Saturday, May 24, 2008

Hello Again


I realize it's been a while since our last post. So here are some more recent pictures of the girls. Nothing much to report, it's just been business as usual. Mary has a tooth - I think that's new since the last post.

Peter's mom Ilona came to visit the first weekend in May. She was only here for a day but we made the most of it. She played with the girls and got to see some of the sights in Charlottesville. We had lunch that day at Michie Tavern, it's a historical landmark near Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's house). They have a big lunch buffet and servers are all dressed in 18th century dresses. It's often crowded with tourists but not that day, and they were able to accommodate us and our big stroller as soon as we arrived. Sometimes it's nice that you get extra attention when you've got two infants in tow. Usually it's just people wanting to make comments or ask questions (are they twins, are they both girls) but the girls like the attention.

Nagyi and Mary

Nagyi and Sophie

And I had a nice first Mother's Day. It was special, but then every day's a little special with the girls. We did go out to lunch and it was the first time it had just been me, Dad and the girls going out together.

Mary and Sophie with the Exploration Station

Sophie

As you can see, Sophie likes to lick things. Especially the Exploration Station. And my arms, particularly during bath time. She likes to kick a lot too, crib rails, crib toy, floor, her sister... Mary doesn't like being on the receiving end of the kicks though - we try to prevent that as much as possible. Now I've given Sophie the nickname Licky Kicky. I can't come up with one for Mary though, she likes to eat and jump a lot, but Hungry Jumpy doesn't have the same ring.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

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!