4 months old

Its that time again!

The daybies are really becoming two unique personalities. Addison is quite the flirt and loves the mens. Smith is super observant and takes it all in. They both are happy and healthy, and that really is all we can ask for.

Pediatricians appointment tomorrow, so we'll have lots of info to share!

November Catsup

Yes, we've been very bad bloggers lately. It happens.

So what have we been up to? In relatively chronological order:

We went to visit Daniel's Grandmother (Smith and Addison's Great Granny). Here is a photo of all 4 generations together. (I think someone may have just told my grandmother a very, very dirty joke based on her facial expression here!)



The following weekend, Krissee took the daybies to her parents for the weekend, and Dad got a few nights alone with the dogs. He sure did miss his little ones, but looks like Addison had a good time with Poppy. (Poppy was just back from the beauty palor.)

For the past few weeks, we've been adding a little rice cereal to their bottles. Last week, they graduated to their high chairs and are eating like big boys and girls!

Lastly, on the way home from Thanksgiving, we stopped by a Christmas tree farm and picked out the Day family tree 2008. Here we are taking a hay ride and looking at all the offerings!

Thar she blows - the chosen one in the wild. This year we went with the White Pine. Never had one before. Its very pretty, but we're pretty sure its going to litter the den with droppings before the end of the season.

Both babies have been sleeping through the night like champs for the past week or so. Yesterday we tried them on a 3 1/2 hour schedule between feedings and it seemed to work pretty well. Today we're trying the 4 hour schedule, which means that, if successful, we'll be cutting out a feeding each day. That may not seem like much, but when your day is spent in a constant cycle of feed/play/sleep, extending those play/sleep periods is golden, especially the sleep ones so that other items can get accomplished!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but we'll get back to it as soon as we finish up eating all the turkey.

We did it!

Ms Addison finally has joined her brother in the sleep through the night club.

We knew it was going to happen soon. And its been two nights in a row. This means no screaming, no pacifier, nothing. We put her down around 8:00.....she sleeps until 7 AM.

We both feel like we've won the lottery! (Which we kind of did - the baby lottery!)

We're going to give it a few more days to really take hold - and then next week we start lengthening the time between feedings with the eventual aim to cut out one of them!

Our babies are all grows up....

Outside TIme!

Mom and babies went outside today to enjoy the great day, and mom managed to get some great smiling photos!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Q&A the second

Its Q&A time!

Q : Jenn in Anderson asks "Forgive my ignorance of all things baby, but are they old enough to sit up, or are they just propped up on each other and a pumpkin? (regarding the photo of them in the pumpkin patch)

A: Funny enough - the answer to this is actually a little bit of both. They dont' sit up by themselves, but when placed in a seated position, they normally can maintain it. Of course, while we were at the pumpkin patch we did have a baby blow-out and there was some toppling. Of course this occurred just as some other folks walked right by and we looked like parents of the year.


Q:Ali in DC writes "Do the babies take turns with their demands (crying, soiling diapers, being hungry, desiring bounce/cuddle, etc.) or do they do this in synch? Is there any pattern?"

A: Hrmmm..most of the time, they will take turns with their demands. There have been just a few moments in the past 3 months where both children needed 100% of your attention. Most of the time, these have been cases where we've both been available to assist. When it happens and we're NOT able to focus on a single baby, you improvise and do the best you can.

As for the feeding - they do this in synch, by design. We decided pre-birth that if we didn't feed them in tandem we'd spend most of our time feeding babies.

Most of the time, we'll get one down and quiet, and the other one will "lose their mind." Its great fun on those days. Which normally are Saturdays. Don't know why, but my kids hate Saturdays.

Q: Schmitty from Furman, living out west asks "are their personalities starting to shine?"

A: Oh yes. Smith is his father and Addison is her mother.

Smith is pretty darn happy most of the time, but when he is not...woo-boy, you'd better watch it. (Sound like anyone else you know?) His smile is going to be a heartbreaker some day. He's a little more independent and can entertain himself pretty well.

Addison is incredibly sweet. So much so, that her little feelings get hurt when she's not getting the love and attention she thinks she deserves (Sound like anyone else you know?). Her little heartbreaking cry when you lay her down is comical if it weren't so sad sounding. She's definitely more of a people person loves to be touched and loved on.

