3 months and growing

 It's amazing how much more precious children become when they're your own. I mean, babies - cute! But when they're yours, it's a completely different story. You cherish them and their development a bit more.

The past couple of weeks, well since the week before month 2 really, Lily has become very vocal. Even moreso now... it's like she's really trying to talk to you and have a conversation. She can easily coo and gurgle and "arr" for at least half an hour straight (that isn't crying). Charlie isn't quite as vocal as Lily is, but she does try to communicate... by squeaking. Maybe squeaking isn't the right word but it's what comes to mind.

For the past couple of weeks, Lily has also taken interest in her hand, or specifically her right fist. I'll see her sitting/lying there staring at her fist like she's studying the concept of hands and opposable thumbs. She'll also reach out to hold things a lot more now that seems like she's doing it intentionally, like reach out for our hand (her daddy was holding his palm out to her and she reached up and put her tiny palm against his) and stuff. Charlie on the other hand has taken to sucking on her thumb. Well, she doesn't stick her thumb in her mouth - she holds her fist to her mouth and sucks on her thumb knuckle. I don't know why it seems cuter than actually sucking on the thumb. And as early as week one, Lily had been trying to grab her bottle and pull it towards her when she's hungry and pushing it away when she doesn't want it anymore (or holding her hand out as if to say "stop"), but now it seems like the girls are really trying to hold their own bottles to feed themselves. It doesn't happen everytime, but often enough for us to notice, including grandma who last night exclaims to me, "Charlie's holding her bottle!". She wasn't holding it by herself or anything, but when grandma, who raised her 4 children, 3 nieces and nephews and 1 grandson, comments on it, I'll assume it's a good development.

Nighttime sleeping: by 6 weeks the girls were going 4 hours from feeding to feeding and by 2 months it was 5 hours at night. Which I guess was a big deal because one of their daddy's coworkers has a son born just 3 days before the girls who was still waking up to feed every 2 hours... I wouldn't have survived doing that on my own and with twins! By 2-1/2 months, the girls were going anywhere between 5-7 hours from their last night feeding to the next morning feeding, and last night at 3 months and 3 days, the girls went for over 8 hours! They were probably just tired from their cousin's birthday party earlier that day, but the fact that they were able to go that long right now is promising! I hope their sleep trend leans more towards the 8+ hours than the 5 hours from now on! Although I think Charlie can go for longer - 95% of the time, it's Lily who wakes up, and if I'm going to feed her at that time, I'll need to wake Charlie up too, so that they can remain on the same schedule.

And one final development that may or may not be one: over the past couple of weeks, the girls have also been adding new sounds to their cries. Like the sound of the letter "M". Like when they cry, instead of it being just "Ahhh!!!" or "Whaaa!!!", sometimes they'll say "Ma!"... Sometimes it'll be a long "Maaa!!!" cry and sometimes it'll be a short "Ma!". We're trying to figure out if they're just crying randomly or if they really are calling for me. Not to get all worked up and excited about it, I will assume it's just the next sound they're making and that they are not in fact, calling for mom. Though it'd be awesome if they were!




- Posted mobile-y (please excuse the typos!)

Baby Milestone: 3 Months

 Yesterday, my girls turned 3 months. I never thought I'd make it! It's such a milestone indeed. Ever since they were born, I've done mental milestones and always had the intention of writing it down because, well, I would otherwise forget. Obviously. I wasn't doing much those days but dreaming of hitting milestones. Trying to recap:

Milestone: 1 Week

They were just born... I would be counting the DAYS that passed. Sometimes the hour. By one week it would seem a little less scary having two tiny newborn babies that depended on you with their lives. Any they were SO tiny. When we brought Lily home she had hit her low weight of 3 lbs 15.5 oz. That is tiny. They were like little tiny fragile dolls. By one week, she had regained the weight she lost and even added a few more ounces. 

Littly Lily not even fitting a tiny newborn-sized onesie

Milestone: Month 1

We were super excited for this one - ONE MONTH! One month meant so much because we could count by months instead of weeks now. It also meant that we were comfortable taking the girls out. Not to the mall or other crowded places yet, but just out. And we did exactly that: on the day they turned one month, we all went for a quick trip to the Japanese Gardens at CSULB (where we had gotten married four years prior). It was such a nice day and it definitely felt nice to be out... I don't think I had been out much since the girls were born.

Aside from going to the doctor for visits, the girls hadn't been out either. We stopped by their grandparent's the next day for lunch. They were so tiny in their carriers!

Milestone: 6 weeks

This was around the time the girls would start smiling... or so they say. They weren't full-on smiling yet, but you could see their tiny lips curling up on each end randomly. The girls were also taking well to the mirror... particularly Lily. They had been looking at the mirror early on (across from the changing table) but you can tell they were understanding the concept at this point. Lily would reach her hand out and I'd move her closer until she touched the mirror, and then she'd smile.

