Baby it's cold outside!

Brrrrr!!

Merry Christmas!

Twins!

Here are Piper and Knox in their new holiday sleepers from Pam Pam. It's amazing how much alike they look when we put them in matching outfits!

Piper Smiles

It's really tough to catch them when they smile, but I swear, they smile and laugh all of the time now! Here is the closest thing to a smile I've captured for Piper (with Pam Pam)

Pam Pam Visits!

Pam Pam came to visit last weekend and we had lots of fun. Here are Knox, Piper and Shelby all watching as Pam and I make cookies!

It's hard to believe that the babies turn 5 months old this week! Can't wait to hear what they weigh now. They seem huge to us :)

Piper and Tracy

Here are some pictures from Aunt Tracy's visit last week. I think I have these exact same pictures of me with Tracy when I was a baby!

Granddad and JJ Visit

Here are a couple of pics from a recent visit with Jerry and Janis. Knox is cracking up Granddad!

Piper Speaks!

Ok, shrieks is more like it, but she is making noise, and a lot of it! Nothing that we can understand, of course! And in addition to extremely loud shrieking (not when she's upset, she just thinks it's fun to make noise), she's also started laughing which is pretty entertaining.

I know it's been pretty quiet here on the blog - lots going on with the holidays quickly approaching, job hunting, and a nanny that quit (I'll save that for another post!). But we did go to our 4 month checkup and these babies just keep growing! At four months, Knox weighed 13 lbs. 13 1/2 oz and Piper weighed 13 lbs, 5 oz. Crazy! And they seem to get bigger every day :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are four months old!!

Poor Knox!

If you've been following the pictures closely, you may have noticed that Knox's hair is getting pretty thin. Poor guy, he's not even four months old and he already has a "comb-over!" The pediatrician said that they might lose their hair (something about the trauma of being born causing their hair to stop growing for a few months, and so really he's just losing his hair normally, but since there is no new growth, it seems like he's going bald). Luckily, Piper's hair seems to be staying put. Or possibly hers is just thicker so it's not as noticable (poor Knox got mommy's straight, fine hair!). In any case, at first we thought that maybe his hair was just looking thin because his head was getting bigger (and thus his hair is more "spread out" on his head!) But after a bath, the evidence is there...poor guy! Although I can't feel too bad for him because my hair is falling out these days, too. They say that pregnant women don't lose their hair, so 3 - 6 months after giving birth, all that hair that stayed put all those months starts falling out. Luckily I'm not dealing with a comb over (yet), but I do seem to be "shedding" all over my clothes!

Sleep Habits

We've really been working on standardizing our nap schedules for the past few weeks. Some days are better than others, but wow, when Piper and Knox both nap at the same time, it is heaven :) We've also been working on more naps in the crib vs. in the swing or the bouncy chair or on the couch (or on mommy or daddy!) Again with varied success. Piper is a really good napper - in her crib, the swing, even on the mat under the activity gym! And she'll sleep for two hours easily - sometimes even three or four hours.

On the other hand, Knox isn't a very good napper. I guess he takes after his mommy. You can just see on his little face how he's afraid to fall asleep because he might miss something! So he fights sleep until he's overtired, and then gets cranky before he finally passes out. Or I should say, he gets as cranky as Knox ever gets. He's still the smiliest, happy little boy! He wakes up happy and generally stays that way all day, unless he gets really hungry or really, really tired.

Piper is also quick to smile these days, but she is also quick to let us know if she's not getting her needs met! But it's usually just that she's hungry, or gassy, or maybe bored!

We moved Piper into her own crib a couple of weeks ago because the babies were getting too tall to lie cross-wise next to each other in the same crib :) Not to mention that, even completely swaddled, they are both moving around in the crib. Most mornings I come in and someone -often both of them - has moved from lying longwise in the crib to lying almost completely cross-wise. A neat trick without use of your arms and legs (they are still sleeping tightly swaddled in blankets). One day I think Knox completely turned - he started the night with his head at one end of the crib and ended it with his head at the other end of it. We think it shows real patience and determination since they basically make small movements to turn themselves (think of a clock ticking). So this weekend I had to put the bumpers in both cribs because I keep finding Knox with his head right up against the solid side of the crib and I'm afraid he's going to slam his head against it one night in his rotation around the crib!

Here are a couple of pictures showing the evidence (notice how both of them have also worked one arm free of the swaddle!)

Boo!

Don't be scared!!

New photos!

Piper and Knox enjoy a game watching/going away party for our friends, the Fitzgerald's who just moved to Annapolis.

I've posted the latest pics of Piper and Knox on Snapfish - here is the link to the new album:

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1329027012/a=100051087_100051087/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Good Morning!

