One Year Old!

Happy Birthday to our little ladies, Frances and Grace, it has been a whirlwind year. We've been so busy and I haven't been able to keep up with blogging like I had hoped. We might be sticking with just picture updates - but even that's hard for me!

We're changing so much. We've got 8 teeth a piece now, and Grace has 2 more on the way. We pull up and cruise a lot. We've stood solo a few times, Frances even stood and danced yesterday, but we're no where near proficient at the standing solo thing. Grandma is hoping they hold off on walking until August (after she leaves hahaha). Yep, grandma is here for the month. Her and my neighbor's daughter, Jas, are watching the babies while the nanny is on vacation in Peru. We appreciate grandma a lot! The girls' vocabulary hasn't grown too much. Still just a lot of babbling. But they both say "Hello" - well, in baby talk, "eh roh." And Grace says "Go" sometimes. And Richard and I are convinced they are saying "gima" for "grandma." They like dancing and playing peek-a-boo.

I will upload pictures soon! I have some from the baptism and some from here. I'm running behind.

Happy birthday to our snuggle bunnies. Love love love you!

Photos FINALLY Updated and New Videos

Just and FYI I finally updated the Photos page and the Videos page (see links to the right)

Meeting Aunt Amber and Cousin Isaak!

My brother came to visit over Memorial Day weekend. His girlfriend, Amber, and her 2-year old son, Isaak, came as well. We were excited for the girls to meet their Aunt Amber and their new cousin, Isaak. I don't really know if the girls were "excited" per se, because they're a little too young for that concept, but I think they had fun. And Richard and I were excited to meet our new nephew as well - and Amber too of course!

They came down on Friday night and stayed at Aunt Sig and Uncle Freddy's house. They went to the zoo on Saturday, while we went car shopping. (See more info on that below.) We had put the girls in bed for the night before they arrived at our house Saturday night. When they came, Isaak warmed up real quick. He's soooo freakin' cute! The next day all the kids were able to meet for the first time. Frances was a bit latchy the whole weekend, but was relatively okay. Grace loved following Isaak around - though I'm not too sure he enjoyed having her follow him hahaha. We think Isaak had a little issue sharing the spotlight with the "new babies" - gave Tom and Amber a bit of a preview on introducing their new little one come October.

They went to the Aquarium in Baltimore late Sunday morning into the afternoon. When they got back, we BBQ'd and Aunt Sig, Uncle Freddy, Glenn and Andi came over for some grub.

Isaak was a ball of fun to have around. Like I said, Grace would just glom onto wherever he was. She's used to bullying Frances around, taking her toys and such, so it was nice to have a kid that was more coordinated and agile than her to give her a bit of her own medicine. hehehe.

The whole crew left Monday afternoon to head back north. We had fun :-)

As I mentioned earlier, we went car shopping on Saturday. Our Volvo broke down and needed to be towed twice in one week. The mechanic suggested a new vehicle might be in store if we could afford it. So we looked at minivans - and no, we don't care about the stereotype, we need the space! The mechanic said NOT to buy a Chrylser. And he said not to buy a Kia either, but that it was better than Chrysler. He said Toyota or Honda, if we could afford it. Do you know how expensive minivans are? Wholly smokes! Especially the good quality and good reliability ones? We really lucked out and snagged a 2010 Honda Odyssey with 7,200 miles on it. It was priced about $4K below the blue book value because the previous owner had been a smoker. It's the bare-bones model. Nothing fancy. But we don't care about that stuff, we want something that will last 10 years or more. So woohoo, we're a minivan family. And now it's nice to know the girls could fit in either car should one breakdown or something. We're working on getting the smoke smell out before we put the carseats in the van. The Volvo was a 2000 with over 150K on it. We sold it at Carmax on Sunday and still managed to snag $1200 for it. The Taurus is a 2001 with about 150K on it. Let's cross our fingers that one doesn't die soon too! We can't afford two car payments!