Q: Anonymous emailed:"When I got married, I had a" WOW!! I am married and I feel like I am in a little over my head” moment. It didn’t last long and it wasn’t a bad moment, but it happened. I just wonder if it is worse with babies, especially twins. Did you get home and freak out? Like maybe I am in a little over my head, and then you just dive into being parents?

I can only speak for myself, but YES. There are still those moments. I think we'll probably have 'em forever. There are moments that 1) I have no idea what the hell I'm doing and 2) I'm convinced I'm doing something that will scar their lives forever.

But normally in the heat of the moment, you don't have time to freak out. Its only in those quiet reflective moments that you really can ponder on the "OH CRAP" feelings. And luckily(?), parents of twins don't get TOO many of those moments. So, you really hit the nail on the head, you have those moments, and then you just dive into being parents out of necessity. I think that's pretty normal.

Q: Anonymous also emailed:"I noticed when we visited you just handed the babies over and said here you go. I so loved that, some people don’t do that especially with their first children.how do you let people hold them and not be crazy on the inside that they won’t support their head enough or they won’t do something right"

Honestly, this was something that we've noticed as well with other who have had babies. I certainly understand other's beliefs and will respect their wishes, but visitors want to see and hold the babies. So, we decided to just be okay with it and when people walk in the door, we hand the babies off.

As for not being crazy on the inside - well, occasionally you ARE crazy on the inside regarding it. But really, you'd have to be pretty nonchalant about holding a baby in order to really hurt 'em, and no one is going to do that with the parents sitting right there. Also, I know that I've inadvertently hurt them in their lifetime (nicking their little fingers when clipping their nails comes to mind), but they're pretty resilient and I think you'd have to work on hurting them, so its just not something to worry about.

3 Months

The babies continue to grow and grow and grow.

There will probably be a day in the future that Addison hates me for this picture, as its not a great angle and she looks a little chubbier than she actually is. No addison, that outfit does NOT make you look fat.

I am a big boy!!

We look like little people!

Just for comparison purposes, I've put together the following collage to chart their growth. Its nothing fancy or worthy of framing, but its kinda cool to look at. (You can click on the photo to open it in a new tab/window)

Happy Halloween

We had a busy Halloween. We all came back from our first trip out of town as a family (down to Pawleys Island for Dad's work). Smith and Addison had a nice trip, mom got to relax a little bit, and Dad got to work!

We got home around 4:00 PM and after feeding some screaming babies, we dressed 'em up!

Ms Addison flirts with the camera.

Mr. Smith REALLY flirts with the camera!

Finally, it was the year of the pumpkins. From left to right, Sienna, Addison,Carter, a VERY happy Smith, and Macy. (look at Macy trying to comfort Smith - she was patting his little leg. Later on she sang to him. Very sweet.)

Finally, our friends Carissa and Craig get extra points for their costumes for their twins Ellie and Turner. You must check it out. You two have certainly set the bar high for next year, but we can beat it. I know we can (we've got at least one more year where WE can pick out the costumes, so we're planning on making the most of it!)

Today is Smith and Addison's 3 month birthday, so pictures of that will be forthcoming. As will the next Q&A. Sorry its taken me so long, but I've gotten some really good and juicy questions (some off the record by anonymous senders - its okay if you want to ask that way too!), so I'll need to set aside some time to really answer those.

Get in on the questions

We're preparing another installment of "Ask the parents..." Get all you questions in now.

Anything that inquiring minds want to know....

Fall is in the air, every where I look around

Before we get to the photos of our visit to the pumpkin patch, here's one of my favorite new pictures:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of them, locked arm in arm. It just makes me smile!

"mom put is in these hats and they're impossible to stay on but she insists."

Smith: " I want that pumpkin over there."
Addison: "And I want that pumpkin over THERE."

Dad...seriously, could you not hold us like that? Ouchie.

Hey there!

Both Smith and Addison are super aware these days. They're both alert and interested in EVERYTHING (and for Ms. Can't Be Bothered, this is big news.)

As such, we've been picture snapping fools again, and have gotten some great shots. Krissee's been having "Photo shoot" time each day. God bless our children. Seriously. This is just a collection of pictures that we love. They're growing so fast.