Darn Wolverines

On Saturday we went to a game watching party with the Michigan alums in Austin. Piper was not happy with the result of the game (actually, none of us were, but Piper was the most vocal about it!). Knox is just resigned to the fact that this will be another depressing season for the Michigan Wolverines. Luckily the Longhorns had a better day against Missouri.

Meleys in the Pumpkin Patch!

We took advantage of the cool, sunny weather last Saturday to take some pictures in the pumpkin patch. Here we are waiting for the Great Pumpkin!

Fall is here!

Brrrrr! It's getting really cold here! But don't feel too bad for us, it's supposed to get back up to the 80's later this week :) We've also (finally) been getting a lot of rain lately. But Saturday was beautiful and the whole family went to the UT tailgate this weekend. We all got dressed up in our fall clothes and while the babies were snuggly warm in their blankets, I was freezing by the end of the night! Here is a picture of me with Knox is the Baby Bjorn and my friend Kori holding Piper.

We are 12 weeks old!!

Can you believe Piper and Knox are already three months old?!! Crazy how time flies! Check out the new outfits from my cousin Tom and his wife, Jen. They were in from Houston for the music festival this weekend and brought these. Yes, those are monkey ears on the hoods :) And although Knox looks bigger than Piper in this picture, they are really about the same size (for now!)

Interacting!

Piper and Knox continue to get more and more interactive every day! This week we've begun playing with their "activity gym" and they really enjoy looking at the toys hanging above them and they've even begun batting at them. It's so nice to have a way to "play" with them finally! Not to mention another activity to keep them busy (and awake).

We're also working on schedules this week - mostly just getting a real bedtime set (8pm) and still trying to get Piper to eat enough to sleep for at least four hours. Some nights we're more successful than others!

This weekend is the big Austin City Limits music festival here in Austin. It runs Fri - Sun and Chad and I have been planning to be there for at least some of the days. I had babysitters secured for Fri, Sat and Sun but on Tuesday one of them (who was supposed to sit on Fri and Sat) called to tell me that her son had the flu. Since we are already really paranoid about the H1N1 flu at our house (Dell Children's Hospital in Austin in seeing an average of 325 new cases each day), I told her thanks but no thanks for this week! Not an hour later Chad called to tell me that two people on his staff had it! So Chad has spent the last two days quarantined from the baby, although I did manage to find people to look after Piper and Knox this weekend (thanks Joanne!) So we will be at the music festival this weekend (looking like we'll be in the rain, but at least it's only supposed to be in the low eighties!)

Babies' first tailgate and Auntie Paula visits!

We had a great weekend here - Chad went out of town for a couple of days but luckily Auntie Paula came to fill in while he was gone! Check out the cute onesies she brought for them :)

The babies made it to their first tailgate. Sadly, no photos were taken (bad mommy and daddy!), but they got to make a lot of new friends and see the setup for our tailgates. Although it was much cooler than the game two weeks ago, we still had the fan going and Piper absolutely loved the air blowing on her. We think this bodes well for her future career as a supermodel. Knox didn't like the fan, so I guess he won't be modeling anytime soon! Luckily that game ended well and UT beat Texas Tech (although we were long gone by then).

Sadly, Knox got his first major disappointment when his beloved Steelers lost on Sunday. Here is a photo of the happy fans at the beginning of the game!

Links to photo albums

Ok, for those of you with time to kill, here are the links to the photos of Knox and Piper during Months 1 & 2!



Month One http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1160188012/a=100051087_100051087/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/



Month Two

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1157494012/a=100051087_100051087/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/



and these are the professional photos that were taken in the hospital

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1159993012/a=100051087_100051087/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/



Some of these have been posted in the blog, but of course, there are MANY more photos to document their first few weeks of life. Enjoy!

Two month checkup

Well, Piper and Knox went for their two month pedi appointment yesterday. I can hardly believe it - Piper weighs 10 lbs, 1 oz!!! And Knox has almost caught up - he is 9 lbs, 15 oz and only 1/2 inch shorter than Piper. It's crazy how fast they grow - that's 5 lbs that Knox has gained in 2 months - more than double his birth weight. So that's great news - the pedi is thrilled with their progress. They also got the dreaded first shots yesterday. We are doing an alternative vaccine schedule so they had their first two immunizations yesterday and will have 2 more in a month and so on. Basically, because they are so small, we are spacing these first ones out monthly vs every two months. Yesterday's vaccines were one shot and one liquid to drink. They cried out at the injection, but both quieted right down afterward like little troopers! And although they were a little uncomfortable that afternoon, a little (infant) Tylenol fixed them right up and last night they were totally back to normal. So we have passed a big right of passage!