But the biggest reason I have 6 weeks as a milestone is the fact that the hubster only got 6 weeks  off from work for FMLA... as short of a time off as it felt, I'm glad he got SOMETHING! I don't think I would have survived those first couple of weeks all alone with twin newborn babies and trying to recover from surgery.

I also had my one and only 6-week postpartum doctor's visit... at the time the appointment was scheduled, it seemed like such a long time, but there you go. It came and went. And my surgery incision had healed. Well, when I say "healed" I really mean "closed up without complications".

Milestone: Month 2

From Month 1, every month would become a milestone I suppose. But by month 2, we were definitely comfortable taking the girls practically everywhere now. We had gone to Costco, Target, Metropointe and The Block, eaten out at restaurants and here on their 2nd month we went to the Farmer's Market at the OC Great Park in Irvine... which by the way has got to be some 'families with small children' hotbed! Strollers everywhere! But it again was such a nice day (in the shade). The girls weren't exactly sitting on their own yet, but it was easy to hold them on our laps.

The girls also had their first round of vaccines at 2 months :( My poor babies! 

Post doctor's visit with their three little band-aids on their legs, each

A bit later that day, the girls started feeling feverish from the vaccines. Papa decided to put little warm washcloths on their foreheads :) The next day, the girls were feeling better.

Milestone: 3 Months

That's now! We finally had the girls' Laos "good luck" ceremony per their grandparents' request this past weekend and we dressed the girls up in real clothes and everything! I say "real clothes" because up  until then, they were dressed only in onesies because they couldn't fit anything else yet. But they're starting to catch up! Lily is now at 9 lbs 5 oz (still tiny but finally on the percentile chart at about 3%) and Charlie is at 10 lbs 10 oz (around the 15 percentile) - we are definitely proud parents!

Lily & Charlie <3

I had been looking forward to 3 months because that's when babies start to "sleep through the night" although the term "through the night" is loose and could mean at least 5 hours. The girls have been sleeping at least 5 hours "through the night" for the past couple of weeks already, and even some nights they have gone as long as 7 hours from the beginning of their last feeding to the time they wake up... but only some nights. The girls have been really good on sleeping at night but of course, I'm still looking forward to the day when 8+hours becomes everyday!

Next milestone: 4 months!

Charlie & Lily :)

Parents of multiples, unite

 You see people pushing strollers around ALL the time and don't really think much of it... until you're one of them and what you're really doing is eyeing everyone's choice of stroller and how developed (and how obedient) their little one is (compared to yours). And then there's parents of multiples. Parents of multiples come talk to you and console you! Not joking. Pushing a double stroller around is definitely an eye-catcher, especially since it's so huge! Tons and tons of people come up and ask if they're twins, boys or girls, how old and to say congratulations and what a blessing it must be (which I am appreciative of how nice these people are). And then twice, the person approaching is a little boy! The first time it happened was at the Farmer's Market one afternoon. The hubster was carrying Charlie when a family was walking by and a little boy, probably around the age of 3 or 4, stopped and called to his parents that there was a baby (pointing towards Charlie), and said "how cute!". The hubster laughed and said, "Oh Charlie, you're already getting hit on by boys". The second time was at Target. I was doing a u-turn with the stroller in the middle of an aisle when a boy around 9-10 years old was walking by. To my surprise, he stopped and peered into the stroller, and I said to him, "They're twin girls." He smiled at me and said, "They're so cute!" and I said thanks, and then he surprised me once again. He said, "I'm sorry I can't talk to you more but I'm in a hurry" ...I must have stood there for a good minute thinking, Wow, what a polite little boy! SO polite! He made my day. So back to the twins thing. We were at Costco one day when I wheeled the stroller to a table in the food court to sit down and wait for the hubster. I noticed a couple looking at the double stroller but didn't think much about it, until later the woman was walking by and stopped to ask me about the twins. She said she had 4-year old twin girls and a 4-week old newborn as well, and the single newborn is SO MUCH easier! She also said she had a night nanny with the twins. A night nanny. What a concept! Another time at Target I came across a woman who started chatting me up and admiring the girls. She told me she had twin brothers and get this: her parents had named them Nathan and Nathaniel. No kidding. *shakes head* And then the real fun was the other week at the mall. The hubster was browsing H&M and I made me way to the children's section where I (almost literally) ran into a woman with the stroller. She smiled and said she had 4-year old twins (points to them hovering over a clothes rack) and immediately said to me, "It gets better!" I laughed and thanked her, and then we saw the girls run across the store and she added, "...until they start shopping."

Later we paused on a bench to feed the girls and suddenly strollers were everywhere! A woman rolled by and stopped and asked about our twins and she had 8-month old twin boys, and immediately she too said, "It gets better!" and then an older couple stops and smiles and talks to us and admire the girls and say that their twins will be turning 29 soon. And then suddenly the woman with the twin 4-year old girls walks by and at that moment within a 5' radius are four sets of parents of twins. They're everywhere!!! - Posted mobile-y (please excuse the typos!)