Anywho, I have only a few pictures from the weekend because we were so busy. I'll hopefully get around to uploading them soon.

And Our New Baby Cousin is....

A GIRL! Tom and Amber had an ultrasound appointment today and all is well. Frances and Grace have many clothes to share with their new baby cousin. And I'm sure Isaak is excited to have a new baby sister on the way. I hope he can handle all the estrogen in the family hehehe.

Congrats! Can't wait until October 18!

Allergy Test and 10 Months Old

The girls had their food allergy skin tests today. The appointment was at 3:30 and we didn't get home until 5:30 - crazy! Anywho, Grace came back negative for everything; and Frances came back with a bit of a reaction to eggs, everything else was negative. Soooo ... you'd think, "That's it - all is well with milk and soy now!" BUT not so fast. The allergist said there can be two types of allergic reactions to food. He said that the gastro-intestinal system can have an internal allergic reaction - presenting via diahrrea and bloody stool, etc.(sans the typical external signs - hives, sneezing, etc.). He said the most conclusive test for that type of reaction is an endoscopic biopsy. But the girls are so little, it seems too invasive at this point. So basically we have to try introducing some milk based formula slowly (an ounce per day). We'll start this weekend. The doctor gave us a prescription for a couple epi-pens to be safe. So we'll see if they have reactions or not. If they have a reaction, then we'll be sent for blood tests - yearly - until they are old enough for endoscopy.

And update on stats:
Frances weighs in at 23 pounds (95th percentile)
Grace weighs in at 22 pounds (90th percentile)
Don't know the heights...

Frances is now saying: dada, baba, tete, nene, mama, gaga, and mixtures of the former. The other day the nanny said "Dorita" in reference to Dora and Frances said "doraaaaaahhh" - although I'm pretty sure that last one was just a coincidence. Sra. Esther and I laughed in surprise. haha. Frances can now go from sitting to crawling.

Grace says baba and dada. And the next day after my last post she had mastered sitting. Anywho, we can't keep them in one spot for too long. It's tiring and amusing at the same time. Grace loves to climb and pull on everything.

The girls seem to acknowledge each other more - for better or worse. Sometimes they get angry having the other one near them. Other times it seems as though they are talking to each other and mildly interacting. Should get more interesting the older they get.

We're 10 months old tomorrow! Time is flying by so fast :-(

Did I Say We Are Changing Fast?

Okay so just since yesterday...... Frances is a full-on crawler now! Wow! And Grace is pulling up in her crib. Crazy I tell you. I'll have to upload some photos and videos - but for now, here is a picture Richard took of Grace standing at her toy in the morning (via cellphone, hence the blurry quality).

Grace standing.

First Mother's Day!

Gracie, Mommy, and Francie at LeeLynn's for an early Mother's Day

Wow! Although I definitely felt like I was a HUGE motha' last year (hehehe), yesterday was my first "official" Mother's Day. We actually celebrated last weekend. It's hard getting out of the house with the babies - especially to go out to eat - so we figured it would be easier to go on the less busy weekend. So Richard, Frances, Grace and I trekked to our favorite Columbia eatery, LeeLynn's. It was great. The girls did pretty well. We were able to eat outside with the girls in their strollers. They lasted for about 1/2 hour and then had enough. So we headed to the park.

This weekend we made baby food on Saturday - we're introducing red meat! Much to their chagrin. Hopefully they'll adapt to the taste. And since last week we've been chomping on Cheerios. I took some with us when we went to the pond on Saturday morning while daddy was playing basketball. The girls ate their share then I decided to feed the fish and the geese. Oh Grace was laughing hysterically. Later in the afternoon, we went to back to the pond with Richard for a picnic. Richard promptly stepped in goose crap - in his socks no less. And tracked it on to the blanket. hahaha. And we thought the girls would be the ones to get in the goose poop.

On Sunday we went to the lake for a mini-picnic. The girls LOVE being outside. They had fun watching the little boys next to us rough house. Yay for entertainment!