I haven't posted on the blog for awhile, but I did spend a lot of time organizing our photos from these first two months and I've posted them all on snapfist (and ordered print copies for my "brag book"). I spent a half hour on Snapfish yesterday trying to figure out how to generate a link to the photos to post in the blog but I couldn't figure it out. I'll get a link posted ASAP, though!

We've had a great couple of weeks - we had a really fun visit with my sister-in-law, Mary, and Lindi and Austin. They were here for a long weekend over Labor Day. Knox and Piper were barely put down all weekend - we were afraid they were going to be totally spoiled after all of the attention! But they spent so much time cooing and smiling at them that Knox and Piper have become much more interactive and we've gotten some great smiles and funny faces over the last couple of weeks! Austin and Chad had a great time - they played golf and went to a rock concert and the UT game. So Chad had lots of fun "playing" for the weekend and everyone even got out on the boat one day. And I got a fantastic weekend of rest - Lindi and Mary played "night nanny" all weekend and let me sleep all night! Related to that - Knox has slept 6 hours straight at night twice now! Piper is still waking up much more often, but having one hungry baby at night is easier than two, so I'll take it!

Here are some photos to tide you over until I can get that link up! The opening UT game was Labor Day weekend so you can see the twins showing their spirit! With the Michigan win over Notre Dame last weekend, we might break out the maize and blue gear this weekend though!

The beard is gone

Well, nearly 7 weeks after the babies' birth, Chad finally shaved his beard off yesterday. He kept a mustache for one day - doesn't he look funny?

But now it's all off and it's back to preppy Chad.

The babies are great - they are changing all the time and definitely developing their personalities. Piper has become the "easy" one - she is mainly interested in eating and sleeping these days. She only eats a little at a time (dainty little girl), but that means she wants frequent snacks! On the other hand, Knox eats a lot at a time, and sleeps for longer during the night - but during the day, he fights to stay awake. And when he's awake, he wants to be held! Preferably on my shoulder. Yesterday we broke out the Baby Bjorn. They are supposed to be 8 lbs before they can use it and I don't think we're quite there yet. But since it keeps Knox upright better than the other sling, I decided we'd try using it around the house now. He wasn't quite sure about it at first, but now he seems to like it. As I expected, having twins in all about "containment," - you can't hold them both at once, so it's important to have things/places to keep them contained and occupied. That's where all of our gear comes in - swings, slings, bouncy seats, boppy cushions...nothing really entertains them for a long time, either, so it's good to have an assortment! Of course, nothing beats being held - so I'm always trying to figure out how to hold both of them at once :)

Best Week Ever!

Our nanny started this week :) Wow, I can't believe it's been two whole weeks since I last posted! Sorry - a bit hectic here as you might imagine. Even with the nanny here three whole days this week, I've been sooo busy - just trying to catch up on everything (sleep included). And it didn't help that my car battery died one day (66 days of 100 degree heat will do that!). On the plus side, I did get my teeth cleaned.

Ok, enough about me! I know you only really want to hear about the babies :) They are doing great! Growing so fast - each day they look bigger. And I know why - they eat CONSTANTLY! But it's a good thing - just keeps us on our toes, especially in the wee hours. We had a few rough nights this week but the last three or four l have been pretty good. Sometimes they even go four hours between feedings. Of course, that's four hours from when they START feedings, so it's not like we really get a four hour break. And sometimes it's only 2 1/2 hours. So we're all still a little sleep-deprived. But things could be worse - and we are managing to get out occasionally. We've taken the babies out to restaurants twice now (they slept in their car seats both times) and Chad and I have managed a couple of date nights. Not bad for the first six weeks!

Four weeks old!

It's soooo hard to believe, but the twins turned 4 weeks old on Wednesday. Today is their actual due date (if they had gone full term - 40 weeks). Here are some pictures we took on their one month birthday!

Today we had our one month visit to the pediatrician and we were really hoping that Knox would be up to 6 lbs (he was 5 lb, 5 1/2 oz at his two week visit). Not only is getting bigger a good thing overall, but the pedi said that once he got to 6 lbs, we could go to feeding them both every four hours (vs. every three). Not that they will always wait four hours for their next meal (or even three), but in the event that they're still sleeping (e.g. the middle of the night), we can let them keep sleeping. Which of course means that Mommy and Daddy can also keep sleeping :)

So we went today and Piper weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs, 7.5 oz! Not bad considering that 2 weeks ago she was at 6 lbs, 2 oz! We could tell she was getting bigger and especially today when I went to put her into her car seat to go to the pedi and she wouldn't fit! I had to figure out how to adjust the harness in the carseat so we could leave (seriously, not an easy feat!) And today Knox weighed 6 lbs, 13.5 oz!!! So we are all thrilled that this seemingly constant feeding is really paying off!