Next- our friends Brittany and Ashley stopped by on Saturday. They were both naturals, and Smith and Addison tolerated them, even though they were decked out in Orange! Little Miss Addison looks like she may have a crush the way she is checking Ashley out.

Finally - Smith and Addison and Carter have been hanging out a good bit. While Carter at one point looked like he might be the big boy of the gang, Smith is rapidly catching up (Especially considering that Carter is two months older!):

Baptism

We've been incredibly slack bloggers lately! Sorry for that. Babies continue to be happy and healthy Both are become much more alert just in the past few days, and one of their favorite pastimes is smiling at mom and dad. (They also enjoy pooping when you're changing them and waking you up in the middle of the night still, but we're going to focus on the positive here!)

Last Sunday, we had the twins baptized. Many family and friends joined us at the church for the service and at our home for a luncheon afterwards. The luncheon was such a whirlwind that we didn't really take any pictures of it. Sorry!

Here if our happy family - godparents to both children Scott and Amber Rankin and Adam and Haley Dougherty.

The godparents.

Scott and Amber

Adam and Haley (There are three babies here - Smith, Addison, and you can't see Adam and Haley's little girl because Haley is pregnant with her and she is trying to cover up her bump with Addison but its not going to work.)

Sick Update

Just a quick update to let everyone know how the Daybies are doing:

They're both back on formula, and seem to be doing ok. Not everything is necessarily back to normal (without getting too much into poop consistency, its not very), but they're not spitting up and liquid butt seems to have dissipated.

Happy ten week birthday babies.

Sick Babies

Smith and Addison are sick. I called the nurse at the doctors office and she said it sounded like a stomach bug. There has been a large amount of spitting up and very frequent diaper changes. They are on Pedialyte for 24 hours and then a half Pedialyte half formula diet the next 24 hours. So that is what is going on in our house these days. We had a great weekend and the babies were christened on Sunday, it was a truly wonderful day and there will be more on that later. First we have to get these babies well and back to normal.

Two Months

We had the big two month birthday and two month checkup on the same day. Lots of information to distribute, so.....

Mr. Smith weighed in at 11 lbs 8 oz (birth weight of 5lbs 9 oz), 22 1/2 inches long (at birth - 19.5) His Height is in the 75% percentile, weight is in the 50th, and head circumference is 25%!!! He did not inherit his father's big ole watermelon head, and I'm very thankful for that!

Ms. Addison was 11 lbs 2 oz. (Birth weight of 5lbs 11 oz), and 21.5 inches long (19.5 birth). Everything of her's is in the 50th percentile. I'd wager to say that her lack of weight gain can be attributed to the fact that she can't be bothered to wake up for anything. Ever (You'll see in the below photos). Unless she wants it. Yep, we're gonna have an AWESOME time in 13 years or so.

Its all about the twos

Today, we have:

• Two Babies
• Two Months Old
• Two Parents
  
• Two Doggies
• Two Nights of sleeping through the night.

That's right. While we may have some future setbacks, for the past two nights, both Smith and Addison have slept through the night.

Mom and Dad are thrilled, and babies are content (for now, they'll be getting their shots around 11 AM).

We'll be back later today with all the other stuff...but just had to share our big news!

Ohhh, we're halfway there...

ohhh, livin' on a prayer...

Yep. Mr Smith slept through the night last night. Now, its just one night. And he was HORRIBLY upset all day at the world and all who dwell in it. But he went to sleep quickly after his final feeding and I had to WAKE HIM UP this morning. (Granted, he woke up first around 6:30, which actually prompted me out of bed. But he fell back asleep and I waited until 7 to wake he and sister and begin feeding).

Tonight will tell the tale, to see if it was a fluke or a new behavior. Regardless, I'm thrilled. And as happy as I am, I STILL had to get up at 4:30 to feed Ms. Addison. While I think most experiences wiht twins are pretty much par for the course for those with a single baby, this is an experience that really so few folks have. Normally, you're children either sleep through the night, or they don't!

They'll be two months Wednesday, so expect the requisite pictures. We've also go their two month checkup that day, so we'll have lots of official sounding statistics and percentiles to throw your way.

