Trip to the Dallas World Aquarium

This weekend we took a trip to the Dallas World Aquarium. Don't let the name fool you, it was way beyond an aquarium, although the shark tank tunnel was amazing. The twins had a great time.

Sometimes they didn't even care about the exhibits, the railing was pretty interesting.

The aquarium tunnel was really amazing, but they didn't always catch all the action.

There was a rainforest that we worked our way through with amazing animal exhibits throughout, but I think I was most surprised by the jaguar at the end.

Done with the Doc Band

Last Thursday Connor took off his Doc Band for the last time, he's finished with his helmet. On Monday he had an exit appointment where they took pictures to compare when he started and now that he's finished. I'm not sure if you can tell the shape change, but it is amazing to see the difference of seven months to one-year old.

4-7-10

9-27-10

4-7-10

9-27-10

I'm glad we did the band, his head looks great, but it was really getting to be a pain. He had to wear it all through the hot summer, but near the end he started pulling on it and he really wanted it off himself. I'm so happy we're done.

More Adventures in Eating

After our one-year checkup, Dr. Neely told us the twins could move off of formula and onto solid foods. If only it were that easy.

Once again, having twins prove the point everyone is different and will do things in their own way in their own time.

Chloe has been great drinking milk from the sippy cup. In fact, she likes it so much she cries if we try to give her any food without first giving her a sippy cup of milk. Then she cries when she drinks it all. We've been giving her a little bit more milk, but we don't want her to fill up on milk because she's not so great with the solids. She'll only pick up and eat a few things with her hands, more often than not we need to spoon feed her servings of soft items. This weekend we made a plate of strawberries, kiwi, blackberries and cheese for lunch. It looked like a fabulous fruit and cheese platter and Connor loved it, eating every bit. Chloe wasn't as excited and barely ate anything. She didn't have a great reaction to the blackberries and they gave her a baby Hitler mustache.

As I mentioned, Connor loved all the fruit and cheese, in fact, he'll try almost anything. When we went out to eat he tried noodles from his Dad's plate and even had a taste of sliced lemon. He loved it all! 

Where he doesn't cooperate as much is drinking milk from his sippy cup. First we learned he wanted it warmed, don't even try to serve Connor cold milk, he's not having it. Our next trick is to give him a little milk in a sippy cup on his tray at every meal. He can drink some if he likes, but there's no forcing it, just an opportunity to quench his thirst while he eats. He doesn't drink very much and usually ends up playing with the cup and making a mess. We then have to fill another sippy cup with the full amount and feed it to him like it's a bottle. I guess I can understand why he wouldn't give up that treatment.

Each twin is almost working at opposites on eating styles and it's getting a little complicated as parents figuring out how to make it work for both of them. The biggest thing we're learning now is how to be patient and laugh at the mess.

Play Group Worries

Connor and Chloe do pretty well playing together. Connor is a little rough and grabs toys from Chloe sometimes, but she has worked out ways to avoid him and sometimes they actually play and laugh together. However, it's time to broaden to a play group.

I've joined a group through the Junior League of Dallas called Moms of Multiples or MoMs.  Everyone in the group has twins or triplets and we met once a month to talk, share ideas, and just feel like there are others out there facing the same challenges.

Out of this group we're organizing play groups based on the ages of our babies and where we live. I'm really excited about the play groups, but I'm nervous about a few things:
• Have I waited too long to socialize Connor and Chloe?
• Will they be OK with older toddlers (the group is similar in age, but 12 months is the youngest)?
• What will I do if they're unhappy and cry, I can only manage one at a time?
• What if Connor is too rough with the other kids?

I can make up a million things to worry about, but I know going to the play groups will be good for them. It will probably be good for me too and I won't worry so much after the first one.

Busy Bees

I know it’s over a month away, and we don’t have any specific plans yet, but I have Halloween costumes for the family. I got bee costumes for the twins while Carl and I will wear khaki as beekeepers.

I wanted the twins both to be bees, but wanted them to have their own look. Connor’s costume is called “lil stinger” and is a snugly jump suit with a little stinger on the bottom.

Chloe’s has a tutu so her bee is a little more feminine.

Both costumes come with headpieces for bee antennae so I tried them on the babies to see how they worked. I’m not sure they’ll keep them on so we may need to practice at home before we head out in our costumes.

Connor was OK wearing his, but started trying to tug it off and has already pulled an antennae ball off. I’ll have to sew both on really good so we can actually wear it.

Chloe’s looks so cute on, but I really don’t think she wants to wear it. We’ll definitely have to practice wearing the headpiece.

