9 MONTH CHECK UP

7-11-14 9th Month Check Up

As I have said before and I will say it again, everyday is a new adventure and a treasure with the girls.  Their personalities continue to shine and develop and I could stare at them for hours watching them discover the world.   I love them to the moon and back!!




 Here are their stats:

Adelyn

Clara

Weight: 23.7 lbs (98th percentile) Height: 2'5" (92nd percentile) Head: 45.7 cm (92nd percentile) *Can sit securely with few tip overs; If she does tip, she rolls to her side, and onto her stomach *Still HATES taking naps and going to bed; cries *Sleeps with three dolls:  pink giraffe, brown giraffe   and pink bear blanket *Still likes to steal whatever Clara has, even if she  has the same thing *Loves to eat *Can pick up food items with fingers and get most  of it in her mouth *Doesn't hold bottle when drinking *Wearing size 2T *Wearing size 4 diaper *Loves Nalla (our dog) *Likes water but not a super fan of it in her face *Hates face being touched *Stands on her own while holding on to couch *Loves "singing" *"Sings" after done drinking bottle *Diagnosed with Urticaria Pigmentosa at 8.5 months *4 teeth: two front top and bottom teeth

Weight: 22.3 lbs (95th percentile) Height: 2'5.5" (97th percentile) Head: 46.8 cm (99th percentile) *Can sit securely by herself with a couple tip overs *Sleeping MUCH better during naps and nighttime *Doesn't want pacifier as much but definitely still wants it to sleep and when stressed *Sleeps with my pillow case, giraffe, and bear  blanket *Has  developed a "back bone" when it comes to her sister.  When Adelyn steals something Clara is not letting go of it or is getting it back. *Keeps food in her mouth (use to spit half out) *Can pick up food items with fingers and get it IN mouth :) *Loves graham crackers, mums, and puffs *Holds  the bottle while drinking (I barely secure it) *Wearing size 2T *Wearing size 4 diaper *LOVES LOVES LOVES dogs and animals *LOVES LOVES LOVES water *Still won't straighten legs or stand; working on it *Loves "talking" *Loves doing the Indian chant with someone's hand *2 bottom front teeth

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Adelyn loves "talking" to her sister.  Quite hilarious!!!

Adelyn and Clara having a conversation

Adelyn is showing off her 4 teeth (two upper and two lower)

I love it when they look at each other and engage with each other

Clara's foot is on the left; Adelyn's foot is on the right

The girls went to visit Grandpa Dykstra at his dental office

Adelyn still sleeps with her pink giraffe (along with two other dolls)

Clara is starting to roll to her side when she sleeps

We spent the 4th of July morning with Auntie Rhonda and her twin boys

4th of July 

Adelyn has a new "scrunchy face" face

Clara is always exploring and touching...such a thinker

I just love the girls' expressions in this picture with Gramma

4th of July dresses

New size 2 T dresses :)

A Day in the Life of the Twins at 8+ months

July 2, 2014 35 Weeks AKA 8+ Months

I thought I would jot down what a typical day looks like for the girls so when they are older they can have this and so that people know what my life is like at the moment.  Disclaimer:  this is our summer schedule. Obviously things will change when school starts back up

6:30 am Wake Up
Typically the girls wake up around 6:30 and talk in their cribs.  When I hear them wake up, I head downstairs and warm up the bottles.  Since I am going up and down the stairs so much, usually I will crash on the couch for 15 minutes or so until I head back up to change the girls.

7:00 am Breakfast
I change the girls and take them downstairs one at a time and put them in their exersaucers.  They jump around for a minute or two until I have both babies downstairs.  Then it is feeding time.  They get a bowl of oatmeal and a jar of pureed food.  We start with the food first so that the bottles can continue warming up.
 After food, they drink anywhere from 6-8 oz.  The girls are big eaters, hence the reason they weigh so much ;)  Once the food is done, they go back into the exersaucers to play and interact with each other.  My mom and I call it Twin Time.  Adelyn jumps up and down and entertains Clara who is usually sucking on some rattle because she is teething.

