Standing on my Own!

Naomi is stuffing cheerios in her mouth through her hat :)

Who's Who??

Girls are standing on their own for a few seconds now!  Its super exciting because it means that they are itching to walk soon!!  Hopefully they walk before I go back to work....!!  Wishful thinking.

I bought two new costumes today, and they had a blast wearing them (more like I had a blast watching them).  Here's a cute video of them wearing their new outfits:)




The girls also love going to the park.  I discovered this recently when their great aunt and cousin came over for a visit.  The girls loved hanging out with them.  Here's another cute video of them hanging out with Daddy and cousin Chris :)

Getting Ready for Halloween!

The girls are getting ready for Halloween!  I bought them a cow and a alligator costume, but after getting the girls to try it on...they are too tall!  So I thought I would take a picture of them now that I can squish them into the costumes.  Their heads are way too big for the hats too!  Funny how Guinness' first costume was a cow too.  I guess I like cow costumes :)

I can't believe I'm going back to work in a couple of weeks!  I have mixed feelings about going back to work, it'll be a nice change of pace, but I know I will miss the girls soo much!  Looking back, my maternity leave was super hard work, probably the hardest job I've ever had.  Before I found out I had twins, I thought maternity leave would be awesome, I imagined that I could pick up and go everywhere with the baby, zooming away to different cities, completing my masters degree when the baby sleeps, and attending all sorts of  mommy and baby activities.  Boy was I wrong!!  Doing all of  that with twins was hard and stressful.  I did it all except my master's degree.  For sanity purposes, I'm glad I forced myself to go out alot with the girls even in the middle of winter but it wasn't easy.

Soothing two crying babies all alone when they are hungry or sleepy was hard.  Training them to nap and fall asleep at the same time without any assistance was stressful.  Nursing them every hour in the middle of the night was insane. Clusterfeeding them non stop for six hours for over a month almost killed me. Weaning them from night nursing left me a few bald spots.  BUT I'm proud to say that I did it and survived!!  AND for the last two months that I've had help, I finally felt like maternity leave was a vacation!

11 Months old - Naomi is weaned!

Miss Naomi is all grown up.  As of last tuesday, she decided to self wean in a happy fashion.  She was never cranky the entire day nor any other day.  She started drinking from a water bottle (few ozs) here and there and declared independency.  I was worried at first because she wasn't drinking nearly as much as her sister but after going to the doctor, there were no concerns, she was super healthy and hydrated (I have no idea how).  She would only drink 5 ozs in 8 hours and still sleep 11 hours at night!  This coincided with her learning to stand up on her own, cruise on furniture and learning to say no by shaking her head.  I feel bad that she doesn't drink a lot so I still supplement her by nursing her while she's napping and right after bedtime.  I don't know why, but she only nurses when she's fully asleep??!!  Oh well, she had all the signs of starting to wean, first by not nursing in public, then not nursing while she's playing, then not nursing unless its just before a nap/bedtime, and now only nursing when she's sleeping!  Keira is still ok but I feel confident that Keira will be ok to wean in a few weeks since she drinks more formula of a sippy cup than her sister!

Both girls are really good at pulling themselves up on furniture and climbing on furniture!  I think they will be walking soon, eventhough I don't want them too, I can't stop them :)

My new nanny also started today, its been great.  The girls are really comfortable around her too.  I think my girls are used to meeting lots of new people again.  Their seperation anxiety has disappeared again!

Singing Babies!

Rick and I purchased a chariot stroller last weekend, now its time for me to start biking the girls around!!  Rick and I are going to jog this weekend with the girls too.  Can't wait:)  I can't believe I have over a month left before I have to go back to work, time has gone by sooo fast in the last six months!  Six of my girlfriends are now pregnant so I kinda feel like I need to join the group (just kidding).

Reflecting back, I feel super lucky that Rick is a super father to the girls and great husband.  I've had a lot of time to relax, shop, go to the gym, play tennis, go to the spa, and go out with my friends.  I've definitely been spoiled with a lot of downtime despite having twins and exclusively nursing.  We've joined a rock climbing gym again so that will be our regular date night activity!

The girls have met a lot of new friends in the last few months.  I've committed a lot of time now to go on regular playdates with my friends, at least three a week just for fun!  They've also been swimming alot in the public kiddie pools.  They love swimming.  Their latest trick is now singing like opera singers.  Here's a cute but loud video of the girls:

Dancing All Day!

The girls are finally better!  Keira and Naomi both got sick on two different weeks and erupted into raspberries for a couple of days post fever.  When they were sick, they wanted to nurse more at night because they refused to eat solids during the day.  Sooo, they picked up a couple of bad habits.  Rick and I had to sleep train them in a tough way but it worked!  We used a gradual version of the cry it out method and the most they cried before falling asleep was 30 minutes.  Both are also sleeping 11 to 12 hours at night now, with an occasional early morning feed after 10 hours of sleep.  They still wake up every now and then but are able to fall back asleep on their own now:)

We recently had a race of both girls crawling, Keira is crawling a lot faster! Keira started crawling right after she recovered from being sick.





The girls started dancing this morning when Rick was playing his iphone.  So I decided to play music all day and they danced all day!!  Here's a quick version of what happen today. 

7-10 Months Twin Routine!

The girls are all grown up! I just wanted to post my twin routine for interest sake.

The biggest changes are as follows: The girls are nursing less frequently (4.5 -5 hours between feedings), don't nap or hardly nap at all when they are on the go (ex: riding in the stroller, carseats), are down to two naps and sleep longer at night.  I make an effort to have the girls nap in their cribs at home now because they are much happier, playful and easier to take care of when I do so.   Its a small short term sacrifice and the payoff is huge (happy girls!)

The girls are awake 2.15 - 2.5 hours before taking their first nap, then stay up for 3 -3.5 hours before taking their second nap and 4-4.5 hours before going to bed.

This routine is +/- 30 minutes
5 am - early morning feed (occasionally each of the girls sleep through this feeding)
7 am - wake up time, playtime
8 am - solids
9:15 am - nurse then nap (nap on average 1.5 hours)
11 pm - awake, playtime
12 pm- lunch solids
2 pm - nurse then nap (nap on average 1.5 hours)
3:30 - awake, playtime
5:00 - dinner solids
7:30 - bedtime

I really hate having routines when I don't work, its predictable, repetitive and boring!!  BUT I think its mandatory when you have twins!!  It made my life way easier :)

10 Months Old - Standing!!

The girls are standing on furniture!!  They are getting stronger by the day.  They are drinking from a sippy cup, drinking some milk, getting heavier, leaner and taller.  Their hair is also getting really long, I might have to start fixing their hair before we go out. They always have bed head.

Recently, Naomi became very sick with a fever, loss of appetite and some vomiting.  Now she has erupted into a rash.  She is starting to feel a bit better but its heartbreaking when little Naomi, the bubbly playful extrovert is super unhappy, doesn't want to play and almost nothing makes her happy.  She has a virus that's taking a while for her to recover.  Keira seems mainly ok, a little cranky but nothing like her sister.

Rick did a bit a baby proofing in the house, now the tv area looks great!  Here's a picture of our new tv station!