Wake Up Laughing

Also, I meant to post yesterday that I had the chance to be featured on the Multiples and More site. CLICK HERE if you're interested in checking it out! And, I just wanted to say 'thank you' to the great ladies who run Multiples and More for thier awesome site - they were my #1 resource when our twinsie maddness first began. 

(oh, plus a picture of the twinsies and mom playing with the front cam on the new phone)

Hopefully, next time the babies will enjoy it more. I think they are cutting teeth this week and haven't been in the best mood anyway.

O and L turned 1 a few weeks ago. I've been thinking about writing a blog post about it but just haven't sat down to do it. We had a nice little birthday party for them with family and friends. They were a little overwhelmed by all the extra people in our house but seemed to enjoy themselves overall. :) 

They are both walking now. They are trying to say more words, and signing a lot. O has started walking around the house signing and singing the Baby Signing Time opening song. It's bucketfuls of cuteness to see her do that. L says "No, no, no, no" to every question you ask her. They both shake their heads 'no' quite vigorously and then chuckle about it - especially when I try to feed them something they don't want to eat. I guess they are amused by their increased ability to express themselves. They eat most everything - though I did find out a few nights ago that they don't care for cheese tortellini. 

We had our 1 year checkup and the height/weight between them is closing. There was a time when L seemed quite a bit bigger than O (over half a pound when you don't have a lot of pounds can appear to be a big difference). Now L is just a quarter of an inch taller and only a few ounces more. They both are a bit over 20 lbs. Bigger than C was at 1, she didn't even break 20 lbs. at that point. :) 

I guess that's it for now. Not much else has been going on for us. We're just hanging out everyday and learning new things (like climbing stairs and furniture). 

(PS: If you're so inclined, please go vote for O & L for Photo of the Month at the Multiples and More site. I entered the one year pic of them in their little Korean dresses.) 

I'm at the point that moms get to once more sleep and predicitability (to a small degree) are present in our lives. HAPPY. It's nearly O & L's first birthday and I keep thinking about last year this time. Two thoughts:

1. I AM SO HAPPY THAT I AM NOT PREGNANT WITH TWINS ANYMORE.

2. I STILL CAN'T BELIVE I HAD TWIN BABIES. 

Last year around this time I looked something like this: 35/36 weeks and still preggo

It's been busy recently. But, it's a good busy (especially since I get more sleep). The girls are all on the move. In different directions. :) L & O are walking (still mostly crawling, but getting up to walk across the room more and more) and climbing everything. C started gymnastics once a week and she loves the bouncing around. It's exactly what she needed. H started 6th grade and seems to be having a good time too. She's learning a lot. She likes her teacher and has some good friends in her class. 

I'm enjoying that the babies finally nap at the same time everyday and are on a predictable schedule. It only took like 9-10 months to get there, right? Ha! They are still napping twice a day and that is just fine with me. I'm also enjoying sleeping all night. OMG I LOVE MY FULL NIGHT OF SLEEP. We're getting ready for the girls' first birthday next month. It's our last first birthday. Honestly, I'm not too broken up about that. But, I do want to enjoy it and really celebrate how far we've come this year. That sentiment reminds me of the third recurring thought:

3. I AM SO GLAD THE BABIES ARE NOT NEWBORNS ANYMORE.

It was fun and all. Newborns are great. Really... But, damn. We were tired. :)

L finally started consistently sleeping through the night!!! I was afraid to mention it... I was sure it was a fluke and I didn't want to hope that after 18 months (I'm including pregnancy because I didn't sleep very well then either) I finally was going to get back to quality 7+ hours of sleep most nights! But, it seems to be sticking - we had a week of sleeping all night, then a few days of fever where she was getting up again. But, the fever broke and it seems that she's gone right back to sleeping through. FREAKIN YAY.

O has been like a mini-House mystery since her intestinal thing at the end of May. The intussusception led to the discovery of a UTI that she ended up needing two rounds of antibiotics to treat. To be thorough, the pediatrician ordered an ultrasound of her kidneys as well as a test called a VCUG. The kidney ultrasound was normal, but on Friday the VCUG revealed that O has urinary reflux. It's not a serious case, and she's expected to outgrow it (though, that may take a few years to happen). So, we're following up with her pediatrician and a urologist. In the meantime, she'll also start a low dose of an antibiotic to help prevent further UTIs. I'll post more as we know more, unless there's nothing more to know, I guess. The only other question this has led to is, do we test L for the same thing? My other kids have no had similar issues, though it does tend to run in siblings according to what I've been reading. We have a follow up appointment and the doc and I will discuss this question. Does any one else have experience to share related to urinary reflux in babies/kids (and twins)?

So, other than this reflux issue for O, these babies are healthy and happy and quickly approaching their one year birthday! They are feeding themselves and loving making a huge mealtime mess. They eat nearly everything I put in front of them and we are just waiting till after the one year mark for things like dairy, and whatever else is on the 1+ list of foods. Both girls are standing, and L has taken a few steps here and there but they aren't really walking around much yet. They do love cruising on the furniture. We've been working on signs with them since about 8 months, O connected the dots right away and she signs 'baby', 'more', 'dad', and 'eat'. L makes the sign for 'more' while she's eating, but seems to be more "vocal" in her communication - she's got a lot of sounds for things, and mimics a lot of the sounds we make. For example, if we're eating and O is signing 'more', L might start to say, "muh-muh-muh-muh". They are about the same size again, after L spending most of this year nearly a pound bigger than O. Now, O is closing the gap and is only a few ounces smaller than her sister. 

Here's what I spun for last week:

And, here's what I'm working on now. It's 4 oz of marino and silk, I'm about 10% through it.

My goal for this big finish (the tour ends Sunday) is to spin and ply this - it will be my first attempt at plying. I love how the yarn is turning out so far.