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Twins 9 month stats

Nat and Avit turned 9 months old on Halloween, so this post will be super short since 10 months is just 2 days away. I just want to make sure I get their picture up here.

We did have a well check this time, so here are their official 9 month stats:

Nat

  • Height:  29″ (74%)
  • Weight:  19 lbs. 3 oz. (40%)
  • Head:  45 cm (48%)
  • BMI:  16 kg/m2 (19%)

Avit

  • Height:  29″ (74%)
  • Weight:  19 lbs. 14 oz. (53%)
  • Head:  45.5 cm (63%)
  • BMI:  16.6 kg/m2 (34%)

For comparison, here are the 9 month posts for the other 3:

And here are all the 9 month pictures – Della, Lana, Morrison, twins. Then the usual all-twins montage.

 

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Up Nort’, again

We spent most of last week up in Eagle River, in northeastern Wisconsin about 4 hours from home, and it was another great family vacation. One of our friend’s parents own a condo up there, and the resort ran a friends and family deal on renting out units for the whole week for a steal. So they invited us a few months ago, we had condos right next to each other, and we had a blast.

The kids loved the indoor swimming pool; playing with their new Squinkies; exploring the resort grounds with Ryan; watching movies; roasting s’mores; playing in the snow on our last full day there; watching all the animals out our patio door; and doing tons of coloring, drawing, and writing.

The twins ended up doing great in a new place after the first night, which was a no-sleep nightmare. The resort provided 2 pack n plays, so they were able to still have their own beds. We barricaded them in the living room during the days, and they spent their time playing with toys and exploring a new floor.

I enjoyed playing in the pool with the big 3, getting a snowy run in, working on this blog and pictures, reading, and relaxing. Ryan was our resident town explorer, making sure the fridge and liquor cabinet were well stocked and finding a good place for all 7 of us to go out for pizza one night.

I normally envision “up north” as a place for summer vacations, but this late fall getaway was really fun. Hopefully it can become more than a one-time trip!

 

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Six!

My sweet baby girl turned 6 last month, and the world is absolutely a better place because she’s in it.

Lana started full-day kindergarten this year, and even her teacher has said a number of times how ready she was for it. She loves school as much as Della always has, is thriving in her class, is a good friend to all her classmates, and has the most amazing teacher ever. Lana’s teacher is also the middle of 5 children, loves all things tiny, and just “gets” Lana better than I could have ever hoped a teacher could. I told her this is definitely a student-teacher match made in cosmic heaven.

Tinies still reign, Nigh-Night is a forever friend, and unicorns are the newest favorite. She loves playing by herself, yet adores her sister and brothers and would follow Della to the ends of the earth.

She is the perfect embodiment of the word “kid.” Her imagination is beyond any I have ever known. Her creativity overflows every second of the day. And her artistic ability amazes everyone.

I really can’t put into words how much I love this girl. I hope and pray that I never know life without her, because she makes every day so much better. Happy 6th birthday, sweet Lana Marie, and many, many, many more! We love you to the stars and back!!

 

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4 generations

Last month I took all 5 kids to Tucson with my mom for this very reason.

My grandparents hadn’t met the twins yet, and, my grandma being a twin herself, it was very important to me to get them out there.

That part of the trip was wonderful. Gathering multiple generations under the same roof is pretty amazing, and it means a lot to do it as often as possible.

Watching my grandma get down on the floor, play with Avit and a slew of baby toys, let him crawl all over her and snuggle in her lap, and run his little hand along her face was one of the best things I’ll probably ever see in my life. My heart practically jumped out of my chest and swallowed them both up.

All of my grandparents are incredible people, and now watching them see and get to know my own children is awesome. I can literally feel the spirits of our family swirling when I see them all together. The greats and the littles.

So the family time was unforgettable. The rest of the time was… Hard and exhausting. It was the first time the twins were on an airplane, which, in itself, was a logistical nightmare. Avit spent almost the entire 4-hour flight on the way out crying, fussing, squirming, and being generally horribly annoying. Thankfully the big 3 were great and Nat was a little sleeping ray of sunshine. Of course he was on my mom’s lap.

Then while we were there, it was like jailbreak for the big 3. I swear every time I take them somewhere without Ryan, they feel like they no longer need to listen or remember their rules. And they adore their cousins, yet try to put on the worst behavior possible when they get together. Showing off? Who knows. But ugh. And wine.

So I was hugely relieved when we landed at O’Hare after our return flight. We had a great post-travel meal at Morton’s to let traffic clear and everyone decompress a little before hopping in the car to drive home.

It was a lot of work. But not much in life with 5 kids now isn’t. It was a really short trip, too, which also made it feel like such a whirlwind. Overall, though, I was so happy we went. Seeing my grandparents is always great, and there’s never a shortage of laughter when my sisters and I are together. I’m grateful that my mom took me and my gaggle of children, because the trip never would’ve happened without her.

Until next time, Tucson!

