Already?!

I think Cassidy is breaking her first tooth! I noticed two little white spots on her bottom gum today that look suspiciously like a tooth coming up. She has been chewing on her hands like crazy and drooled a LOT yesterday. She was just a little fussier than usual today, but still nothing too bad. It seems SO early for her to be getting teeth! I remember Aidan got his teeth early, but I don't think it was this early! Well, I'll let you know when/if it breaks through....

Here's a few new pics, including a couple of Cassidy's prospective "tooth," although it is hard to see and looks a little like a glare. It's on the bottom gum to the left...

Success!!!

I am so happy to report that Cassidy slept through the night (11pm - 8am) in her crib in her room ! She has actually been sleeping through the night for the past couple weeks in the swing in the living room, but since we've started using the cribs she'd been waking up at least once, and usually ended up back in a swing I had moved into their room. So this is the first time she slept through in her room, in her crib!!!!! Success !!!

It does still take about 2 hours of cuddle time and cluster feeding each evening to get them to sleep before we place them in the cribs, we can't lay them down awake, but that is a habit we will break later. Candace is still waking at least twice a night and has still ended up in the bed with me each night. Oh well, one down one to go ! And at least I'm back in my own bed!

Cribs are for sleeping...sometimes!

So our newest "adventure" for the last few nights has been trying to get the girls to sleep in their cribs. For the past couple months, I have been sleeping in the living room with Candace on the couch and Cassidy has been sleeping in her swing in the living room. This has worked great, but Candace is getting bigger and my small section of couch is getting even smaller!

We've had some success, but we're still having some issues. I've been putting the girls to bed in their crib around 9-10 pm, after they fall into a deep sleep while nursing. They will stay asleep anywhere from 1 -4 hours before one or both wake up. I nurse them back to sleep and put them back in their cribs. So from 9-10 pm til 3-4 am they are sleeping in THEIR room, in their cribs. Yay - success!

Here is where it gets tricky, the 3-4 am wake up! It has always been Candace who wakes up this second time and will not go back to sleep in her crib. She also wakes Cassidy with her "protests!" At this time of night I am just too tired and incoherent to keep trying, so Candace ends up in our bed with me and Cassidy ends up back in the swing (but at least it's the one in their room!)
So our progress is slow, but there IS progress. I have at least moved back into our bedroom (yay!) Hopefully I'll be writing again soon to say that they have gone the WHOLE night in their cribs! Wish us luck...

Sweet dreams!

Goodbye Gasparilla

So this weekend is the first time I've really missed our pre-babies freedom. Don't get me wrong, I am nothing but grateful for these beautiful girls and we did plan to expand our family, but we got a little spoiled with the freedom of having a really well behaved 7 year old, as opposed to the 7 year old PLUS two infants! We simply can't do the same things we used to do. Usually I don't mind at all, since my favorite thing to do is just be with my family anyway, but this weekend was the Gasparilla Pirate Festival. It is a HUGE deal here in Tampa! There is a pirate invasion, ships, fireworks, live music, and a big, extravagant parade with bead-throwing to rival Mardi-Gras! People dress as pirates and the excitement and festiveness are contagious!!

Last year we went all out in honor of Aidan's long-standing pirate obsession (going on 4 years!) We bought tickets for the invasion brunch so we were right there at the convention center when the pirates "invaded." We got to see the ship and pirates up close and we were among the first to get the coveted beads. We even had front row seats to see the mayor hand over the key to the city. Aidan was in pirate heaven! His neck was draped with massive amounts of beads before the parade even started. We also purchased reserved seating for the parade and had a great, unobstructed view of the parade. It was so exciting and fun!!

This year we missed it all :( ...we were home with the babies. Luckily, Aidan DID get to actually be IN the children's parade they had last weekend! We have a close friend that is in Boy Scouts and they invited him to walk in the parade with them! So at least Aidan still got his fill of the adventure, but Sean and I missed out. There is no way we could have taken the girls to something like that! Of course I would MUCH rather have my precious girls than go to a pirate parade, but I do look forward to them getting a little older and more portable. Gasparilla 2009.... here we come!

I'm still waiting for the pics of Aidan in the children's parade this year, so here are a few pics from LAST years Gasparilla...

An Ordinary Day

My favorite part of the day is "Mommy Time." We do this for about 45 minutes, twice a day. I spend this time with the girls reading books, singing songs, and “playing.” They LOVE this time!

