Belly Buttons

The girls' belly buttons have healed well. Evelyn's is the typical innie. Sylvia's is a little more interesting, as you can see above. It looks like a pig's tail, which is funny since Sylvia is a little piggie. She is an incredibly good eater and as terrible parents we have called her cute little names like fat-so and piggie. It's all in good fun though!

Week 9 -- Check Up

Sylvia above and Evelyn below

The girls 8 week doctor's appointment was this week (even though it was really the first day of their 9th week). The doc was impressed by their weigh gain and overall health. They got lots of "beautifuls and adorables." So, here are the stats:

Sylvia

Head 15" or 26 percentile

Height 21 3/4" or 26 percentile

Weight 10lbs 8oz or 50 percentile

Evelyn

Head 14 1/2" or 9 percentile

Height 21" or 10 percentile

Weight 9lbs 5.6oz or 22 percentile

They also got the recommended vaccinations, which involved two shots and an oral one. Evelyn screamed bloody murder, but Sylvia didn't seem to mind (she cried but settled down quickly unlike her sis).

Oma Has Arrived!

David's Mom has arrived from San Diego! Oma (that's German for Grandma) will be with us for a week and a half, and already she has been incredibly helpful! Oma is pictured here with the girls on a trip to the National Botanical Gardens and Native American Museum.

8 Weeks Old

The girls are 8 weeks old today!

Cute Face Shots

Evelyn above and Sylvia below

Sure, I'm biased, but these babies are cute!

Father's Day

To celebrate David's first father's day, we went on a picnic at Mason Neck State Park. It was a nice day (not too hot) too, which is surprising since all it's done lately is rain. Also, the girls gave Daddy a cement stepping stone with their footprints, a new fancy gun safe (gotta keep those girls away from guns!), and I made a yummy dinner of ribeye's wrapped in bacon and topped with portobella mushrooms, homemade gorgonzola augratin potatoes and grilled aspargaus. I think Daddy liked everything!

Starting to Get to Know Eachother

I snuggled the girls in a boppy and snapped some pics. They were hilarious...sucking on eachother's arms, punching, kicking and giving funny looks. While I don't think they really know the other exists, it's fun putting them close and seeing how they react.

By now you should be able to tell who's who, but if not Sylvia is on the left. Note, Evelyn's little smile!

The Girls Meet the Curtain's

Our friends, the Curtains, stopped by to meet the girls. Janet and Larry also have twin nearly 13 year old fraternal girls, Megan and Jenna. We look forward tp trading twin stories and getting good advice from parents who have survived through the pre-teen years!

Dancing Sylvia

The girls, especially Sylvia, get a little wild sometimes. Remember, we used to call them the "Party Girls" when I was pregnant. Here's Sylvia getting her groove on!

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/18d01eb8970ca876848d253e1de83151/video/4624844

Growing Girls!

The girls are getting big! On Monday, at the doc (for a minor rash, Mommy overreacts!) they were weighed:

Sylvia is now 9lbs 6oz
Evelyn is now 8lbs 8oz

Yeah! They both put on a pound in about a week. That's pretty good considering we're only supplementing about 2oz of formula a day on most days!

Visit With Chris

My good friend, Chris, is in town visiting from San Diego. We've known each other since 1998 and have been lucky enough to see him 3 times this year! We went to breakfast and he was a champ acting like the "Daddy" when people asked him how old they were, responding to a question -- it must be so hard by saying "no, not really." He's such a clown!

Mega Spit Up!

Sylvia is our chubster! At the 8pm feeding (that's when we take them upstairs for the night), we attempt to "top them off" with an ounce or two of formula so they sleep longer. Well, last night, Sylvia didn't know when to stop...she kept chugging it down. I was thinking, "geez, she must not be getting anything from me when she nurses...she is starving!" Well, after chugging about 2 oz we burped her she yacked all over David. It actually went all the way down his leg! Good one Sylvia!

Baby Alex Has Arrived!

Our good friends, Greg and Diana, had their BIG baby boy -- nearly two weeks late. He weighed 9lbs 12oz! We all went over to meet baby Alex. From left to right is Diana w/ Alex, Melissa with Sylvia, Jason with Lucas and David with Evelyn. How lucky we are to have so many friends with babies!

Smiles!

This week the girls both started smiling! These aren't gas smiles either! We don't get too many, but when we do, it's very obvious what they are doing. Soon, I'll get it a picture of their cute little smiles!

Sylvia Out On The Couch & More Sleep for Mommy and Daddy

Sylvia crashed on the couch after her morning feeding. They are now sleeping about 4-5 hours between night feedings; we've eliminated one all together! Then, after we feed them at 5 or 6am, they go out for another few hours.

Momma loves getting 4 hours of consecutive sleep! We still have to figure out the witching hour. Last night, we decided to put them down an hour early (8pm) and they slept until 1:30am! After their feeding, they slept until 6:15am.

Evelyn is Loving Grandpa

Out Like a Light

Evelyn often falls asleep with the paci half in her mouth and then sucks it back in. Hilarious!

Visit to American History Museum

Grandpa, Alexis (niece), the girls and I went to the newly renovated American History Museum.

6 Week Birthday

We wanted to celebrate the girls 6 week birthday so we baked a cake (actually, we wanted an excuse to bake a cake, so we thought it would be appropriate to do it in honor of the girls).

Sylvia is on the left, Evelyn on the right and Alexis (my niece) is holding the cake.

It was good.

Babies or Dolls?

