Twins!

Here's what I found when I cracked an egg this morning for the girls' breakfast... Unfotrunately, I think a double-yolk egg symbolizes bad luck. :-(

Black Beard Beans

Mallory just cannot eat enough black beans. She loves them, and here's the proof:

Feeding Frenzy

Anna Claire and Mallory are eating us out of house and home. I cannot seem to keep food in the refrigerator or the pantry. Trips to Publix for fresh fruits and veggies have become a twice-weekly ritual. It isn't unusual for their lunch box to weigh more than their diaper bag. They are hungry all the time these days. Maybe they're going through a growth spurt?

Just the other day, I opened up the refrigerator to get something, and before I knew it both Anna Claire and Mallory had reached in, grabbed a tomato each, and started noshing away.

Yummy!

Spaghetti

It's not the first time the girls have had spaghetti, but I do think it may be the messiest they've ever been at dinner time... Especially Anna Claire. She was getting sleepy, so she kept rubbing her eyes...
Don't be fooled by the looks on their faces. They weren't happy I made the stop eating long enough for me to snap some pictures. I've never seen two little girls shove so much food in their mouths!

Blueberry Pancakes with a Side Order of Blueberries, Please

Anna Claire and Mallory love blueberries - I mean love them like cry when they're all gone. Actually, they like most any kind of berry. Come to think about it, we have all been enjoying lots and lots of fresh fruit this summer. Some of the girls favorites in addition to blueberries include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, watermelon, and cantaloupe. They just can't get enough.

Aunt Helen and Uncle Terry were sweet enough to bring us bags and bags of blueberries back from the Toogoodoo Sunday, so this morning I made the girls blueberry pancakes.

They didn't seem to understand that the blueberries were actually in the pancakes at first, so they ordered up hollered loud enough that I offered them each a huge handful of fresh blueberries.
They ate every bite - except what Anna Claire put on top of her head!
Notice anything different? No more high chairs! Since school's been out, I've had to clean highchairs and high chair trays three times a day, and I just couldn't take it anymore!! These little booster seats are great - so much easier to clean up - and they were perfect at the beach!

Moo!

As of today, the girls are drinking 100% whole milk and eating 100% real (not pureed and found in a jar) food!

Ahhh...life is simple-er.

The transition to finger foods was really driven by the girls. They seemed to be losing interest in being spoon fed, so I just started giving them more and more finger foods which they gobble up before the blink of an eye. They are really great at feeding themselves, and they are still happy eating things like yogurt and apple sauce from a spoon, which is good.

The transition from formula to milk was all mommy. At one year, they can switch to milk anyway, and though the girls were doing fine with their formula, I thought, "Hey, why not. They'll be one next week (!), and I'm tired of spending money on formula. I need some cute new sandals for summer."

Since they were drinking milk-based formula, the transition was super-simple. Per our pedi, they were to spend a couple days drinking 1/4 milk to 3/4 formula, then few days of 1/2 and 1/2, then a few days of 3/4 milk to 1/4 formula, then all milk. Well, things were going so well this weekend, we skipped ahead a few days, and the girls don't seem to mind at all.

PS
Check back later this evening for a surprise. :)

Financial Freedom

...not exactly, but we are about to save big bucks around here.

This weekend we are transitioning the girls from formula to whole milk. So far, they are doing great and don't seem to be able to detect that a thing has changed. They are down to three bottles a day now, and by the end of the weekend, they will be drinking only whole milk. YAY!

At one point when both Anna Claire and Mallory were drinking alimentum, Walter and I calculated that we were spending $600 a month on formula! What will we do with all that extra cash lying around? Hmmm...the girls do have a very important birthday coming up. ;-)

Happy Meal

The girlios are quickly losing interest in all mushy, gloppy foods fed to them on a spoon (all except yogurt, that is). Dinner time has recently become a messy, fussy, catastrophe. Anna Claire and Mallory actually much prefer feeding themselves, so I've been letting them - and they gobble up every last bite. Contrary to what many may believe, meal times have actually become less messy, much quieter, and more filling for all of us because mommy and daddy now get to eat at the same time the girls are eating.
Tonight's menu: green beans, cheese, strawberries, and cheerios (we save the cheerios for last or that's all they'll want). Notice how Mallory has eaten a few bites of everything. Now, notice how Anna Claire has only eaten her cheese. This is exactly how Walter eats - one item at a time, then moving on to the next until all the food is gone. Is that a coincidence?