Our neighborhood has a little get together on Halloween and the Arboretum has a fun pumpkin house where you can take your kids in costume for pictures. We’ll come up with some plan for our bees.

Crushing on Carol

I've noted in the blog before how much Connor likes my Aunt Carol, but at his birthday party he was too cute.

He really turned on the charm when Carol was holding him by leaning in for a good hug and tilting his head to touch hers. He got such a good response that he kept it up. I have a cute clip of Connor and Carol from the birthday celebration. Adorable.

Doctor Visit at One Year

Connor and Chloe had their one-year check up yesterday. They're right on track psychically and developmentally.

The big change coming out of this visit is we’ll move completely away from formula and baby food to whole milk from a sippy cup (no bottle) and regular, healthy food. I kept asking Dr. Neely if we needed to feed them 4 times a day or 3 times a day and he said we had to work with the babies and feed them based on when they’re hungry. So he wouldn’t give me a specific schedule, I’ll have to figure one out as we go.

All good, exciting news (if you’re into baby stuff) Below are the one-year stats:

Connor

Weight - 20lbs 12oz

Height - 29.5 inches

Chloe

Weight - 19lbs 6oz

Height - 29.25 inches

September 14, 2009

Today the twins turn 1 and I can't believe how time flies. They are amazing little people with their individual personalities developing every day.

Since I wasn't keeping the blog regularly a year ago, I wanted to share what it was like the night the twins were born.

A full term pregnancy is roughly 40 weeks. For us that would have meant delivery around the end of October. Since we knew we were having twins our doctor scheduled a C-section for September 30th.

I'd been getting pretty big near the end of the pregnancy. Although I'd been carrying the weight OK, in early September I started really swelling. My ankles and legs were huge and I looked like I was wearing a fat suit.

On Sunday, September 13th, Carl and I went to dinner at one of our favorite local Italian restaurants, Taverna. Since I had gestational diabetes I had to be really careful what I ate. I was still able to manage eating out, it just wasn't as fun since I couldn't order whatever I wanted and have a glass of wine. I knew it was only for a little while, so I could hold out until the babies came. That night Carl gave me a beautiful bracelet in honor of the twins and our upcoming 5th anniversary. I remember thinking, this is a little early, and we’re not scheduled for the babies for another couple of weeks. Little did I know Carl's timing would turn out to be perfect.

That evening I woke up around 12:45 am with what I thought were cramps. At this point in the pregnancy, I was always a little uncomfortable sleeping, but this was more than that. I didn't want to disturb Carl so I got up and went into the babies’ room, resting in the glider. I didn't really think anything was too serious and figured I'd check it out at the doctor's appointment I had scheduled at 11 am on Monday. Max, however, thought something was wrong and kept following me around wherever I went, staying right next to me. 

About 1:45 am I thought the cramps were really too much and I woke Carl up asking him to check the Mayo book on cramps and/or false labor. Since I had scheduled and planned on a C-section, I really hadn't done my homework on going into labor. The plan was to induce, not have it sneak up on me!

After shaking off the sleep Carl started to get really worried. The Mayo book wasn't as helpful as he hoped and he decided we needed to call the doctor. I wouldn't get up from where I was, so he had to bring me my cell phone while we called the doctor's office at 2 am. The doctor asked me if I was in labor. I kept thinking, that's what I'm asking you, I feel like I'm having cramps and something is going to fall out of me, “You’re the, doctor, am I in labor?!? You're the expert here not me.” So she told us to come on in.

At this point I'm really frustrated. I feel super crappy, but I'm a planner. I'm in my PJ's and I don't have a bag packed ready to go to the hospital. I start telling Carl to pack a bag, because there's no way I can get up. He starts to follow my bag packing instructions, and then thinks better of it. Carl wants to leave, now. So I get out with my purse and enough clothes to cover me and we head to the hospital.

In the car I use my iPhone to time how far apart the "cramps" are which I now realize must be contractions. They're only one minute apart.

We arrive at the Presbyterian Hospital around 2:30 am. I know they deliver babies all day, and women are constantly coming in ready to deliver, but this is a first for Carl and I and it's strange how calm they are about it. Although I've filled out pre admission forms months in advance they have us fill out additional paperwork and pay for our requested private room before we're checked in. I think we make it into a room where they monitor me and see how far along I am around 3 am and Carl gets a chance to call my parents.