Dad is VERY happy. Mom had yesterday off to, of all things, go to a football game with the girls. (This is not a lie. Its amazing the stories the ladies will concoct to leave the kids with the fellas.) Smith, Addison, and I went to Scott and Carter's to watch the game on PPV. Smith proceeded to act the fool AGAIN (as he did a few weeks ago when scott and carter came over to watch football at our house).

Lets hope we get a sleep through the night night tonight (wow, that looks like I just wanted to repeat the word night 3 times, but it actually does make sense) without the day-craziness of yesterday.

Welcome Baby Georgia

Congratulations to Julie and Russell on you precious little girl Georgia born this morning at 7:56AM. She weighs 7 pounds 3 ounces and measures 19.5 inches long. Smith and Addison can't wait to meet their new friend.

Just some pictures

We've been really bad bloggers lately, especialyl with the pictures. Honestly, we just haven't taken as many pictures in the past few weeks, partly because I think when we HAVE some time that we actually could do so, we're ready to just sit down and relax.

But, just to keep everyone updated, here are some pictures from the past few weeks.



Mom had a little photo shoot. This is post feeding, so they must be happy.

Mom and the Daybies, and Amber and Carter ventured out one day last week. This required some maneuring by Amber to get Carter's carseat in Krissee's car. They sure do look snug. (I love this picture, taken in the mirror on the headrest.)

Finally, we went to visit Krissee's family to celebrate a number of birthdays. Pictured here is our nephew Rollings, who picked out his own outfit that day, holding Addison. Rollings is 4 is a little man. He's going to make such a good big cousin and I can't wait to see him playing with Smith and Addison. He's got one heck of an imagination too, and I hope that family trait is passed onto our little ones.

Our Nightly Routine

With the twins almost seven weeks old, we're approaching the time when they should be able to sleep for an eight hour chunk each night without waking. According to "On Becoming Babywise," which we've modeled our feeding schedule after, most babies master this by 8 weeks, and those that don't by then do by 12 weeks. (If you hate that philosophy, shut up. We're feeding and loving our babies.)

Any way you look at it, we're on the downhill slope. Pretty much from the night we got home, we've only been getting up once a night with them, so its not been as bad as we've heard from other parents. But still - we'd both love a full night of sleep. We're alternating who gets up each night so that at least one of us gets an uninterrupted night of sleep each night.

So, in our efforts to coax our children into night sleeping, we've instituted the following nighttime routine.

• The "final" feeding is at 7 PM.
• After this feeding, we bathe them.
• They then get "spa time," in which they are massaged with some night time baby lotion (I am not making this up. I made fun of Krissee at first, but it really does help them to calm down.)
• They're swaddled and placed in the crib
• Dad reads them a story.
• The lights are turned off, the mobile is turned on for 5 minutes, and the door is shut.

This has been working great. For the most part, they're asleep (or at least settled down) by the time the mobile finishes its 5 minute cycle.

We awaken them around 10-11 for their final feeding of the day, which is kept quiet and strictly business - feeding and a diaper change. No playing.

After that, we go to bed.

And each night, even if its the other's night, we truly hope that tonight is the night.

When its not your night, you can't wait to wake in the morning and ask the other "How did it go?" and "When did they wake up?"

We'll get it. Its still crazy early. But rest assured, once we're getting full nights of sleep? That is going to be like an extra cherry on top of a bowlful of cherries that tops the most decadent chocolate and ice cream concoction known to man.

Yep - THAT good.

Getting Current

So one of Dad's favorite things to do is to comment on Aunt Heather's blog whenever she's gone a week or more without posting. The comment usually consists of the three simple words "nice current blog." Its usually enough motivation to get her to post within the next few days.

If you can dish it out, you've got to be willing to take it, so thanks Heather, for "Nice current blog"-ing me.:)

Who knew that once we left the children for one night, it'd go so much easier? We haven't spent more than a few waking hours at home as we've decided to resume our rock star lifestyles. Parties every night, dinners out. Babysitters do complicate the equation somewhat, but we're managing.

PSYCHE. Honestly, mom's been sick. Dad is sick. Dad was out of town for a few days. Mom had Cookie come stay and help. Babies are growing and they are six weeks old today.