Some new developments. Grace is climbing up on everything. She can go from sitting to crawling with no problem. She hasn't really mastered going from crawling to sitting though, but she can sit on her knees. And can pull herself to standing now. This is just since the end of last week. And the standing thing just started yesterday! Frances is so close to the full-on crawl. She'll get a few paces and then forget about coordination. But she'll be there soon. I can't believe how fast they learn stuff. Also, Grace is talking. The night after her 9 month check up she just decided to start saying "Babababa." Really loud! I thought it was Frances. But when I looked Frances was just staring open-mouthed at Grace -- she was as surprised as me! hahaha. Frances now says, "bababa," "dadada," and "papapa." They are so cute!

I can't believe they are going to be 10 months old next week. Crazy! Only two more months until one year old. Wow.

9 Month Check-up and Hearing Screening

Yay! We had our 9 month check-up today. It went well. Everything is looking good. We received 2 shots a piece. Grace didn't even cry and Frances only wimpered for a second. :-) So proud!

Here are the stats:

Frances
Weight: 21 lbs. 3 oz. (90th percentile)
Height: 28 1/2 inches (75th percentile)
Head circumference: 46 cm (90th percentile)

Grace
Weight: 21 lbs. 4 oz. (90th percentile)
Height: 28 inches (60th percentile)
Head circumference: 46 cm (90th percentile)

So we are surprised that Grace weighs more than Frances, because Frances feels much heavier - and even looks heavier. Maybe Grace "helps" more when we are carrying her? And I guess they are looking more and more alike because we come across more and more people who wonder how we tell them apart. Who knows.

The girls also had their hearing screening today. They had one when they were born - and they passed it. BUT the state of Maryland requires follow up screenings for any babies that were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, because medications they received at the time could have effected the results. So we trudged to the audiologist's office. It went amazingly well. The girls didn't fuss - we didn't have to distract them or anything, they were very quiet! And they passed their hearing tests with flying colors!

After the hearing appointment we went to the mall so I could get more cleaning solution for their earrings. One of Frances' holes is a little irritated - probably due to her eczema. So the doctor said I could put a little neosporin on it and clean it a bit more frequently - like 2x a week instead of 1x. So since we were at the Piercing Pagoda anyway, I bought them some new earrings. Can't wait to try them on this weekend!

So we jaunted around the mall real quick to let them people watch. Mommy and daddy snacked on some yummy Wetzels Pretzels - we were famished! Then we left the mall and the girls conked out in the car. So we drove back to the house so daddy could run inside and get our blanket and some applesauce. We took the long way to the park so the girls could get a good 1/2 hour total of sleeping. Then we had a mini picnic. Took a stroll to watch the geese. And then headed home for a bath and night night.

Phew! A long day... and we all survived! We don't have our next pediatrician check-up until 1 year old! But we have to schedule our allergy test ASAP. Yay for more needles!

9 Months Old!

Ahhh I'm so behind on posting. I missed their 7th and 8th month birthdays! Sooo much has changed. That I can't even remember it all. We have our two top and two bottom teeth and more on the way. Grace is an avid "military crawler." Frances is an expert roller. Grace likes to "walk" -- or do her best Godzilla destruction impression, with big sweeping steps. Frances does not really enjoy "walking." Frances is our "talker" and shouter. She says "babababa" but goes through days where she doesn't. Grace coos to herself occasionally but not much else - although recently she seems to learn how to shout from her sister. They both hold temper tantrums now - that's a fun experience (not!). Frances holds her bottle and cup. Grace refuses to hold either (and she was originally the first to hold her bottle).