Their favorite books have big, bold, bright colors, few words, flaps to lift, and their absolute favorite has those 3-D wobbly eyes. For the songs, I try to sing songs that have actions with them like “Itsy, Bitsy Spider” and “Where is Thumbkin?” We also do: This Little Piggy (toes), Peek-a Boo, and Patty Cake. Candace’s favorite is This Little Piggy and Cassidy loves when I do Patty Cake with her hands! For "playing," I try to place the toys in their hands. We are still waiting for them to reach for and grab things. I also make their toys "talk" to each other and tickle and kiss them. Candace loves to talk to the toy monkey and Cassidy likes to stare in the mirror toy.

I pretty much use the same books, songs, activities each day so it gets a little mundane for me, but it is live interaction with them and they absolutely love it! They know what's coming when I put them side-by-side in their bouncer and swing and sit down on the floor in front of them. They get the biggest smiles! It’s so neat how they have become more alert and interactive. I am really looking forward to them getting even more alert and able to engage with me even more!

Besides "Mommy Time" the rest of our day is filled with nursing, sleeping and diaper changes. They still only stay up for about an hour at a time so there isn’t time for much else. We do a little tummy time, which they hate, and spend some time under the play mats and in the swings. They also look forward to when Aidan gets home from school. He often will sing to them, read to them or just talk to them. They are in total awe of their big brother!

Our daily guilty pleasure is a Baby Einstein DVD. We discovered these about a week ago. They LOVE those silly videos! They smile at the screen and kick their legs in excitement. I discovered I can put one on to entertain them while I sneak in a quick shower. I am still not sure how I feel about TV for infants, but when you have twins you sometimes have to give yourself a little slack. Besides, a clean mama equals a happier mama!

Just another ordinary day!

Aidan loves to read to the girls.

Reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Watching Baby Einstein

Enthralled with TV

Candace looking in the mirror.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..."

She really does love the monkey, but she was getting tired!

With their FAVORITE book!

3 Months Today!

Today the girls are 3 months old . It really is amazing how this cloud just seems to lift at this milestone. I'm certainly not saying things are perfect now, far from it, but they are much better. There used to be days that felt like they would never end, and yet, the time also seems to have passed so quickly! I was looking back at pics from when they were born and I can hardly believe how much they've grown. They started out in preemie and newborn clothes, and just started wearing size 3-6 months! Their age seems to be following right along with the sizes.

I've posted some new pics below from today to celebrate this milestone. As you can tell we had quite the fashion shoot! We didn't take all the pics at once, they NEVER would have been patient enough for that (about 5-10 min. is our max for pics) so they were taken throughout the day. I had a lot of fun dressing them up! Having girls is like having real, live Barbie dolls. They don't really mind me changing them that often because they love to get naked each time, lol! Of course, now they think I'm crazy because I will go to great lengths to try to get them to smile for the camera (I really probably DO look certifiable with my silly faces, dances & noises) but they are usually more enthralled with the camera and it's flashing lights. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Have I mentioned how proud we are of Aidan? Everyday he gives us new reasons to be proud. Today his teacher called to tell us he is being tested for the gifted program. Yesterday the counselor sent home a letter saying he has been chosen as a "model student" to participate in counseling groups to serve as a leader and example of how to work cooperatively. He is also still tutoring first graders. He is a wonderful kid and an amazing student, now if we can just get him to stop talking back... lol. Guess they can't be perfect! We really are so proud.

Our Little Flirt!

Well, I have been on a roll with blogs, two in one week! So I figured why not continue the trend? I'm inspired by my twin mom friends, Megan and Damiane, who post blogs daily. I figure if they can find time and enough to write about, I can too. I am usually sittng at my laptop every evening nursing anyway. So... we'll see how this goes! I am certainly not committing to DAILY blogs, but I will do my best to post a few each week, on our more "eventful" days. This will be just another great way to feel connected to you all across the miles.

Our excitement for today was a visit from the Puerto-Rican maintenance man. We've been having some electrical problems (darn, old base housing) so they came out to fix things. Apparently, Cassidy has a thing for Latin men, LOL! She is usually the anti-social one, but when our maintanence man talked to her with his thick Spanish accent, she was all smiles and coos. I was so surprised, because she typically gives well-meaning strangers her lip-quivering pout! He was a really sweet man and even sung to her in Spanish. He said he has 6 kids of his own!!! I have never seen anyone, me excluded, be able to hold her attention so long. It was SO cute! Candace, however, slept through the whole two hours he was here, and she is usually our social one!