Going Green

In observance of Earth Day yesterday, Anna Claire and Mallory decided to "go green." Actually, they just ate a really ripe avocado for dinner which made for a mushy, slippery, squishy mess.

The girls really aren't very sloppy eaters on any sort of regular basis (knock on wood), but when they do make a mess during breakfast, lunch, or dinner -- look out!

Too bad Anna Claire's picture is out of focus. This is, by far, the messiest she has ever been!

What's On the Menu?

Shortly after the girls' nine month appointment two weeks ago, we started slowly introducing table food. Here's what's currently on the menu...

• bananas (slow at the start, but a huge hit now; very sticky)
• mandarin oranges (the girls still aren't sure about these; a strange texture and really sweet; note: del monte was the only brand I could find that did not contain added sugar and was not packed in light syrup)
• green beans (instant hit, but slippery in little fingers)
• carrots (instant hit; can't get enough)
• yogurt (their favorite!)

Here they are digging into their bananas. As you can see by the evidence on Anna Claire's bib, very little actually makes it into their mouths...but it's all about exploration. ;-)

Early Bird

On a typical morning Walter and I get up at 6 AM. I get ready for school/work while he makes the formula and pours bottles. The girls usually start stirring around ten 'til seven at which time we get them up, change them, feed them, and head to Granny and Papa's house. Walter gets himself ready for work once we leave. Our routine runs like clockwork.

But lately...

The girls have been waking up a little earlier than usual. Well, to be truthful Anna Claire has been waking up earlier than usual - between 6:00 and 6:30 AM. In the darkness of the nursery, Anna Claire is happy to coo and "talk" and shriek - not crying, mind you, but playing - until we come and get them at 7 AM. Anna Claire screams at the top of her lungs with a smile on her face. It is so funny - and loud! It's amazing what Mallory can sleep through, but eventually Anna Claire does end up waking her sister. Mallory, too, is happy playing in her crib, waiting for us to come into the nursery at 7:00.

This morning, though, Anna Claire got her foot stuck between the bars of her crib even with her sleep sack on, so her playful screams turned to real screaming. Needless to say, the girls were up - and ready to eat - even though it was only 6:30. While I finished getting ready, Walter had to "simulfeed"...
Someone told me we would only get maybe three months use out of our bouncy seats until the girls grew out of them. At almost eight months old, we still use them EVERY day!

Bottle Battle

Mallory seems to be losing interest in her bottle. Feeding time has turned into a wrestling match with Mallory twisting and turning, trying to sit up (she's so afraid she's going to miss something!)and pushing her bottle away...We offer her seven ounces and she drinks down to about three ounces left and seems to be done. Sometimes we'll give her a break and try again, but usually she still isn't interested.

We know she needs to drink AT LEAST 24 ounces a day and she is barely making that mark most days and not at all on others. We mix her breakfast and dinner cereal with formula to make sure she is getting another couple ounces, but that hardly makes up the difference some days.

We did visit our pediatrician last week, and she suggested offering her a "filler" bottle of about three ounces between her 11:30 and 3:00 PM bottles if she's gotten off to a bad start with her morning bottles. We try to take away all distractions so playtime doesn't look so attractive. She also suggested Mallory may have finally figured out that the taste of Alimentum is disgusting now that she has a newly acquired taste for pears and peaches and squash and the like. Could my little girl already have acquired such a discerning palate?

We had planned to switch back to Similac Advance next week since we just stopped their prevacid. We didn't want to change too many things at once. Tuesday wasn't a good day at all, so we went ahead and switched formula and yesterday was better - Mallory didn't get off to a great start, but she finished strong. So far today she left two ounces in her 7 AM bottle which is great compared to what she has/has not been drinking.

Hopefully this is just a phase she's going through right now and hopefully she will figure out that regular similac tastes so much better.

Six Month Update

The girls had their first dose of the flu shot Friday and all went as well as could be expected. Anna Claire and Mallory only shed a few tears. They were so brave.

The best news is that while at the doctor's office we weighed the girls and Anna Claire came in at 15 lbs. 13 oz. and Mallory weighs 16 lbs 4 oz.! WOW - way to go, girls. And...because of all that weight gain and the girls' great response to eating all their cereal, fruits and veggies, the doctor gave us the go-ahead to drop a bottle. We had been feeding the girls 6.5 oz. five times a day every three hours for what felt like forever and they were rarely finishing all their formula, sometimes leaving as many as 3 oz. I think the feedings had become too close together given the amount they were/were not drinking plus the addition of two meals.