I enjoy dressing up the girls in their new clothes. Now that they finally fit in some things, it's a lot more fun to pick out their clothes. The blue dress was just given to us from our friends Jon and Andy Swope (along with several other outfits).

Evelyn is on the left and Sylvia is on the right.

More Museums!

We went to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum -- Dad, Alexis and the girls are pictured here with the Blackbird spy plane.

Bath Time With Evelyn

Daddy doesn't get any screaming from Evelyn during bath time, like Mommy does. Looks like Daddy has a new permanent job! http://sharing.theflip.com/session/bc845ec9381279c3605ca37982fb05a2/video/4439040

Evelyn Greets Grandpa

Grandpa fed Evelyn and she greeted him with a puke! Check out this video. http://sharing.theflip.com/session/687137c0290837bc6bfbee0ab3577330/video/4439020

Grandpa Benson and Niece Alexis

My Dad and neice, Alexis, are visiting from Indiana. My Dad (Grandpa Benson) is loving on these girls like crazy. Check out Evelyn asleep on his big belly!

Alexis is nearly 11 and has three siblings all under age 3! She probably has more experience with babies than any of us combined. She will be a great helper for the week she's here.

I'm loving the help already!

Auntie Lynn

My dear friend, Lynn, came down from New York just to meet the girls. We enjoyed a long lunch, including wine, salad, entree, dessert and coffee! I was able to enjoy every bit of it! The girls began to stir at dessert, but Lynn (who is incredibly good with babies) helped me calm them down and I fed them a bottle. Lynn also gave the girls adorable outfits I can't wait to dress them in. One is a pink seersucker-type shirt and shorts combo and the other is adorable linen shorts and a orange top. So cute! Lynn is super generous and incredibly sweet; the girls are lucky to have her as an "Auntie". [I have only a step sister and sister-in-law, so I thought it was appropriate to name a few of my closet friends, Auntie.]

Here she is with Evelyn.

Flip Video of Newborn Play Date

Lots of new babies! Evelyn and Sylvia had a play date with Ella and Max. Us Moms (me, Dori and Jen) enjoyed lunch and venting about the joys and pains of motherhood! It was a blast and we're planning to do it every few weeks.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/50a597a973fc59eee668b4083b146da7/video/4411577

Pic of the Girls

We had pictures of the girls taken today. Isn't this adorable. The individual pictures you'll see when you get the formal annoucement.

Sylvia is on the left, Evelyn on the right.

The Paci Toss Game

Sylvia has a hay day with the paci toss game.

Cute Pics of Sylvia

Taken on her 5th week birthday.

Cute Pics of Evelyn

Here are some cute naked pics of the girls I snapped on their 5th week birthday.

The Swopes Visit

Andy, Emma and Charlotte came to visit today. The girls were so sweet with the girls and Andy is an old pro! Not only did they bring lunch, they brought adorable dresses and fuzzy blankets for the girls. They are the cutest summer outfits! You'll be seeing them sporting them soon! Thanks, Swopes!

Thank You SO MUCH, Gram!

My Mom was incredibly helpful the 2+ weeks she was here. Thank you so much, Gram! We can't wait to see you again in August and at Christmas!

Family Visiting

This weekend, my big brother Shane, Step-Sis Sherri, and Step-Dad Lanny came to visit this weekend and to pick up my Mom. Here are a few pics from their visit. I also took them on a tour of the White House west wing.

First Museum

It was only appropriate to take the girls on their first museum outing to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Here's Gram with the girls.

Evelyn Chilin'

Evelyn is so funny, she was literally in the sling, popped her head out and then sat perched on my chest with her arms folded like this.

David and His Girls

Cute shot of David and the girls.

First Real Restaurant Outing

On Monday, David and I were starving and stopped at Baja Fresh for lunch. While this was their first real outing to a restaurant, we'd would have liked that they went to a much nicer place that's not fast food. On Tuesday, my Mom and I went to Aroma in Shirlington for Indian. It was delicious and the girls were very well behaved. We even dined at Noon, which was their normal feeding time. This should give all new Mom's hope!

Sylvia Fighting Sleep

The girls are hilarious when they fight sleep. Here's Sylvia fighting it HARD!

4 Weeks Old -- Video

Random videos of the girls. Sylvia first and Evelyn second.

4 weeks old

The girls are 4 weeks old today! Read below about the bears.

Mini Me?

So, does Evelyn look like me? The first picture is of me when I was 4 weeks 3 days old. The second is a picture of Evelyn on her 4 week birthday (today!).

New Toys

Oma* (David's Mother, Patti) and Opa* (Step-Father, Lee) sent the most adorable stuffed bears for the girls. They hail from Vermont and come with a lifetime repair policy. We're going to encourage the girls to really give these bears a run for their money since they can be mailed back and returned as good as new. Notice they have bibs on with the girls' names and birthdays? Cute, cute.

Also, the bears will also subsitute for the bird in their monthly growth photos (today's to be taken after they wake up). While the bird is cute and belongs in their bird themed nursery, we thought the bears would be better.

Thanks so much Oma and Opa for the bears. The girls are scared of them now, but they will love them later :)

Oma and Opa are German for Grandmother and Grandfather. David's Mother's Father is from Germany and Sylvia's nose is pure Schmidt! Also, Sylvia's namesake is of his dear Aunt, also from the Schmidt family! We actually gave them their names in the womb; how could it have worked out any more perfect?

Evelyn and Sylvia Honor Memorial Day

This video was filmed on our new flip, courtesty of Grandpa and Grandma Benson