Podees and the Hatchery

"What is a Podee??" you might ask. They are some special bottles with tubing attached to a nipple that works like a straw. There are a couple of bottles that have been passed around through CMOM (C'ville mothers of multiples) and after seeing a set of older baby twin boys using them, I was ready to give them a try.

Mary and Sophie using their Podees

Mary seemed to catch on right away. The bottle worked for Sophie too, but she was really caught up at first with figuring out what the thing was and how it worked. I've been using them the past couple of days trying to get the girls used to them. I'm hoping they will come in handy while we are traveling.

The girls only have a bottle 4 times a day, so we've avoided having to feed them on the run for the most part. But I think this will give us a little more freedom and will make it easier if someone else has to watch them like a babysitter or at the church nursery. So far we've only had a sitter after they are in bed so we can go out to dinner, and this Sunday they'll go to the church nursery for the first time.

Mary using her Podee

We've been trying some solids lately. Started off with the cereal and neither girl wanted anything to do with it. So we've moved past that. But the doctor said to keep trying the cereal. A few of my friends suggested mixing it with applesauce, so maybe we'll try that. So far they've had applesauce, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, pears and banana. Now I've tried to feed them all that - Mary will eat anything but not Sophie. She will chew on the spoon though, and I'm pretty sure I've managed to get applesauce, sweet potatoes and peas into her. Most other stuff just ends up on her face and bib.

Sophie "eating" peas

The girls are still not crawling yet! (But close.) I'm only frustrated because I know I started crawling at 5 months. But maybe it's a good thing - haven't exactly got around to babyproofing everything. The next milestone is we'll have teeth soon. Mary has one on the bottom - you can feel it but can't see it yet. She was really fussy tonight, and I thought maybe that's why, but she was just tired.

Sophie and Mary having some "tummy time"

OK, if you've read to this point, maybe you're wondering about the hatchery. The hatchery is our back porch. About this time last year, birds started leasing condo space. I'm not kidding - I've actually seen birds come and check it out (kind of like an open house). The dogs serve as their security guards. We had 2 bird families last year. This time we have 3 nests, and I think each one has a family, or a family in the works. Peter said our first baby birds flew the coop today.

Baby birds in the hatchery - just moved out today!