FET#1 - Numbers

Just so I don't forget these numbers:

TTC#1 since 2008
FET#1 - Transfer on 11/16 - BFP!!
Beta#1=516
Beta#2=1136
Beta#3=2433
9 week u/s - Still Two Heartbeats!!

This was in my siggy on one of my boards. I figure it's time to get rid of it and make some room for more pictures, but I just don't want to forget these numbers!

In other news, the girls are keeping us on our toes! They are standing everywhere they can and it scares me! Many of their PJ's don't have the grippy-things and we have hardwood floors - you can imagine my fear. I think they need new ones ASAP! Those things are just easier to keep them in all day than pants and socks. They ALWAYS pull off their socks. It never fails. People at the store always comment that someone is missing a sock - I know - it's usually in the bottom of the stroller!

I think they are both getting the "mama" and "papa" thing - not that they know who they are calling - but they do make the sounds when they chatter. I can't wait until they actually KNOW who they are calling!

This morning the girls were on our bed and DH was feeding Alex and trying to change Sofi's diaper. He picked up Sofi and she wanted out of his arms, so I offered her to come to me - she dove into my arms! I LOVE that they actually want to come to me and know that they want that! Don't worry though, she jumped right back into her daddy's arms two minutes later - she just needed a little mama loving!

And finally! I hope this picture posting works...



A little taste of our Easter Sunday. We spent it at my parents house and had a blast! They had so many family members over and got some great toys to play with!

They're changing way too fast...

Seriously, my little babies are just growing up way too fast!
In the last two weeks, Sofi has cut her two top teeth, is pretty much crawling and exploring, she's pulling herself to standing, and she's so stinkin' cute! We find her "stuck" in the most funny places - she manages to get under the jumparoo, but can't quite fiqure out how to climb back over the metal rods! So she sits under it, trying to get out, but her head hits the contraption and she gets frustrated! My mom has also found her trying to stand by using the bottom bars of the bar stool chairs, and she's also been found on the platform thing of their high chairs. It's so wonderful to see her explore and find new things, and she's taken a liking to licking the floor. Yeah - I actually have to tell my child to not lick the floor. I can only imagine what it's going to be like at the playground with her.

Miss Alex is just as fun to watch! She's finally managing to sit from all fours! She still lays there and "complains" for a while, but we all know she can do it. She's also able to put her snacks in her mouth! I think she's getting the hang of her pincer grasp (I think that's what it's called!) She took each snack I had in the palm of my hand and put them right in her mouth! She also seems to be my early riser. This morning she was wide awake at 6am. I needed to get to work, so I left her to play in her crib with some toys. She's standing in her crib too - but she's not as quick to do that, so she's still pretty safe to just leave in there.

Goodness - what else. Easter is this weekend, I'm excited to take them for their Easter Bunny pictures (hopefully we'll make it on Saturday) and then we're off to church and my mom's on Sunday. It's going to be nice to hang out with family.

My aunt and uncle are also supposed to be at our house today to hang out with the kids - I hope they all have a fun time and get to play and go outside.

The girls just love to be outside! Anywhere! This past weekend my friends L & N were coming over and instead of going to the grocery store the night before, we went to the local high school's food truck fundraiser. (Which was so much fun and yummy!) That meant that on Saruday morning I had to hit the store, by myself, with the girls. Well, it actually went really well! I strapped Sofi in the Bjorn, and I put Alex in the cart. I will admit to doing a little dancing around to make sure we didn't have any tears, but that was totally fun. I gave them their bottle as I was loading the car and they slept all the way home. Unfortunatly, they didn't stay asleep for very long after I took them upstairs. I was barely getting myself into a nice groove to put away groceries and get some snacks ready for my friends - when what do I hear, but both girls crying. Well, I scratched the groceries and decided to get them bathed and dressed. We came downstairs and I had Sofi in the jumparoo and I was holding Alex when L & N came in.

Off the bat, L asks to hold Alex. She gets in L's arms and looks at me with a pouty lower lip (remind me to take a picture of this - it's way too cute!) but otherwise she's fine. We get to Sof who is not enjoying the jumparoo so I take her out. N asks to hold her. I warn him that she may start to cry. It didn't take more than 30 seconds for all out screaming and crocodile tears. Poor N was a champ and took it in stride, not giving up the chance to hold her. Unfortunatly, Sof just didn't want anything to do with him. And as we have learned, if Sofi is that upset, it gets Alex upset, and as soon as Sof calms down, Alex gets all riled up. So you can imagine to their surprise, that we needed to sit on the floor so I could manage to hold both kids and calm them down a bit. It took over a half hour, but soon Alex really warmed up to Lauren and even fell asleep on her lap. Sofi totally warmed up as well and was having fun with both of them.