Had a big visit from Ellie and Turner (and their mom Carissa and friend Ashley) on Saturday. Ellie and Turner are 6 1/2 months older than Smith and Addison, so there wasn't a whole lot of interaction going on. If anything, it reinforced the fact that we need to cuddle and hold our sweet babies as long as possible. Its been a very neat experience to watch them grow up. Carissa gave birth the week we discovered we were having twins. She's been a great resource all along the way and more than anything, she's reminded us that they'll be ok no matter what we do, so its best to be able to laugh along the way.

That is our big updates. NO new milestones, other than the six week mark. I think we'll all be close to 100% this weekend.

Mom and Dad's Crazy Night Out

Last night, Krissee and I talked our friends Heath and Jessa into babysitting the daybies and we headed out for date night, Sept. 2008 edition!

During the pregnancy, we discussed many times how important we thought it would be for us to be able to have some time that didn't involve the kids. We decided that we'd try to plan a once a month date night, so that we'd be able to have conversations that didn't necerssarily revolve around how many ounces they drank or who had what diaper when.We've had many people tell us about how hard it would be to leave them.

Well, I hate to say it like this, but it wasn't that hard. Maybe they knew it was coming, so from 4 until about 6:00, Smith and Addison screamed and cried. It was FIERCE. At six, we fed 'em, and they promptly fell asleep. Heath and Jessa arrived at 6:30 and we were off.

We got home just in time to see kickoff for the Gamecock game at 8:30. All in all, it was a successful evening out. We had a few beverages, ate some food, and chatted. Some chatter was regarding teh children, but we also talked about other stuff. In fact, it was just as we received our appetizer that we remarked "We haven't talked about the kids yet."

When we got home...the babies were cuddled up and it was obvious they had been in good hands. Thanks Heath and Jessa!

Unfortunately, all this occurred without a single photo being snapped. Maybe for the October edition!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy Labor Day weekend, lots of visits and visitors!

Some of our closest friends, Adam and Haley, and our godson Jack stopped by to visit. They were some of our first visitors in the hospital, and we're all super glad that they're headed back to Columbia!

Now, being the overprotective father that I already am, especially in all manners concerning my daughter's dating future, I'm wary of any male child spending too much time around her. But Jack is a special kid, and you can already tell he's going to be super sweet, just like his godfather Daniel. I know some other friends think that Jack is betrothed to their daughter Emmie, but I checked with the family and they indicated that there was no dowery, so all bets were off.

Jack checking out Ms. Addison.

This wasn't perfect camera speed, but their first kiss was right around this time!

On Monday, we headed for our first big day trip with the babies, to Nanny and Papas. It was a combination Labor Day/Nanny Birthday visit, so we knew we'd have fun.

The cooler packing is a little different these days, but the essentials for all are still there!

My sister hosted an exchange student from Germany many years ago, Barbara. She and her boyfriend Johannes are spending the week with my parents this week. Here they are checking out Smith and Addison.

Super Sweet One Month

The twins turned one month old yesterday! Its hard to believe that its already been a month, but in the same way, it seems that they've been with us forever too!

Our friends Ellie and Turner/Carissa and Craig have been doing this tradition of taking pictures each month with a sign in the background. We're shamelessly stealing that idea!

One of our neighbors made the stuffed animals that you see in the pictures. We figured it would be a good way to measure their size alone the way too!

Life with babies

Dad avoided a potential devastating start to his day just a few moments ago.

We've moved on to making bottles on demand (expect some great advice on that later this week). As such, the canister of formula sits on our kitchen counter. Right next to the coffee maker.

I'm making another cup this morning, and without thinking, instead of picking up the cream, I pick up the formula canister.

I quickly realized the error I was getting ready to make and put the formula down and picked up the cream. Luckily this was my 3rd cup instead of my first. I have a feeling that at some point in the future, I'll be having formulafee. (thats my name for the formula/coffee mixture).

Smith and Addison just told me to tell everyone Happy Labor Day.

Its also their one month birthday today! We're heading out to Nanny's and Papa's for a Labor Day cookout/Nanny birthday feast, so its a very big day up in our house. We'll be doing the one month photo shoot tonight when we get home, so expect a great week of entries!