We are eating our solids like champs so far. We switched to making baby food a couple weeks ago (maybe a month ago by now). It's saving us A LOT of money, but it does take us almost a whole day of tag-teaming child watching and food prep to make food just for one week (we have two hungry mouths to feed). They eat 3 times a day right now. To date, they are eating: squash, apples, pears, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, sweet potato, carrots, split peas, and chicken. We do different combos of the above. (Egg yolk was resoundly rejected - we'll try again later. And bananas were too constipating!). The other plus with making the food, is that we know exactly what they are eating. I bought a couple mesh feeders at the consignment sale and they love chomping on apples and pears. I haven't tried finger foods yet since they haven't mastered their "pincher" skills. The "books" recommend toasted bagels and bread - but unfortunately in perusing the shopping aisle - it is HARD to find either that is made without dairy or soy (or that are made in a plant that also processes those). So blah on that. We have their checkup next week so I'll ask the pediatrician. The girls LOVE apple juice. I try not to give them more than 2 ounces, once or twice a day. But they drink from their straw cups and get so excited when we bring them out! They are still drinking formula 5 times a day - 6-7 oz. per feeding if they finish it all.

We haven't had a consistent nap routine. Some days they would only nap for 45 minutes the WHOLE DAY! Which makes for a disaster in the evening. The past 5 days or so, the girls have started taking a late morning nap of 1 1/2 hours - but it still means they are awake from Noon/12:30 ish until bedtime at 7:30/8 o'clock. That can mean 8 hours sans sleep and therefore VERY cranky babies. Believe me we try and give them a nap in the afternoon but it's a no-go. They tend not to conk out until 6-6:30 ish which by that time is so close to bed we have to keep them awake. And if we let them "try" to sleep at that time they would not be "down for the night." So alas, we are happy that they take at least ONE nap now and that it's pretty long.

We are having stranger danger still. Play dates = disaster. I was alone with them on the last one. Oh man, I wanted to escape, but couldn't. I think until they get strong enough that I can safely carry them around on my own - Richard or the nanny will have to be there to help out. It's just so sad to leave them in a situation where they are in "terror" and not be able to console them or remove them temporarily to get them to calm down - because if you leave the room with one baby, the other is still left screaming with "the strangers" in total terror. Ahhhhhh.... twins.... At least with the nice weather we are trying to get out more. They seem fairly okay greeting people in their stroller now - but still have their moments. Richard and I always hold our breath when someone approaches - because we never know the outcome. I hope they are okay when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit again (they were oftly cranky last time - cross fingers!). I'm nervous at how they'll do when we visit family this coming Sunday - cross fingers - double time!

Well, in the past months Richard survived a weekend solo with the girls (thanks to help from Aunty Amy!) as I went to attend the wedding of Aunty Jenny and Uncle Mikey. My folks visited in March. Uncle Joe's mom visited with Aunty Amy and brought some fun St. Patrick's Day outfits. Richard's dad also visited with Uncle Sam's kids. At the end of March, Aunty Amy and Uncle Joe moved away - we are really feeling sad on that one! Whew! We've been busy.

AND... most important: My brother's girlfriend, Amber, is pregnant and due on October 18th (my dad's birthday!). So exciting to have a new baby cousin on the way!!!!

Gracie Videos

Update: I added 3 more videos of Gracie - now I have to upload some of Francie Pants!

Photo Drought

Okay I have not downloaded any photos since Christmas! And I've been so busy and remain pretty busy, so it could be awhile. In the meantime here's a quick fix for those of you who are going through picture withdrawal...

Frances and Grace (2/28/11) saying goodbye to me as I was leaving for work in the morning - from daddy's cellphone.

Frances + teething + stranger danger = unhappy baby. She didn't want grammy, she wanted daddy (weekend of 03/19/11 from grandma's camera)

March Tummy Checkup

Ahhh it's been forever since I updated and I have soooo many pictures I have yet to download. Sorry! This is just a quick update to say the girls' appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist went fine today.

Apparently exercise is keeping them slim (I'll update on their activities in another post). They haven't really grown in length at all since their six month checkup with the pediatrician. We were kind of surprised because they looked longer - but we all figured it's because they are a bit leaner now.

Frances is 19 pounds and 27 inches. (75th percentile for weight and 50th for height).
Grace is 18 pounds and 27 inches. (50th percentile for weight and height).
[Updated to correct Grace's weight stat.]