We're now giving the girls 7 oz. four times a day: 7:30, 11:30, 3:00, and 7:00 in addition to their breakfast and dinner meals. This schedule adjustment did make for a rough weekend and we still don't quite have naps figured out, but I think it is working out so much better. An added bonus is that I don't have to rush home from work to feed the girls at 4:30 giving me an extra 30 minutes of fun time (not feeding time) with Anna Claire and Mallory. We got so much done today after we got home and still had plenty of time to play before supper.

Anna Claire got her giggle box turned over. She's such a silly little girl...

...and here's Mallory practicing her sky diving free-fall. I think she's going to be our adventurous one.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy! I've Got Love in My Tummy!

We waited until tonight to attempt feeding the girls by spoon to make sure Anna Claire had adjusted to the Alimentum. I think things went pretty well. Anna Claire couldn't get enough of her rice cereal. I'm not sure how much she actually swallowed, but I couldn't shovel it in fast enough! At first Mallory gagged, but then she took to it pretty well, not quite as enthusiastic as Anna Claire, but I am proud of her, nonetheless! Neither of the girls got nearly as messy as I expected!

I mixed up two tablespoons of rice cereal and used one spoon and one bowl. I can't imagine feeding them out of separate bowls with two spoons! Maybe one day. We fed them about 6:30 which was a little behind schedule, but then we don't really have a schedule yet for "meals." I'm sure we'll work all that out in the days to come. My main concern with feeding them so late was that the girls would not want their 7:30 bottle. I don't know why I was worried. Anna Claire drank four oz. and Mallory drank all six!

I have great video but still haven't learned how to upload it. I promise I will learn this weekend!

Making Sense of it All

*long post*

The girls fared well at the doctor's office today. Here are the facts...

Anna Claire
weight 13 lbs. 3 oz. (25th percentile)
length 25 in. (50th percentile)
head circumference 15 3/4 in. (25th percentile)

Mallory
weight 13 lbs. 8 oz. (25th percentile)
length 25 1/2 in. (50th-75th percentile)
head circumference 16 3/4 in. (50th percentile)

Both girls did great with their shots. I know it must have hurt terribly but they were real troopers crying for probably less than two minutes each.

I always take in my little notebook with all my questions neatly written, but it's hard to get all the answers down when I am usually holding one of the babies while Walter has the other and remember to ask follow-up questions, so I come out with answers written in chicken scratch! As thorough as I think my questions are, I always get home with even more questions than I started with. I end up sitting at my kitchen table like I am now trying to make sense out of my notes. So, here goes...

Feedings
She wants us to keep feeding them 6 oz. every three hours BUT add a 10:30 bottle because we will stop concentrating their formula. Instead of five 6 ounce bottles they will get six 6 ounce bottles which actually all works out to the same number of calories per day: 720.

She didn't seem thrilled we had started rice cereal in the bedtime bottles on our own since our last appointment, but I'm not so upset about that. I knew the girls weren't ready to be spoon fed but needed more sustenance, and everybody else was doing it, so we did, too! ;) We're stopping that and will try spoon feeding the girls tonight - a tablespoon each. My twin books all say to feed from one bowl with one spoon, so I guess I'll mix up two tablespoons and see how it goes. This should be fun!

Here's something where I wish I had asked for more clarification. She suggested we feed them their cereal between the 7:30 PM bottle and 10:30 PM bottle. This is not sitting well with me. The girls have been sleeping through the night for months now (with a bump in the road here and there) with a bedtime between 7:30 and 8:00. I was already a little upset about waking them up for another feeding at 10:30, but the idea of keeping them awake between 7:30 and 10:30 to feed them cereal seems out of the question. Maybe we can feed them their cereal between their 4:30 and 7:30 bottles instead??

We're switching Anna Claire to Alimentum to help with her pooping issues. Hopefully she won't need her daily does of prune juice anymore. At least both girls will be on the same formula again, but WOW! is Alimentum expensive!

Once we get the cereal under control we can start introducing fruits and veggies. She said we could either mix them with the cereal when first introducing or alternate bites during feeding. By the time they are six months old, she wants them eating 2 cereal-with-fruit and/or veggie-meals a day.

She also suggested that once we get Anna Claire adjusted to her new formula we could try to start taking the girls off Prevacid. I would be fine with this. To be honest, we got off schedule a few weeks ago and forgot to give the girls their Prevacid and they both didn't seem to notice one bit - and neither did we! I think they may be ready to come off.