At this point they check the babies, everything is fine and in fact both are head down so they tell me I could try to deliver if I wanted. Since I didn't mentally prepare for labor, I really wasn't prepared to push; I asked to stick with the C-section plan, since it was more controlled. They gave me an epidural and started prepping me for delivery.

Connor and Chloe were born around 4:25 am both at 4lbs 5oz. I can't believe that was a year ago.

Connor Gustaf Swan

Chloe Belle Swan

They were premature and had to spend a few days in the NICU before being moved to a special care nursery. They were healthy, but needed to work on eating and be able to do that well before we could take them home. They ended up spending three and a half weeks in the hospital before we could bring them home, but that time helped us learn from expert nurses how to care for them.

Connor

Chloe

The past year has been a real roller coaster, as I’m sure it is for any new parents. Going from zero to two little people who are wholly dependent on you for their every need is quite a life change. It’s been tough at times adjusting to the new way of life, but there’s a lot of love in our home and we have fun every day. We know how fortunate we truly are to have two happy, healthy babies and we wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Birthday Cupcakes

Connor and Chloe will turn one tomorrow. We celebrated with the family on Saturday. The twins had a wonderful time. They were the center of attention, held by everyone at the party and got to open presents for the first time including cute clothes, money to save for college and fun toys. I really appreciate all the family who came and played with us for the first birthday celebration. We wore the babies out so much they slept almost an hour later than usual the next morning.

We had the traditional cake for the first birthday, or in our case each baby had their own cupcake. JoJo made super cute party hats. Chloe didn't want to keep hers on, but Connor wore his even as it started to slide sideways. Connor also dug right into his cupcake with Max patrolling under his chair for all the dropped crumbs. Chloe wasn't as excited about her cupcake, but I'm not surprised because she's not really a fan of sweets. When we feed her baby food she likes the veggies much more than the sweet fruits. Maybe I should have gotten her carrot cake.

Below is a video clip of cupcakes. It's a little long and you may want to turn the volume down before you watch it because we're a little loud.



I got the cupcakes at a cute bakery called Tart using a Groupon. They were wonderful, even if Chloe didn't agree.

Driving the Stroller - Photos

Last week I mentioned how much fun the babies have now that they face out in the stroller. Since the weather has cooled down a bit, we've been out and about more.

Connor will lean forward like he's driving the stroller, but also put his hands out to touch anything that comes in close proximity.

Also, sometimes he likes to chill in his stroller, so he leans back and kicks he feet up to relax. Makes me wish someone would push me around in a stroller.

Learning No

The twins are learning and growing and doing something new almost everyday. This weekend both babies were trying to stand on their own. They'd stand up without anything supporting them for a few seconds and then fall back down or grab onto something. We were trying to catch Connor doing this on video, but instead I ended up with a little bit different clip.

We're also trying to teach the babies not to take toys from one another and not to bite. When you're teething you want to bite everything, but we're trying to keep them from biting us. We can tell they're starting to get it because when we say "no" they stop and now Chloe shakes her head when we say "no."

Ants in the Pants

Connor will probably start walking any day now. Sometimes he stands on his own for a few seconds before falling down. He also gets his body going like he's ready to start moving, he just can't do it without support.

Here's Connor doing his ready to move dance:

Wedding Video for Racheal

In July we hosted a wedding shower with our friends Chris and Heather Smith in honor of Bill and Racheal's upcoming wedding.

The wedding was last weekend and it was fabulous. Racheal and Bill are a charming couple, if not a bit crazy. They really enjoy life and their wedding was a nice reflection of that. One of the readings in the ceremony was from The Velveteen Rabbit, it was really sweet and made me tear up a bit.

Bill is a writer at our agency and has written two children's books. When he wrote his first book The Forever Dog, Bill had a book tour with a signing at a local Barnes and Noble. That's where he met Racheal. At the wedding, he surprised her with this video as his toast to her. I thought the video was so fun I wanted to share, enjoy!

KiKi's Birthday Wishes

Yesterday was Aunt Karen's birthday, so we thought it would be fun to get a shot of the babies wishing their KiKi Happy Birthday. This seems simple enough, and I guess it would be if I wouldn't try to get a perfect shot.

We put the twins in their highchairs and posted the birthday wish on the trays. Connor had just gotten up from a nap so he was pretty agreeable. Chloe wasn't a troublemaker or anything, but she did realize there was something posted on her highchair tray, so she felt the need to kick it.

and kick it

and crunch it up

and kick it

even Connor recognizes she's messing up the shot

I should have just gone with the first shot and been happy with that (even though they're not really smiling or even looking at the camera)

Happy Birthday KiKi!!