8:30-9:30/10 am Nap Time
While the girls are napping, I use this time to shower, clean up the kitchen and catch up on a few zzzz's myself.

10:00-11:00 am Play time
The girls play in the living room with their toys.  I use this time to sing with them or get down on the floor and
play with them.  I am noticing that the older I get, the harder it is for me to get up from the floor.  Oh to be a young sprite of a mom.



11:00 am Lunch Time

The girls have another bowl of oatmeal mixed with puree.  I usually give them some sort of veggie puree. I started making my own food for the girls (they are not the biggest fans) so I have been giving them home cooked pureed carrots/potato mix.  Then they get their bottle and again they drink 6-8 oz.  After lunch we head outside for a walk or I put a blanket down on the grass and we sit under the umbrella to get some fresh air. If it is raining, it is back to play time in the living room.



12:00-1:00 (sometimes even as late as 2:00) pm Nap time
I definitely try to catch a nap at this time as well but otherwise, I check my email, clean up around the house.

2:30 pm Snack time
The girls get another bottle.

3:00-5:00 pm.  Long Stretch
This is the girls long stretch.  Usually we go for errands,  or stop by my mom's house so the girls can play

with Gramma or both.  Around 4 pm this start rubbing their eyes but EVERY time I try to put them down for a nap around 4:30 they just cry and refuse to go
to sleep.  SO I get them up and entertain them until dinner at 7pm.





5:00 pm Dinner
The girls get another bottle and their final food.  The girls usually have some bowl movements and I don't want them to have one while they are sleeping so they eat up and still have plenty of time before bed.

5:30-6:00 pm Walk

We go for a walk around 5:30 pm every day (unless raining) and the neighbor kids/moms are out in our cold a sac so I bring the girls out and we all visit by the time we are back from our walk. I really enjoy meeting up with my neighborhood moms.  There are three of us. Kara has 4 year old twin girls and a 6 year old daughter; Sara has a 2 year old son and a 4 yr old son; and Heather has a 4 year old son.  I am so thankful and lucky that my girls will have kids their own age to grow up with and I just think their moms are awesome.  It is our own Wisteria Lane without all the drama.

7:00 pm Final bottle
While the bottles are warming up, I start the bedtime routine around 6:45 pm.  Every couple days I give the girls baths and we get our "night time" diapers on and pjs on.  Then around 7:15 they are ready for their bottles and after bottles, I read them a couple stories.  By this time, both girls are rubbing their eyes continually and are ready for bed.

7:30 Bed Time

I take Clara up to bed first.  She is the easiest to put down; lately anyway.  She gets her pacifier, bear blanket over her face (she LOVES her face covered when she sleeps) and her giraffe doll next her neck.  Adelyn is a different story.  If she is tired enough, she will go right to sleep. Usually I am not that lucky.  She is very difficult to put to bed.  She cries and cries and cries.  Usually I will rock her to sleep through one song.  Their lullabies are playing on the CD.  While I am rocking her she loves to look at both sides of the rocking chair and then will nuzzle her head into my neck. Then repeat.  That girl cannot sit still.  After 2 minutes or so, I put her in her crib and she gets her three dolls to hug.  She has a pink giraffe that she sucks on their ears/horns while she sleeps.  She has a medium sized giraffe doll that she sucks on the tail. and finally she has a pink bear blanket that she sucks on the ears as well.  She will roll to her side and hug the animal and immediately find the spot she likes to suck on.  As I tip toe out of the room, both girls will chat with each other and usually fall asleep
within 10 minutes of being put down.  That is a good night's routine.  Lately there are hell night routines where Clara throws fits when she is put down and then Adelyn feeds off of Clara's distress and she starts throwing a fit.  Those nights, I take a deep breath, hanker down and spend a lot of time sitting on the floor in the room where they can see me while I play Candy Crush.  When the girls can see me, they settle down quicker.



