The Girls Are So Independent!

Sylvia above; Evelyn below
Well, maybe they aren't totally independent, but I'm enabling independence when I'm desperate. Sometimes a Mom has to do what she can to get through the days. Lately, it has been bottle propping. It is reasonably effective, especially since both girls want to eat at exactly the same time and things come up I must take care of (like going to the bathroom, answering the door, etc). And, these girls will scream (Sylvia) or cry (Evelyn) if their bottle is taken from them prematurely.

Multitasking Queen

When both babies fuss and I'm alone, I have to be creative when calming them down. Often it is a walk, but since I ran 4 miles this morning before they woke up and we are meeting Josie for lunch and then visiting friends at FEMA, we stayed at the house. After trying the packnplay, swing, bouncy seat, and boppy, I had to also pick up Evelyn. Sylvia was already in the carrier. They both are asleep in my arms as I type this. All they wanted was their Mommy.

I also took this picture on a timer.

Evelyn in the Bumbo

Evelyn really isn't too small for the Bumbo! My girls are growing up too fast!

Repeat #1-Sleeping Through The Night

Sylvia slept through the night again. This time she was awake around 6:30pm after being fed at 7pm and asleep by 7:45pm. Go Sylvia.

Evelyn is still about a pound smaller and wakes up around 2:30am most nights.

This gives Mommy plenty of sleep...going bto bed around 9pm and sleeping 6.5hrs and then going to bed around 3:30am until 6am! Pretty good for just 1o weeks if you ask me!

Daddy's Final Days On Active Duty

We went to the Pentagon to introduce the girls to David's collegues and staff. They were well behaved, even around feeding time at 3pm.

The other picture is of David feeding Sylvia before work this morning. It was very cute until she barfed all over his uniform and he had to change.

I thought it would be appropriate to take a few pictures of Daddy in his uniform since he is retiring in less than 8 weeks. 20 years of service to our country! What an amazing accomplishment!

Removal of Evelyn's Swaddle

We unswaddled Evelyn last night because we don't think she needs it. I heard Sylvia crying at 2am and was surprised since she usually isn't the first to wake up (bigger girl, bigger stomach, of course!). Well, she was upset with her sister for scooting over to her side of the crib and putting her feet on her head! So, we fed them both and they went back to bed. At 7am when we woke them up, they were sleeping like this. How on earth is Evelyn turning herself upside down and on the other side of the crib? I guess she wanted to be near her sister?!

As you can imagine, we're thinking it's finally time for crib #2. I'm not looking forward to separating them because I love that they are together AND the nursery is so small, it will be a very tight squeeze. We might be converting the office to bedroom #2 sooner than we thought as well.

Meeting the Ross'

My Step-Father's son and his family was in town for their daughter's dance competion. Deana (pictured here right after her dance) won their dances and loved holding the babies.

Big Girl Sylvia In The Bumbo

The bumbo is awesome and is supposed to be used to strengthen neck and back support, AND allows your baby to sit way before it would be possible otherwise. Big girl Sylvia fits (we use a little blanket to fill in some space behind her). I put her in it now after we feed her because she spits up a lot and it's better to keep her up instead of lying her down. She loves it and is quick to let me know when she's had enough. Evelyn has great head and neck strength, but she's still just a little too tiny to fit in their comfortably. Soon she will catch up -- she's only a pound behind her sister.

Cute Pics from the 4th Weekend

Evelyn above; Sylvia below

Meeting Uncle Aaron and Cousin Brandon

David's brother, Aaron, and his son Brandon came to visit over the 4th weekend. They live in the VA Beach area. Brandon is almost 8 and his an old pro with babies.

The Girls' Quirks

The girls are so fidgety, especially Evelyn. She loves to be in the packnplay and kick her legs. It's hard for her to be still. I also think that's way she sleeps a whole lot less than Sylvia. It's like she's afraid she's going to miss something. Then, she gets super cranky when she's tapped out and tired. And, it takes a while to get her calmed down and the only thing that works is holding her close in the Bjorn or rocking her. The girl is a total character and getting somewhat spoiled on her cool down moments.

Her sister on the other hand is very chill. Almost too chill. She sleeps all day. Eats, sleeps, poops. That's Sylvia. However, I should mention that's she's very chill until she loses her pacifer (AKA "crack-ifier")or is hungry! Then, she is the loudest little girl! She screams bloody murder if she's happy as a clam and her paci falls out. We call it her "crack-ifier" because it's like crack to her. Or, say you need to take the bottle out of her mouth or switch sides nursing, she flips. She is a great eater and dang, if you try to yank away her food, watch out. Let's just hope she exhibits some restraint and becomes a lady about it.

We love these girls like crazy and all their little quirks.

Sylvia Stretching After SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!

Sylvia is our sleeper, she slept 11 hours the other night! While we haven't had a repeat yet, it is definitely a step in the right direction. The girls are now eating every 4 hours -- 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm and then we let them go as long as they can at night. Typically, Evelyn wakes between 1:30-3pm and Sylvia between 2:30-5am. We are also weaning them off the night feeding by a half ounce every 3 days. We are following the book "12 hours of sleep by 12 weeks." Our doc says "Good Luck", but we're not giving up!

Cherry Blossom Stars

4th of July

Evelyn Discovering Her Thumb

This is an older video, but still cute.

Tribute to Oma

Oma (David's Mom) has been incredibly helpful during her stay here! We will miss her terribly!

Cute Pics from Week 9

The girls are below the window in their pack n play, so Evelyn has the light shining on her, it's not a weird tribal tattoo or anything. Don't they look cute in polka dots?
Evelyn in the car

The Monster Booger

Evelyn has woken up twice now with an extremely stuffed up nose. She can barely breathe and we feel terrible for her. The sight of the blue ball suction device makes her cry, so that's out. Today, David used the sucker successfully to dislodge the booger and then she sneezed out the biggest booger any of us have ever seen. Yes, we realize this is gross, but you wouldn't believe us otherwise!

Meeting the OMBers!

We finally made a trip to Meredith's office to meet her work collegues. They were having a wild and crazy government office party with drinks representing each agency within the Department of Homeland Security. For example, for FEMA, Paul made hurricanes and Emily made Jello shots of the alert/warning system (see picture). The girls were loved on tons, especially by Kamela. They did everything they were supposed to during the visit, eat, poop and cry a little.

Slobber-Puss

Sylvia is a mega slobber-puss. She loves sucking on her binky and when she can find her hands she has a hay day. Other times, she just slobbers.

Alligator Tear

Today, Evelyn was fighting sleep and incredibly fussy when we put her in the car so we could go to Old Town, Alexandria for a stroll and morning cup of coffee. Although the girls' cry, they have NEVER actually shed a tear....well, until today. This breaks my heart!

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!