It's been a while since I've posted an update, so we've got lots to share. Abby and Emily are getting so big. Abby started out at 4lbs even and got as small as 3lbs, 10 oz. She now weighs 7lbs, 3 ounces! Emily Started out at 3lbs, 10 oz and got down to about 3lbs 5 oz. She now weighs 6.5 lbs! Below is a picture of Emily's legs from about a week ago, she has since gained almost a pound. They may look scrawny compared to the average newborn, but they're HUGE compared to how she started.



We went to get some pictures taken a couple weeks ago. That same week the girls started to smile - not the gas smiles anymore, real smiles! The pictures below aren't great resolution, I'll eventually update them with higher quality images.

Family Picture


Abby and Emily in their Christmas Dresses - As usual, Emily seems to be quite happy


Abby with a small smile


Emily


Abby and Emily


Abby


Abby got a cool new toy for her bottle that makes it so she can suck on the nipple like a pacifier but it's attached to a straw in her bottle so she can drink on her own without having to wait for Emily to finish eating.


The girls have been very active during the day taking only short naps now. Abby is very interested in the lights on the camera




Sometimes the girls hold hands when they're getting ready to take a nap together


Emily likes to watch tv with me. Here she is sitting propped up on the floor.


Here are all the kids of people in our small group on Christmas Eve. On the left is Anna and Ella is holding Abby and Emily.

The girls have been busy since the last update. They've been working on getting stronger and doing lots of tummy time. Unfortunately Abby seems to think that tummy time is nap time so she's been falling asleep during it. The problem is that without the pacifier she screams but with it she falls asleep.





On Friday we had some errands to run and we decided to go out to eat while we were out. We were a bit nervous about how the girls would behave in a restaurant. Two of the couples were seated around us were not thrilled to be seated near two infants. Well, a few other families came after us and their kids screamed and cried while Abby and Emily sat in their car seats and silently through the entire meal!

Abby and Emily in their stroller at Outback Steakhouse


Today I put the girls together for their afternoon nap (they normally sleep separately). When I went to check on them I found Emily all snuggled up next to Abby. She had to move about a foot and a half to get to her sister, but she somehow found her way there.



Normally if Abby loses her pacifier she screams and cries, but she was so comfortable with Emily that she didn't seem to mind.

On Wednesday I took Abby and Emily to visit with their great grandmother and their uncle Bret for the day. Here they are ready to leave the house. They're getting good at sitting together on the couch.


This morning Abby and Emily were very awake - They normally sleep all morning and stay awake for a bit in the afternoon. Whenever they're both up I try to have them lie down together so that they start to recognize each other.

They started out nicely lying together.


Then Abby decided that she wanted her pacifier back but Emily wasn't going to let it go without a fight. She tried to bite the pacifier out of Abby's mouth, then she tried to bite Abby's face off.


Then Abby got mad and she started kicking and screaming until she busted out of her pajamas. Yes, she was kicking so hard that she popped all of the snaps on her pajamas open.

Abby and Emily watched their fist Patriots game with us today! They got to wear the cute outfits that Beth, Scott and Ella gave them.









The girls were laying nicely together one minute and then Abby rolled herself around and started kicking Emily.

Abby and Emily are 1 Month old!

It's hard to believe the girls have been around for one full month already. At their most recent appointment with their doctor they were both doing well, and Emily finally stepped up her game and started gaining weight. She gained 9 ounces last week and now weighs 4lbs, 10 ounces - that's 22% more than her birth weight! We thought Abby was getting a little heavy and looking a bit chubby and sure enough she has been bulking up quite a bit - she now weighs 5lbs, 4 oz...that's 31% more than her birth weight! The doctor said that the girls are doing very well overall. She noticed that they were finding their pacifiers on their own, putting them in their mouths and holding them in and said that was very advanced for their age.



I guess I forgot to post pictures from their first baths. The girls really enjoy the water, which is a good thing because they are going to have to spend a good portion of their lives on vacation in the Caribbean with us.

Abby loves baths


Emily tries to drink the bath water


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Abby loves to snuggle when she dries off


Emily is still trying to suck as much bath water off her body as possible



On Sunday I decided that the girls were going to have to put themselves together a little better for church and wear something other than pajamas. Their outfits looked so cute, but their little legs are just not big enough to hold socks on yet so I think they'll be wearing pajamas for a bit longer.

Emily ready to go to church


I tried to get them to snuggle and look like they like each other for the camera but they weren't really interested in helping me out.



Every afternoon one of the girls comes into bed with me and takes her nap there. Before bed time we read Bible stories. They seem to be happy sitting there and letting me read to them.

Emily loves reading


Today we went to visit Byron at work. This was their first trip out of Massachusetts. They were very happy to get away from the liberals of MA for a little while :)

This morning Abby and Emily got to meet their very first friend, Lydia Krans. Lydia is the 3.5 month old daughter of Mark and Bev Krans. Lydia was born on August 13, 2.5 months before Abby and Emily and she weighs somewhere around 15 or 16 lbs. That's double the combined weight of Abby and Emily! It was amazing to see how much a baby learns in just a few months. Lydia laughs and is very aware of her surroundings. While we are working on enjoying the girls at every stage, we really are looking forward to being able to really interact with them. Below is a picture of the girls posing together.