Schedules make our lives a lot easier and the schedule is something the girls can count on.  When you have twins, organization and routines are a major part of survival.  Now with that said, there are days when the schedule gets thrown out the window and routines get adjusted.  Like now for example.  As I am writing this my day has already been thrown off the normal rails.  Clara refused to take her morning nap, so while sister slept sounding for 1.5 hours, Clara played with me down stairs.  Now it is 11:30 and Adelyn is awake and playing while Clara is sleeping.  Needless to say, it is going to be a long day.  BUT you adjust, roll with it and hope that the next day, routines will be restored.  :)

Cousin Time

June 25, 2014

While Alli and Edd are in the Bahamas for a band trip, McKenna (9) and Aidric (6) are staying with Gramma and Grandpa Marquardt for the week.  I love that my mom lives so close so that I can bring the girls over to play with their cousins as much as possible.  It is so cute watching the big kids play with the small kids.  It is going to be such a fun adventure when my girls are old enough to walk and talk.  They are going to give their bigger cousins a run for their money.
     McKenna does such a great job "babysitting" the kiddos and Aidric loves to make them laugh.  Here are some pictures from the week so far :)

Clara was more interested in the cardboard than the actual toy

Getting some hugs from Gramma Sharon

Clara loves our flying game.  Her laugh is contagious

Clara is stylin cousin Aidric's hair

Clara is trying to get Aidric's s'more

He wasn't sharing :)

Adelyn is chillin with cousin McKenna

Adelyn is already sitting like a "lady"

It is hard to tell in this picture, but Adelyn was totally leaning into McKenna, relaxing

McKenna is an EXCELLENT babysitter

8 MONTHS

 June 2014 8 Months

It is an amazing adventure I am on.  Eight months is even better than seven!

Adelyn	Clara
Weighs 22.6 pounds	Weighs 21.4 pounds
Very inquisitive	Sits by herself
Loves stealing her sister's pacifier while it is in Clara's mouth	Loves her pacifier
Picks items up with fingers	Hates going to sleep now
Hates "mixed vegies"	Talks A LOT
Loves "jumping"	Loves Nalla.  Eyes get so big when she sees her
2 bottom teeth	LOVES books.  Eyes get so big when she sees me bring out a book

The twins are continuing to talk to each other in their "twin talk." Lately when you are holding Adelyn she loves to use her thumb and first finger to pinch your neck and then roll the skin between her fingers.  It hurts.  She still loves to sing and is very expressive with her talking.  It is almost like she is yelling at you with a smile.  Along with her beautiful Gerber eyes, Adelyn has become quite the faker.  She fake coughs.  Gramma and Grandpa Marquardt had a bad cold for awhile and did a lot of coughing.  Adelyn has picked up the coughing technique and it is funny to see her "cough" and then laugh at herself.    She is also VERY aware of her sister.  When Clara is upset or crying, Adelyn will lean in and try to make her laugh.  Even though she loves her sister very much, she still steals all the toys that Clara has.  If Clara has it, Adelyn wants it.
     Clara is sitting very well on her own now.  She "talks" a lot and seems to have a lot to say.  She is starting

to stand up for herself in regards to her sister.  Before, when Adelyn stole her pacifier or toys, Clara would just start crying.  Now she either tries to hold onto it, throw her fists down in frustration, or steal it back.
     Both girls are still fascinated with hair.  They will find that one strand of your hair and pull, hard.  I now have wild strands of short hair around my face because both girls have ripped my hair apart.  My poor hair dresser is going to have her work cut out with me when I can finally find the time to go in.