We're going to start phasing out the Pepcid. And we're going start upping the amount of solids they eat. Apparently they are getting just the right amount of formula. So all is good.

When we go to their 9 month pediatrician appointment we have to get a referral for them to see an allergist. They have to get the skin test for the milk and soy allergy before we head back to see the pediatric GI again in June. I didn't delve into what would be the procedure going forward if they still have the allergy - I don't want to worry about it now if they get tested and it turns out they've already outgrown it. So we'll see....

I'll try to update more frequently, it's been really busy and now I'm wayyyy behind. The babies have changed so much too!

6-Month Checkup and Illness

Well, first thing's first, the girls had their 6-month checkup today. All is well. Here are the stats:

Frances
Weight: 17 lbs. 13 oz. (80th percentile)
Length: 27 inches (90th percentile)
Head: 43 1/2 cm (a bit above the 75th percentile)

Grace
Weight: 17 lbs. 15 1/2 oz. (80th percentile)
Length: 26 1/4 inches (70th percentile)
Head: 44 cm (80th percentile)

I honestly think they'd be weighing a bit more, but we all lost some weight after a recent bout with stomach illness (see below). They received their 6-month rounds of vaccinations as well as the flu shot. We also have to schedule an appointment for hearing screening. They passed it before they left the NICU. But I guess the state of Maryland requires that they get tested again before a year old, simply because they were in the NICU and received antibiotics in their first 24-hours of life. So I gotta schedule that. Their next pediatrician appointment is at 9 months. (Nine months... I can't even imagine!? Time is flying by!)

Some developmental things to note this past week:

• Grace and Frances both have their bottom two teeth coming in. Grace's have completely broken through, and Frances has one that has broken through and one simmering just under the gums. Yay! At least this explains the hours and hours of screaming. I'm hoping that subsequent teeth will break through sans as much drama. Please!!!
• Also, we were reading "I am a bunny" - well we don't actually "read" it, we just say "where's the bunny?" and point to it each time. This time Grace pasted her slimey hands on the bunny. We thought it was a fluke, that she was just favoring the left side of the book, but when the bunny was on the opposite page, she was slapping her slimey hand right on him. Frances loves to "turn the page" when we read books. Everyday they are changing. So cute!

Last week was our first experience with a full family stomach virus. We've had the full family cold before, but this really sucked. It hit me at work. Richard had felt sick almost at about the same time I did - but at least he was working from home since his office was closed due to weather. So about a 1/2 hour after Richard and I had complained about our symptoms - he calls me at work and puts the nanny on the phone. She says that Grace and Frances are throwing up and have fevers. Initially Richard and I thought it was food related - at this point, we realize that since the babies are sick too, it's a virus. My co-worker had been out sick for two days with the same symptoms. So yea, I brought it home - nice mommy! Doh!

Anywho, I had to leave work a 1/2 hour early. And SOOO glad I did because the full force of the illness pretty much hit as soon as I walked in the door. Grace wasn't keeping ANYTHING down. Frances and Richard were faring a bit better than Grace and I. Richard had to take Grace to the ER. But they told him, just to keep trying to give her pedialyte - and hopefully she keeps it down - if she doesn't, then we have to worry about dehydration. By night time they each got about 2 ounces they kept down. I was in the same boat. And with the fever and aches and pains. Blah! We all felt like we'd been hit by trucks the next day. Richard and I called off work. But, as my mom says, "there are no sick days for parents." And believe me being sick and taking care of two sick babies - not a walk in the park. The nanny was with us, which helped immensely since we were definitely NOT functioning at 100%. Case in point, I was so weak, dizzy and distracted, that I FELL down the stairs. Seriously. What the heck? I was sooo pissed at myself. Thank GOD I did not break anything. Disaster. So as you can imagine, I'm still feeling a bit sore, but the stomach bug was gone for me by Saturday evening, as well as 4 pounds of weight! Seriously, gotta work on replenishing those fluids! The rest of the family felt pretty okay by Friday evening. And no, the nanny is not sick, she's super human.

Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned...

So Many Changes!

So many changes in less than a week! Seriously, time IS flying by.

So just since their birthday last Tuesday:

• Grace is rolling over to both sides now (before she tended to favor rolling to her left side). And she's figured out how to combine the back-to-stomach and stomach-to-back rolls!
• Frances is also officially rolling from her back to her stomach! I was so surprised when I turned for a split second and the next thing you know, she was on her belly, smiling at me! I had to stop for a second and make sure it was really her, and that I didn't get the girls confused haha. But now she's a rolling machine. We're kind of panicking - picturing them both moving around like crazy! Baby proofing time is here!
• The girls finished their week of carrots - now we're on to squash - and LOVING it! So yay, carrots and squash on the menu :-)
• Frances has been kicking it up a notch this week, along with the rolling, she can now hold her bottle. They both still prefer that someone else do it, but if left to their own devices they will grab and chug away.
• AND, Grace has been super cranky lately. Not taking naps as easily as she used to (she was our clinch napper!) and today was a particularly inconsolable one. So I checked her gums to see if she was cutting any teeth and voila! There's a little tooth starting to poke it's way through. I can even feel the sharp little edges! Oh my girls are getting bigger every day! (FYI - I did check Frances' gums as well, since she's been having a lot of symptoms too, but I didn't "feel" or "see" anything yet - doesn't mean something's not brewing under there.)

Anywho, a week from Monday will be their 6 month check-up, can't wait. In the mean time, some more videos for your viewing pleasure.

Frances Laughing
Context: Grace had hit herself in the face with her giraffe teether so I said "Pow! Right in the kisser!" and Frances started laughing. The nanny and I figured out it was the "Pow!" that she thought was hilarious. So here's my video of it cracking her up. (This was taken this week.)




Frances Watching Dora.
Context: Frances was watching Dora, and completely zoned in. I was talking to her and she was ignoring me. So I picked up the camera and proceeded to film it. You can see she gets annoyed with me in the end. Already, acting like a teenager. (This was taken Dec. 12, 2010)


The girls are Six Months, Four Days Old today.

Happy 6 Month Birthday!

Yay! The girls are 6 months old today. Crazy how time is flying by. So much has changed in just the last month. Lots of rolling (which I haven't taken any video of yet, since I'm wrangling babies hehe). Grace is all about holding her own bottle. Frances isn't really doing it yet, the chub gets in the way! hehe. We had been trying spoon feeding since they turned 5 months, but no doing. Last week the GI said to try some vegetable - and skip the cereal from a spoon (they are getting it in their bottles anyway). And sure enough, Saturday we gave them some carrots and yum-o, they loved it! So now we're going through a jar per feeding, twice per day.

Below is a video of Gracie holding her bottle and below that is a video of the girls eating carrots for their birthday. Sra. Esther and I called it their "carrot cake" - Richard said they should get half a candle for half a year old :-) Enjoy...

Gracie holding her bottle...


The girls eating carrots on their birthday...

A Surprised Gracie!

Here is a video from back in December. Auntie Amy was over and we were playing with the girls in their Bumbos. Grace got surprised when I said, "Get the froggy!" - referencing the rattle Amy is holding. It's a bit grainy because I wanted to add the slow-mo effect, and had to do it in Windows Movie Maker. Anywho, I think you still can see well enough.

Enjoy!

Our Tootsie Roll - Gracie

I forgot to post that Gracie is a roller! They both have been rolling from stomach to back for awhile now. But now Gracie loves going from her back to her stomach. She first did it when my parents were visiting. My dad said "Gracie rolled over!" And we didn't believe him - she had always come close - but just not close enough. Then she was crying in her crib and my mom went to check on her and voila she was face down screaming into the mattress. Yikes! So yea, now we are (overly) concerned every time we hear her cries get muffled (but at least she's still crying right?!).