Tomorrow the girls will be 3 months old exacty so I'll take some pics!

4 Sets of Twins!

Today I had lunch with 3 other twin moms, Megan (mom of Jake & Ryan - 4 months), Damiane (mom of Indira & Arjun - 4 months), and Mory (mom of Colby & Kellen - 8 months.) We all met on a wonderful support-board/ website, TwinStuff. We spent nearly 2 hours sharing stories, venting and socializing. They are all amazing women, and nobody understands having twinfants more than another mother of twins!

We had lunch at the mall and had to eat in shifts, but the babies were generally well-behaved, at least as well as you can expect from 8 infants! We all had to eat one-handed as we held a baby with the other hand, but that's nothing we aren't already used to doing . We attracted a bit of attention, but not nearly as much as we expected. I think it was a little more intimidating with all 4 of us there, we also were good at avoiding eye-contact with lookie-loos!

It was a wonderful experience for me as I have been feeling a little isolated since I've stopped working. I am really looking forward to spending more time with these great women and watching our babies grow together. How much fun it will be when they can play together !

Mory, Me, Megan & Damiane

Look at all those babies!

My Sweeties!

3 Month Update

The girls will be 3 months old on Wednesday and I am finally emerging from the newborn haze ! I can happily say that things have gotten so much better, but it is still not easy…I don't think it ever will be with two! The girls are smiling, chuckling, and cooing and so entertaining to interact with now. The most exciting thing happened this past week - they finally noticed one another! They looked right at each other and smiled and babbled. It was the sweetest, most heart-warming moment! It is also quite interesting and wonderful to see their very distinct personalities emerging. As their grandma (my mother) predicted they are very different, almost like night and day.

Cassidy is Daddy's little sweetie and gave him her very first social smile. She rarely cries, but when she does it is loud and dramatic, with great big crocodile tears. She does not babble as much as her sister, but when she does it is loud and vehement. She seems quite opinionated! She loves to sleep and is already sleeping 8 hours at night (Woo-hoo!) She is very curious and her eyes are always wandering looking for something new to examine. She is very skeptical of new people and makes her patented, heart-breaking pouty face for strangers.

Candace is a mama's girl through and through. She will sit and gaze, smile and coo at her mama for hours! She finds me quite fascinating and is happiest in my arms. She adores her big brother and is slowly warming up to her daddy. She smiles easily for others and is always interested in new faces. She is our little social butterfly! She wants to stay up all day to talk and play, and is still waking every 3-4 hours at night (poor mama!) Her hours of crying have stopped after we discovered it wasn't colic, but a milk and soy protein intolerance. After eliminating all dairy and soy from my diet, not easy to do, she is a sweet, happy baby with only the occasional fussiness.

Aidan is still an amazing big brother. He has not acted out or shown any signs of jealousy or competitiveness and is still doing very well in school. He had straight A's this quarter and was chosen as a tutor for 1st graders because of his strong academics, kindness and helpfulness. He absolutely adores his baby sisters and is very patient and protective of them. He loves to sing to them, read to them and make them smile. He finds them very entertaining. I am SOOOOOOOOOO proud of him !!!!

Sean and I are doing well, although we don't have much "us" time anymore. He is very supportive of my breast-feeding them and helps where he can. He has changed many diapers and spit-up covered clothes! He is a wonderful father and is so in love with his daughters. I love to hear him talk to them in his sweet, sing-song voice. He also has been a great help around the house by doing all of the cooking, errands and grocery shopping.

I am finally getting out and about a little more, although it is not easy with two infants! I have made friends with some other twin mommies in the area and we are quite the spectacle when we go out . They are awesome women who understand what I'm going through. I do miss teaching, but I am very happy to be home taking care of my children. I love getting to spend so much time with my family and being there to savor every moment of their first year. I may or may not return to work next year, time will tell.

The past 3 months have been a blur, and perhaps the most challenging months of my life thus far, but I would do it all over in a heartbeat! I cannot imagine my life now without these two precious girls. They have completed our family and I am so incredibly grateful for them every single day . I feel so blessed!!! Thank you all for your continued support, interest and photo comments. We will continue to keep you updated with pics and blogs!