This little episode made me very nervous about having my cousins watch the girls the next day. I went in prepared for a crying fest and was so suprised when they were totally fine with them. They have seen my cousins more than L & N, but I was still worried. They had a great time while mom and grandma went to the shower.

Well I'm off to get Alex and Sofi their hair bows for this Sunday! I hope the kiosk has the colors I need!

More Milestones!

I can't seem to keep up with this blog! The girls are just changing so much. It's incredible to see but I want time to slow down!!

So on March 14th, Sofi figured out how to get into a sitting position from her belly. Now she just does that to move around and get to the toy that she wants! And nothing can get in her way. She constantly sits on poor Alex - and Alex gets the "WTF! Get off of me!" look going. But Alex is also quick to take the opportunity to give Sofi a huge hug like that! With Sofi's back at her chest. It's priceless.

Then yesterday, March 21, I went home early to take Sof to the GI doctor's appointment and my mom had the girls dressed and sitting in their cribs. They were cranky, they needed to eat, but we wanted to get them in their car seats first and hit the road. So I see Alex actually kneeling in her crib and think it's cute that her paci reaches the top of the rail. I go to grab my jeans to change out of my work clothes and come back to see her standing in her crib and smiling from ear to ear! I yell for my mom to come and see! Then I run to get the camera, and by the time I got back she had fallen and was back to being miserable again. We coaxed her for a little bit and finally got her to stand again to get a quick pic.

Alex has also mastered the art of clapping. After the dr, we went to grab some take-out and there was a tv in the restaurant showing the NY Nicks and the 76ers (that's basketball), Alex sat in her stroller watching the game and cheering (aka screeching)and clapping. I was too busy ordering the food to really see when she was "cheering", but it was the cutest thing to me. I tried to tape it, but as soon as she saw the camera - she would look at me and smile and stop what she was doing. Oh well, I see many more sporting events in her future, I'm sure I'll capture it then.

So the GI dr said that we should try to get the girls eating more solids and reducing the amount of formula. The reduction in the liquid should help with her spit-up. He also said that new studies are showing that kids should be allowed to/given whatever they want to eat except for honey. This means that there is no need to wait for eggs, peanut butter, strawberries, etc. The research has shown that there may be a small window of opportunity to introduce all of these foods and have the child to help build up their immune systems/tolerance for this stuff. They don't think it helps to prevent allergies by waiting so long. So, this is what we shall aim for. It should be much more fun to get them to eat so many different things. Even I was getting sick of the 10 things they were eating!

Thankfully my mom understands my frustration - I've been trying to follow all the guidelines the medical world offers and yet not dismiss the "old school" things that have gone on for generations. This is going to be a change for me, but a good one. I really want the girls to be exposed to all types of food and to have healthy eating habits. I see too many kids around me who don't - not that they're unhealthy, but it's heartbreaking to see the parents have to try so hard to feed them and the kids becoming so frustrated by it. It's just not a battle I want.

So other than that - all things are good! My cousin just got engaged and is getting married in October. She really wants the girls to walk down the aisle - not really as flower girls, but junior flower girls - I guess. They should be walking by that age if they follow all the regular milestones. I just have a fear that they'll reak havoc! We'll see how they are as we get closer - but they will be attending the ceremony for sure. The reception - not so much - that's when mommy wants to kick off her heels and celebrate with her little sister! But how the heck do I find a sitter when the ENTIRE family is going to be there. I hope by bff is up to the task of watching them!

And they turn 8 months old tomorrow .... someone hold me... how is this happening so fast...mommy isn't ready.

More clapping!

Alex has officially entered the world of clapping too! Her little chubby hands look so adorable when she claps. She also has a habit of staring at her hand and just twisting it and concentrating on it. It's so cute!

Miss Alex is also teething yet again. Poor little thing had a really rough day on Monday, so I resorted to giving her some T.yl.enol. She was biting down on her toys and just not letting go. She was all red and hot looking and just miserable.

On the Sofi front, she's a little dare-devil! We officially have to take the riser's out of the pack n' play's. I let her do her thing yesterday, and she almost fell out of it. She doesn't stand up straight - so she ends up with her head hanging over the side of the PNP. Not good.

