their Aunt and meet their cousin for the first time.  Moreover, Guinness (our pug) got to meet his dog cousin Loca (a jack russell terrier).

We also got to Sechelt just in time for Mother's Day.

At the beginning of the trip the girls had a bit of stranger anxiety, but after meeting so many people, that quickly disappeared.  Another thing that the girls started to get used to on this trip was falling asleep in someone's arms.  Before travelling, they had gotten used to sleeping in their beds/bassinets since Tracy can't hold them both at the same time.  And they would fight sleep when we had to hold them on the plane.  In Sechelt, Keira fell into a deep sleep in her Grandpa's arms and stayed asleep long enough to transfer over to her Dad, have her picture taken, and then go off to bed.

Getting Ready for the Wedding!

So the girls are trying on their new dresses for the Hawaii wedding. I'm glad they fit 12 month old dresses since they will be attending at least three weddings this summer!  As for travels, the girls are travelling to Vancouver, then to Maui and finally to Regina to see family, friends and attend a wedding.  They will be travel gurus once the trip is over! 

The girls also had a playdate with another set of twins with almost the same due date!  It was lots of fun!  We all had the pretty flower bands to match.  My girls were a little shy, I think they are starting to have stranger anxiety.

So the girls are overall doing very well. They are sleeping and napping well, falling asleep on their own in the nursery now.  BUT of course, this is going to change once again when we travel this friday!!