It's just a challenge putting on lotion or clothes. Oh and you can imagine what fun rolling is when you are trying to change a poopy diaper - yea, not so much. You turn your back and Grace is gone, rolling away. Yesterday we were changing both girls on the floor, and Grace rolled on her belly, and promptly returned to her back - thudding her head on the hardwood floor in the process. Doh!

We are already worried about Frances getting as agile. We know it will happen soon because she gets real close to rolling herself over to her stomach. With this added mobility it is a bit harder being home alone with the girls. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when they are both crawling....... and walking! Omigosh! I'll admit I'm very afraid.

Hopefully we'll survive ;-) Thank God for the person who invented baby gates (aka baby jail hehe).

January Tummy Check-up

The girls had their check-up for their tummy troubles today. They are both doing great. The Similac Alimentum is working like a champ. And the girls are still gaining weight, although not as much this past month as they gained the month before.

We could have sworn Grace looked taller and thinner than Frances but they both measured out equals. They both are 25 inches long and 17.1 pounds. They are between the 75th and 90th percentiles for weight, and around the 50th percentile for height.

I told the doc that I cut out the rice cereal in their formula the last week of December. They were getting one tablespoon for every two ounces of formula. So three tablespoons at each feeding, for each girl. The girls were having such a hard time drinking it through the bottle - and still aren't eating from a spoon yet. They were gulping a lot of air that would get trapped in the bottle. And we had to widen even the cereal nipples for it to flow through - and that would cause gulping of air as well. She said we shouldn't cut out the rice cereal completely. So now we're doing one teaspoon for every 1-2 ounces. But I think cutting out the cereal may have slowed down their growth some. We told the GI we've been trying the spoon feeding every weekend, just to see if they are ready. We had been trying just the rice cereal and oatmeal - but she said we could try other stage one foods - since maybe the babies are just being picky. Who knows...

Frances is suffering from really BAD eczema. Even the GI doctor felt so horrible for her. We went to the doctor and she said to apply 1% hydrocortisone cream, she said no lotion will heal parts that are already cracked and oozing. And I bought some Aquaphor to maintain flare-ups behind her knees after the hydrocortisone treatment. So we just have to be stingy so as to not overdose her on the hydrocortisone. Poor baby. She's all scabby and raw - it really does look painful  - and she definitely let's us know when it's bother her. :-(

Anywho we have another follow up with the GI in March. And we have their 6 month check up at the end of this month. Crazy how time flies!

First Christmas and New Year!

"Team Santa" - Frances and Grace, Christmas morning 

The girls survived their first Christmas! My parents and brother came down to visit. The girls had their initial "stranger danger" episode. Although, I think the over stimulation of various activities just added to their crankiness. Christmas morning they lasted long enough for us to get a couple shots of them with a couple gifts (see above) and then they passed out again. Therefore, I opened all the presents - they were able to marvel at them after their nap.

In the evening we had Christmas Dinner. Richard's dad came over and Uncle Edgar, and Rhonnie, as well. And two cute little girls, Katie and Abby. Like I said above, the girls and their "stranger danger" came to the forefront. They cried A LOT. I tried to explain to the two little girls that came over, that the babies weren't crying because they didn't like them, it's just something babies go through. Richard and I ended up having to escape upstairs to get the girls quieted down.

I would say by Sunday they became accostomed to the added company. It was just a lot of "new" people all at once. My brother headed back Upstate early Sunday morning - to avoid the predicted snowpocalypse - which actually didn't hit anywhere relevant - but ya never know with those things.

My folks stayed the rest of the week! Since Richard and I both had to work, and the nanny was still on vacation - my parents took on the baby duty (doodie hehe). They did such an awesome job! It's A LOT of work. It was nice to have 4 adults around at night, man were we able to get A LOT more done.