We also took her to Dr K for her spitting up. DH had noticed that she was spitting up food she had eaten over 6-8 hours earlier. Apparently she should not have that food in her stomach by 6-8 hours. It's only happened a few times, but it's also hard to tell when they don't eat a colorful food - so she's having us go to a pediatric GI specialist. The appointment is on the 21st so we'll see what they say. I don't think there is anything super serious going on with her, but it would make me feel much better talking to a specialist. I don't think we'll do any extreme testing on her yet. She's growing just fine - she's still in the 40th percentile for her weight and we're all happy with that. I guess only time will tell.

Milestones and other happenings

So this post may be all over the place. A lot of wonderful things have happened in the last few weeks!

2/29/2012 - Sofi will now clap when we coax her to! She tends to hold her left hand still and slap it with her right one. Grandma had turned on the Nat.e Be.rk.us Show and Sofi started to clap when the audience was clapping! I can totally picture this in my head. I'll have to record some talk shows and get her to do it again.

2/27/2012 - I'm noticing Alex propping herself up on all fours!! Like that chubby little belly is totally off the floor. OMG - she'll be on the go in no time at all! She gets up on all fours and is rocking a little back and forth, but doesn't get the idea that she needs to move her arms. My lazy little girl likes to show us all up!

2/21/2012 - We started to officially put them in their cribs at night. I'm sad that they're not in our room - well, we've had them in separate rooms for about two months now, but you know what I mean. They're big girls now and mama is sad to have this happen - selfishly. But they're still keeping their same pattern. They tend to get up at least once to eat, but I can usually put them back to sleep the other times.

They also took their first vacation! We went us to the mountains (La.ke Ar.rowh.ead) and rented a cabin with some family. It was chilly but we didn't get any fresh snow while we were there. However, there was some on the ground (granted it was basically ice) but they were able to feel it for the first time. They didn't have much of a reaction to it.

We're also fully into solids. They have had many different things: avocado, bananas, mango, green beans, broccoli, apples, pears, yams, carrots, acorn squash, and I'm sure a few others. We've also tried both rice cereal and oatmeal. Everything has been a winner - except green beans. It's not like they hate it, but especially Sofi, only tolerates a few bites. Hopefully they'll change their minds when we use them as finger foods. We also gave them a few Puffs. I love seeing their expressions! They still look like they're thinking really hard and trying to figure out how to move their mouth! It's so cute!

What else. Oh - we had their tooth party! It was a fun afternoon, though I think they knew something was going on, because they refused to nap all morning! But they tolerated the swarm of people very well. Sofi grabbed a stethoscope. My MIL was happy that DH would experience all the struggles they did putting a child through medical school and everything that comes with it! It was funny. Alex first grabbed her favorite saxophone toy and everyone thought that I shouldn't have included that one - so they took it away from her and she eventually grabbed the book. So it looks like we could have two highly educated little ladies!

The tooth party is an old tradition where you celebrate the child's first tooth. You place a few toys/objects in front of them to symbolize various career paths, then you hold a piece of lace over their head and shower them with candy, money and grains (weird combo - I know) and all of this is supposed to wish them well for their future.

OK - those are the main points I had to make sure to document so I didn't forget! I'll be back with pics and some more cute stuff.

Green Beans and Outings

Apparently I can spell if my life depended on it. Sorry.

Saturday was my parents anniversary but as far as I knew, they were heading home and we would maybe do something on Sunday. Well, after calling them to congragulate them, my mom chimes in that they're going out with one of my aunt's and her daughter (my cousin) and it would be such a surprise if we were to meet up with them. And the best part - they would come closer to us. Sure - why not.

So dh, the girls and I finished our little shopping trip. Decided to stop and have some pho for lunch. It was yummy and thankfully there weren't many people in the restaurant. We ordered and dh went to bring the car closer. As soon as he came back I needed to take Alex to the car and change her dirty diaper. Bad mommy forgot wipes/papertowels so I tried to use the disposable changing pad to clean her up. Needless to say, the poor kid had to sit there with poop on her for a little while until we got home. So we went back in the restaurant and tried to eat. Miss Alex was in a chatty mood and kept yelling! It's cute for us, but not the other 5 people who are trying to have a quiet meal. DH took them outside while I finished and we got home, fed the girls, gave them each a bath and got ready to go out again.