    Bath time is a lot of fun now as well.  Before I use to have to bathe one girl at a time.  Now I can put them in their mini laundry baskets and they can play with their toys while talking to each other.  Both girls love the water and have discovered how much fun splashing can be.  I think I leave the bathroom wetter than they do.  I also got them a kiddie pool for outside.  The weather hasn't been tooooo cooperative, but the one or two days it was, the girls loved playing in the pool.  They would try to scoot their little bottoms across the pool while splashing each other.  Finally, we don't watch too much tv at my house but when we do, we watch the Baby Channel 124.  There is a program that the girls ABSOLUTELY love.  It is called, VocabuLarry.  He is a brightly colored parrot, named Larry, who learns knew vocabulary.  I don't know if it is the color of the bird, Larry or the music they play during the episode, but when he comes on, BOTH girls' eyes get soooo wide and they start kicking their feet, and they squeal in joy.  They don't do that with any other program but it is amazing to see their excitement when Larry comes on.
      On a side note, I want to give a shout out to Gramma Marquardt.  She watches them everyday while I go to work and is the best Gramma out there.  The girls love their Gramma Marquardt and I don't know what I would do without her help!  Thanks Gramma Marquardt!
     As always, I am so honored to be their mother and I look forward to every day I get to spend with them.  Every day is an adventure that I don't want to end.

They love interacting with each other and Adelyn is always ready to make her sister laugh!

Gramma and Grandpa Marquardt

We took the girls to the beach at Kirkland for a fun afternoon out :)

The girls love setting up our "picnic" in the front yard and Nalla is always there to play guard dog.

Adelyn stole her sister's pacifier and is trying to nah on it.  Must feel good on her teeth.

Clara is just the sweetest!  I love that smile!

Fun in the pool

I can see you ;)

Gramma Daycare

Gramma Daycare

       At 4 months of age, when I had to go back to work, I have dropped off the girls at Gramma's Daycare Monday-Friday from 6am-2:45pm routinely. 

     Typically I will get dressed at my house and wake the girls at the last minute and place them in their car seats and drive to Gramma's house. Gramma greets the girls & me at my car and brings one baby in while I brings in the other. Gramma is always greeted with a smile or 3 which is the only way to start the day. Priceless. Inside, while Gramma bibs the girls in their "table for two", I get a cup of coffee and then help feed while visiting with Gramma who has their bottles warmed and ready to go. Smooth like a finely tuned watch.

     Once I leave, the twins are ready for some relaxing 124-TV and then down for a little extended morning nap about 7 am. After their nap which ends about 8 am, Gramma changes them out of their PJ's and into their day clothes which I have already brought over for the week. Once dressed, the day is full of "stations" of twin time, laughter and hugs of joy. Gramma has said she has the best job ever!!

The rest is from Gramma's journal: 

     Gramma has several "stations" for the girls to enjoy. One is "twin time in the crib" where they play with three dimensional and musical toys for about 1/2 an hour. We have Johnny Jump up time in two separate door jams and tummy time either on the living room floor or best in the babies room free of animals and distractions. When they start to grumble, Gramma knows it is time to either move to another station or change it up somehow. Sometimes they just need a diaper change. Another station they enjoy is sitting in their "activity chairs" for 1/2 and hour or so. Each time Gramma puts them into them she will change up which seat they sit in so they have a chance at both of the two available seats. Then because they rub their eyes and get tired, it is "morning nap time" which lasts anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour. They have their own crib in the babies room. 

     At noon Gramma bibs them in the "table for two" and they have food and a bottle and a few minutes in their incline chairs  to digest watching 124-TV and then more station time for exploration and play. We always have time for individual baby time of hugs and laughter. We are spontaneous depending on our frame of mind. Often the girls like to touch the entry stained glass windows and smile watching the 2 gold fish in the entry tank. Clara especially loves time with the house animals and will grab onto the cats and Daisy though Daisy will steal her pacifier and chew on it any chance she gets. 

The twins then usually need an afternoon nap (they rub their eyes) around 1 pm and sleep until 2:15 and have one last snack at 2:30 so Mom can come get them about 2:45 "fed and ready to play". 

Gramma loves her daycare job!!