Grace and Frances in their New Year's outfits

Richard and I both had New Year's Eve off from work. In the morning we had a New Year's photoshoot with the girls. I had bought these flower headbands that were adorably hilarious (see above). Afterwards, Richard and my dad loaded up a bunch of furniture and etcetera to donate to Goodwill and Salvation Army. Seriously we are crunched for space with two babies! So that was a nice weight lifted off our shoulders (again, my parents are awesome!). And Richard cleaned the girls room and I cleaned our room.

Aunt Sig and Uncle Freddy fought off the jet-lag from their recent trip to visit Glenn in Paris -- and came to visit us. They brought over some gifts for the girls, which promptly entered their mouths - as everything does hehe. After they left we did what we always do, take care of babies haha. We had our New Year's cheer around 9:30 p.m.-ish, since we were all dog-tired from a long day (and week, and month -- let's make that 5 and 1/2 months......).

New Year's Day my folks left to head back Upstate. I'll admit I cried after they left. Richard and I both were depressed. Seriously we felt the weight back on. It'd had been a long few weeks. With the nanny being gone and trying to juggle work, and the holidays, it had been nice to have a couple extra hands around to help out. We can't wait for them to visit again, but they might enjoy the "freedom" for a bit longer hahahaha.

So a BIG THANK YOU to Auntie Amy, and Grandma and Grandpa for helping out with everything in December! We couldn't have done it without you guys.

Happy(?) 5 Month Birthday!

The girls with their ears pierced.

If they appear "off center" it's because I haven't tightened the earrings yet.

(Grace on left, Frances on right)

Okay, so I'm posting a day early... tomorrow will be the girls' 5 month birthday, woohoo!

Today Auntie Amy and I took the girls to the Piercing Pagoda at the mall. The lady said most babies cry for a few seconds and then forget all about it (like with shots). Well, Grace went first. Auntie Amy held her since I was nervous. We figured she could pass her off to me for consoling while they did Frances. They had both ears pierced at the same time (thank GOD!). Well Grace is screaming of course, so I take her and walk her around and she doesn't stop. I'm starting to get nervous. It "seems" like everyone is looking at me like - why did you torture your child!

In the meantime Frances is completely unphased. And gets her ears pierced as well. She cried for all of about 10 seconds and then was back to laughing and giggling. Grace on the otherhand - screamed the whole rest of the way out of the mall. And she continued to cry off and on in the car. And when we got to the house she commenced the screaming again. Even after giving her a bottle, she still cried. But fortunately all that crying tuckered her out and she fell asleep pretty quickly.

Man I felt sooo bad for Gracie. If I hadn't seen how Frances had a fairly easy reaction - I would have completely thought I was torturing her! I'm so glad we decided to take them at the same time. If I had taken Grace alone, and first, I never would have gone back with Frances. Frances was still all smiles afterwards - she must feel really pretty :-) She was looking at Grace like, "what's your problem chick?" hahaha. Anywho, I gave them some baby tylenol. By tomorrow, a lot of the warmness, soreness, and throbbing should be going away. Now, cross fingers they don't get infected!

A thank you to Auntie Whitney whose Christmas gift for the girls paid for the earrings! We got a sweet "buy one get one free" deal on the earrings and free piercing with the earring purchase. I went with 14k gold (yellow gold for Frances, and white gold for Grace). I read gold was less likely to result in an allergic reaction. So with the BOGO deal, we really lucked out on price! Woohoo!

A HUGE thank you to Aunt Amy for helping me out. Seriously I can not say THANK YOU big enough!!! Not only did she do the "dirty task" of holding them for the piercings,  she also helped keep me sane (and from passing out from nerves).

So I was thinking about how Carrie felt bad for scheduling Ben's shots for his birthday... I can completely empathize now! Although, honestly, shots are a necessity... earrings are purely cosmetic. They look completely adorable though!

And on a side note - the lady that pierced their ears has a 5 month old son (born 3 days before the girls). She had a c-section at Howard County Hospital too - so we gather we were probably in the maternity ward at the same time. Fun!

Soooo happy birthday girls, I hope you will not have PTSD and will forgive me when you're older :-) Love you lots!