We don't really have any news to share but we do have some pictures. The girls are starting to become much more aware of their surroundings and have been spending more time awake lately. They are fun to play with when they aren't too hungry or tired.

Emily finally figured out how to play on her tummy. Now that she knows that she has to turn her head she's quite happy with tummy time. Also, thank you Brenda and Takashi for giving us those hats - they are the first hats we've found that actually fit Emily's tiny head!


Abby always enjoys tummy time, but this time she was so hungry that she was trying to suck on the floor.


This picture really shows how much bigger Abby is than Emily.


Emily giving Abby a kiss. Abby was trying to tell me to hold on because she wasn't quite ready for the picture.


The girls don't like waiting for their food to warm. Abby has already outgrown her preemie size clothes but is a little too small for newborn sizes. Since there are no sizes in between the two she just has to wear clothes that are a little large but she doesn't seem to mind.


The girls are all set up to eat at the same time.

Since the last time I updated this the girls have been quite busy. On Saturday night they went to their first costume party at Beth and Scott's house. We were all happy that their party was late this year because if it had been before Halloween Abby and Emily would have missed it. Abby and Emily decided that they should dress like baby monkeys to go with my costume. They are much more fun than their dad who decided to go as himself to the party.


We also made our first trip to church with the girls. They were very well behaved and didn't cry at all during the entire service!

Lately they've gotten themselves on the exact same eating schedule which sounds like a good idea until you've been up with both of them in the middle of the night when they're screaming for food and you don't have enough arms and hands to feed two babies at once.

Here they are waiting for diaper changes at 2am


I did finally find a solution that they seem to be OK with - they sit in their car seats and I feed them there.


This morning we went for a checkup at the doctor. Dr. Garnett confirmed that they are fraternal twins (not identical). Emily had a little trouble gaining weight this week, putting on only 1 ounce and is now 4lbs, 1 oz. Hopefully she'll gorge on Thanksgiving and have a big weigh in next Tuesday. Abby on the other hand has been packing on the weight, adding 6 ounces this past week and is now up to 4lbs, 10 ounces. Abby has been having some stomach problems and has been spitting up after every meal. To help her keep the food down the doctor told us to add 1 teaspoon of rice cereal in her bottles.

That's it for today. Maybe we'll have some more fun pictures with the next update.

FINALLY an update

I know this post is long overdue, but things have been a little busy around here lately. The girls came home with us on Friday (Nov 14).

Abby in her car seat


Emily in her car seat


Their first night was pretty rough. They woke up at least every 20 minutes all night. Saturday was a busy day for all of us. They met their great-grandparents on Byron's side, their Great-Aunt Polly and Great-Uncle Jon, their second cousins Harrison, Molly and Gertie, their aunt Christine and they finally got to meet their uncle Jacob who was too young to visit them in the NICU.

Meeting Byron's Family


Abby meets Uncle Jacob


Sunday night was just about as rough as Friday night and I was sick, so Byron stayed up with the girls all night. I think by the end of the night he was happy that he wasn't the one staying home and waking up at night for the next 8 weeks. We did discover that they seem to keep each other awake when they sleep in the same room so for now they have been moved to separate rooms.

On Monday Abby and Emily had their first checkup with their doctor who said that they are doing very well. Abby gained 4 oz between Friday and Monday and now weighs 4lbs, 4oz and Emily gained 6oz since Friday and now weighs 4lbs!

I was still pretty sick when Monday night rolled around so my mother stayed over and took care of the girls and let us catch up on sleep.

On Tuesday we made our first trip Target, which was their first time going somewhere other than the hospital or the doctor. They seemed to enjoy being pushed around the store all wrapped up in their nice warm seats. They drew quite the crowd. Every time we passed someone we would have to stop so people could take a quick look and talk about how cute they are. Someone did ask if they were boys or girls. I politely said that they were girls, but really I thought it was quite obvious from the pink on the car seats, the pink outfits they had on and their pink hats but maybe it just wasn't enough pink?

The girls also had a little play time on Tuesday. They had their first tummy time on their play mat and their first time of being together out in the open. Emily wasn't too fond of tummy time and was so uninterested in playing with Abby that she fell asleep on her (it was cute to see her doze off on Abby's arm though). Abby seemed to be perfectly happy on her tummy and was interested in checking out what Emily was up to when they played together.

Emily trying to decide what she thinks about tummy time. She refused to have her head turned sideways


Emily decided that she doesn't enjoy tummy time


Emily asleep next to Abby. Abby looks like she's going to haul off and slap Emily.


Abby was very interested in checking Emily out.


Abby's Tummy Time


Abby enjoying her play time


I was curious to see if the 0-3 month socks would fit Emily...I think she has a few years of growing until she fits in them.


Last night (Tuesday night) the girls slept for about 4 hours between each feeding, which meant I only had to get up ONCE during the night! We fed them right before bed time, they woke up at about 2:00 and then the next time they got up was in the morning at 6ish! They seem to like the more upright position of their swings, so once we found out that it was OK to let them sleep in there (with the swing turned off) we decided to give it a try and sure enough they had a great night. Hopefully they keep this up.

Emily fast asleep in her swing (yes I know she has loose blankets...yes, I was right there watching her).


I think that's it for now. I'll try to post a bit more frequently now that the girls are trying to be a bit more agreeable.