 

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Twins 8 month stats

Nat and Avit turned 8 months old just 3 days ago. And I’m already writing their monthly post! What?!? I know! (ok, so obviously september 30 wasn’t 3 days ago now, but i really did write this post when it was, so i’m sticking with my original punctuality)

Since I just got around to their 6 and 7 month post a few weeks ago, though, this one will be very short and sweet. Their next checkup isn’t until 9 months, so I have no new growth stats to share, and pretty much everything is exactly the same as that last post.

They still aren’t sleeping through the night. They still show minimal interest in solids, so I’m not wasting the time I don’t have trying to force them and then cleaning up more giant messes. I’ve tried Cheerios with both of them, too, and I’ve never seen babies do a worse job trying to get those tiny circles in their mouths. Avit seemed like he wanted to eat them, but he couldn’t actually get any in his mouth; Nat actually pressed his lips closed and pulled away when I tried to feed him one. Fine then, be that way! I loathe the spoon-fed baby food stage anyway, so I’m just going to wait until they can feed themselves better.

I do think this lack of food is contributing to their nighttime wakeups, though, so just yesterday I started giving them an extra bottle during the day. Nat has started throwing in this early nightly wakeup again that is enough to drive me insane. He clearly does NOT need to be waking and having another bottle anywhere between 8-11, because he used to sleep from 6:00 until at least 2 a.m. easily and consistently. So I’m just pumping them as full of milk as I can. I’ve switched their first 2 bottles of the day to be all breastmilk; I’ve added a third bottle that’s half milk, half formula; I’ve switched their last 2 bottles of the day to be all formula; and I’ve changed their bedtime bottle to be 8 oz. instead of 6 oz. like all the other bottles are. So we’ll see.

Avit still steamrolls all over everything, including Nat. He is literally 1 knee “step” away from crawling, and each day I am shocked that he still hasn’t fully figured it out. Don’t worry, he still squiggles and rolls his way all over the place, though. (update – he finally got that second knee going for a real crawl 2 days ago. look out!) Nat is still content to just lie on the floor and roll around. No sitting or crawling in sight.

So that’s about it. They still amaze me daily, and I still can’t believe we have twins. One big thing is that they have their first flight coming up at the end of this week – HEAVEN HELP ME! 4 hours on an airplane with all 5. Twice. Fun. I hope I survive. I will need coffee. And wine. Lots of both. (this has happened now also, but i will have an update on that later)

Here are all the monthly comparisons again:

Lana 8 month post; Morrison 8 month post

Photos – Della, Lana (combo of these 2 this month), Morrison, twins.

Now all twins. Until month 9 (pray for sleep!)…

 

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Back in the saddle again

School started for the girls right after Labor Day, so we’re fully back in the school days swing. K5 for Lana and 3rd grade for Della; Lana even wore the same dress for the first day of K5 that Della did. My loves! I must admit, the first week was a little mind numbing for me. It took me all 4 of those first days to figure out exactly when I needed to get up, when I needed to wake the big 3 up for breakfast/clothes on/teeth brushed, if I had time in the mornings to make lunches or if I should do them the night before, when the babies would wake up and if they’d need to nurse again before school, what time we needed to be out the door, etc., etc., etc. See? Orchestrating 6 bodies in the morning while preserving a modicum of my sanity takes talent.

But once we made it through that first week with all the first-day morning and afternoon pictures and a couple more days to smooth out our system and schedule, I felt much better. Last week was pretty easy and harmless, and now it’s fairly smooth sailing. The girls are loving their new classes and teachers, and so am I. I’ve already had great communication with both teachers, something that’s very important to me. I like having a good relationship with their teachers, since they’re in charge of huge pieces of my heart and soul all day long.

But before we started packing the backpacks and lunchboxes again, we had a lot of fun in those long, glorious summer days. We weren’t able to make it up to Canada for a vacation this summer, so I made sure the kids got to do plenty of fun things around here to make up for it. I inflated our backyard pool and kept it filled pretty much the whole summer for the first time. It was a really hot summer this year, so that worked out well.

We went to the zoo, Bookworm Gardens, the beach to hunt for sea glass, a pool/water slide park right near our house, did the library reading program again, and the big 3 played outside with neighbor friends as much as possible. One of the neighbor girls babysat them so I could run with the twins a couple times each week, which they loved. And I let the girls each pick a camp through our rec department, which we never usually do in the summers. Della picked a week-long gymnastics camp at the high school, and Lana picked a week-long NASA-sanctioned space camp at the other elementary school. They both had an absolute blast with their respective programs, and I know they liked getting to do some new and different things.

I took the kids to Peoria for a couple days in August to see family and give the big 3 some pool time, since they’re all little water bugs. That was a great trip. Much fun was had by all, and the twins got to meet a lot of new family members.

I think I hate to see summer vacation end just as much if not more than the kids do, but I have a really good feeling about this school year. Lana was totally ready for full-day kindergarten, and her teacher has already said how good of a listener she is and how well she follows the rules. And Della loves every single thing about her class so far, and her teacher totally understood all my over-emotional messages those first couple days. Plus I’ve figured out how to transport all 5 of them when we walk and where’s the best place to park when we drive. So we’re golden. Off we go!

 

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