We get to the mall where we're meeting everyone and my cousin is so excited to see Alex and Sofi - she comes over to Alex's side of the car and all she gets is a huge pouty face from her. We chalk it up to the fact that she was sleeping in the car. Nope - the little stinker kept up that pouty face everytime my poor cousin tried to hold her! I don't know how she went from the loud and happy baby at lunch to the pouty face. Oh well! We had some great coffee and dessert, walked around and then headed home. There was a live band and everything at the outdoor mall - wish we had gotten there earlier.

Sunday we decided to stay home most of the day. DH took my car for a wash and since the girls wouldn't stop crying, I took off their diapers and let them lay around and play for a while. Ummm....Alex pooped. Yuck! Thankfully DH walked in right as I had discovered this and helped clean them up. My parents came over and we headed to the park to have lunch. For some reason Sofi wasn't having much of the park - she usually loves the one by our house, but I guess she didn't like the pond and the ducks!

Then it was off to TJ's for some shopping. Picked up some green beans for the girls first "real" food! We got home and I started to make their food, since I thought I had just enough time to make it and get them fed. They watched the end of the Super Bowl with Grandpa and Daddy while I made it. We got them in their high-chairs and started to feed them. Alex did great! She was mastering swallowing without spitting out most of it! But towards the end she would open her mouth and stick out her tounge with all the green beans on it! Pretty funny - but that was the hint that she was done with it.

Sofi - she didn't like the beans as much, but I think it was because she was just too hungry. Hubby tried, but then just gave her a bottle and she was a happy camper. We'll try them again today and see what she thinks.

Oh - did I mention that after their first try with cereal, I gave Sofi the warm bottle of formula that I had used for the cereal and she wanted nothing to do with it. I made her a regular bottle with room temp water and she took it with no issue! Kind of funny since I sometimes feel bad that I only give them room temp bottles - but that's what they are used to.

Solids and our first injury!

What a week! On Monday evening we started solids. Rice cereal is the first thing on the list. Sofi took to it very easily! She barely made a mess! Alex - not so much. I think she was too hungry. She would let it just sit in her mouth and couldn't get the hang of swallowing it.

Tuesday they did a little better. I'm learning to make sure they are not too hungry and somewhat calm before feeding them. We did much better today. And I also realized that warming up the formula a bit could make it feel more like a meal for them - or so my mind things that!

Wednesday grandma had to give them half their cereal at lunchtime. They were just too fussy. Then we had a little more for dinner.

The Ped had told us to start with one meal a day for a week then switch to two a day and then finally start adding different foods - so they are eased into it. We'll see how the girls do and go from there.

So this brings us to last night (Thursday) We sat the girls in their chairs and fed them. They stayed there as we ate our dinner - grandma and grandpa were there. Sofi was sitting between my mom and I - I look down and see that her feet are red. She ALWAYS rubs her feet together. For a second I thought it was either the color from her red pj's that were left on her feet or food coloring (why?!?) or maybe she rubbed her feet so much that she caused an actual open wound. Nope. Apparently one of her toe nails must have gotten too long and tore off at a bad angle and very deep - it caused bleeding and the fact that she is always rubbing her feet together, caused the blood to spread. Poor baby girl! I wiped it off with a wet cloth and applied pressure while my mom got her a band aid and bigger socks (in hopes that she wouldn't rub them so much they would fall off her feet) By the time we gave her a bath an hour later, the bleeding had stopped. And may I say that she wasn't even phased by this - she carried on like I was interrupting her playtime! I hate cutting their nails - I can only do it when they're asleep - so I have to make sure I take any opportunity I can. But the situation is usually not good for cutting nails so they grow a little too long. Mommy needs to do a better job.

And can I just add how much I stinkin' love these girls! When I walk in the door from work, I get the biggest smiles and grins and just the excitement in their eyes is priceless! Then when they're in the bath (we still wash them one at a time while they lay down on the bath seat "thingy") the smiles that you get from them are just so pure and innocent. I love that time with them. As hard as it can be to do bath-time with both of them - those smiles are soooo worth it! I don't want to share them!

Then last night I did what I know I shouldn't - I let them sleep with me at different times. After Alex's bath she got her bottle and fell asleep in my arms. I had to do the whole "hold her upright for 20-30 minutes" - I love that time - but then I fell asleep and no one came to take her from me - so she slept with me for a good two hours. Then when Sof got up to eat at 1am - the same thing happened - I fell asleep and even after I woke up I let her stay with me. Just holding her like that is so wonderful - and I enjoyed every moment of it! And I wonder why I can't get them to sleep through the night in their own PnP.