Napping
Our naps have yet to regulate. The girls almost always take three naps a day; sometimes they miss one, and the lengths vary anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. She didn't seem to think naps were a huge concern since I have such good nighttime sleepers and that, perhaps, this is why their napping is not more regular. She said to expect two short naps and one long nap a day, and as long as they were getting about 15-16 hours of sleep every 24 hours (and they are), they were doing fine.

Sleeping
I was worried about all the wiggling the girls do at night since we elevate the mattresses. She just suggested we keep the mattress flat. We'll try it and see how they do. They have always slept on an incline whether it was on the sleep positioners or in the swings, so I'm worried this will disrupt their sleep in the beginning.

Now that we have the heat on, she suggested we keep the nursery cooler rather than warmer even though the girls are nearing the end of the SIDS danger zone. I had heard on the news that to help prevent SIDS running a fan to keep the air circulating was a good idea, and she agreed.

She said the sleep sacks we've been using since it's been cooler were fine or we could try a pajama blanket. Again, this is one of those things I wrote down in a hurry but didn't ask about. What is a pajama blanket?

Since I'm worried about the girls sleeping on their tummies once they can roll over on their own, she suggested we start practicing with them rolling both from tummy to back and from back to tummy. Right now they can both roll from their backs onto their sides but pretty much get stuck there. All they do on their tummy is pretty much fuss!

Other Bits and Pieces
We have their first flu shot scheduled for December 12 since they must be 6 months old, and the second dose is set for January 13 which is also when they will go back for their 6 month shots even though they will be 7 months old by then - we're off by about a month! Why they cannot just give us the six month shots in December since we'll already be there, I do not understand.

She also said we could begin to see signs of early teething anytime now - increased drooling, wanting to put everything in their mouths...I'd say we were there.

Both girls are right on track with their motor and social skills. YAY!!

So, aside from the girl's having to have shots, I'd say the appointment went pretty well. I just hope we can all adjust to the changes in our feeding routine. I'll keep you posted on that. I'm sure to have some great pictures later tonight of the girls trying to eat from a spoon for the first time!

Little Piggies

The girls are both taking six ounces at each feeding now. Way to go, Anna Claire and Mallory!That's 30 ounces a day! They wake up starving each morning, and wouldn't you if you had gone to bed at 7:30PM not to wake up again until 7:00 AM!? For the 10:30 AM bottle, Anna Claire gets an additional ounce of prune juice, bless her heart, and sometimes she even finishes off all seven ounces! The 1:30 and 4:30 feedings are pretty routine, but for their bedtime feeding around 7:30, the girls get a special treat in their bottles - a tablespoon and a half of rice cereal. YUM! This took some adjusting...

The girls have been on different formulas since they were about four weeks old. Anna Claire drinks Isomil and Mallory drinks Alimentum. DOUBLE YUM! On top of that, we have been concentrating their formula for a few weeks now to increase their caloric intake which thickens it a bit. Anna Claire can still use the level one nipple, but Mallory needs a level two. Now that we have added rice cereal into the mix at bedtime, Anna Claire needs a level three nipple and Mallory actually uses a level four for that feeding! Thank goodness bottles are Walters "job." That's a lot to keep up with!

We go back to the doctor in two weeks and I just know she's going to tell me it's time to break out the spoons and bowls which will also mean high chairs and messy babies (and a messy mommy, no doubt) - something I want to postpone for as long as possible! But for now, my little piggies seem to have settled into their current feeding routine just fine. Until the next growth spurt...

It's a First! *updated*

BOTH Anna Claire and Mallory took ALL three of their naps in their cribs today! Yay!! They also drank almost all 30 ounces of their concentrated formula including their bedtime bottle containing the usual rice cereal. Little piggies! What a great day for the girls. I'm a proud mommy!

four month pictures coming tomorrow - to tired to post anymore tonight

*update*
The girls have been sleeping through the night but with some slight protesting - waking up, fussing, then settling back to sleep. Last night they slept ALL night long without making a peep! Good day = good night!

Weighing In

Today has been two weeks since we started concentrating the girls' formula to get them to gain a little weight. I'm sure when they're older they'll love us for that! We had our doctor's visit and they have indeed gained sufficiently!

September 10
Anna Claire 11 pounds
Mallory 11 pounds 6 ounces

Today
Anna Claire 11 pounds 12 ounces
Mallory 12 pounds

The doctor also said we can stop waking them up for the 2 AM feeding and start trying to get them to sleep all the way through the night again - just when I'm about to go back to work! So, I guess tonight we'll let them sleep and see what time they wake up on their own.