We had a wonderful first Thanksgiving with the babies. I regret that we did not take many pictures, but it was a day full of thankfulness. There is so much to be thankful for this year.
Our friends, Drew and Amanda, visited from California for an evening. It was so great to see them and introduce them to Vivienne and Miles. I wish we had taken more pictures!
Drew and Amanda with Miles
I asked Jason to put socks on Vivienne one day, and here is what happened:
Not YOUR socks, Daddy!!
I snapped some shots of our cuties getting some tummy time:
Miles and Vivienne have really started interacting a lot more:
Vivienne enjoyed some quality time with Granddad. Notice that she's lying face UP here:
When my parents got here for Thanksgiving, they brought this shirt that they found in an old box - a shirt that I wore when I was a baby. How did they know?
I probably shouldn't jinx it by writing about this, but for the past three or four nights, Miles and Vivienne have been going to bed around 6 or 7. Then they eat once around 11 PM, and they sleep through until 7 or 8 AM. Yesterday, they slept until 8:45 (Vivienne) and 9:30 (Miles). I am a new woman!! Of course, I shouldn't get used to this, because I'm sure as soon as we adapt to this, they will mix it up again and start waking up 3 times a night. ;-)
They used to start in bed like this.
And we find them like this in the morning.
Wednesday night, we put them in separate cribs for the first time. It makes me a little sad that they are too big for the same crib anymore, but it is neat to see them each in their own crib now. We have the cribs beside each other in an L shape so that they can still see each other through the rails.
Today, Miles and Vivienne had their 4 month checkup. It was really interesting to see their growth charts. They're both growing really well. Miles is 25.5 inches long and weighs 15 lbs. He is at the 72nd percentile for height and 53rd percentile for weight. Vivienne is 23.5 inches long and weighs 13 lbs. She is at the 23rd percentile for height and the 35th percentile for weight.
It appears that Miles may have a sensitivity to cow's milk protein, which means that I need to try to avoid all dairy for 2-3 weeks and see if it makes a difference. I'm admittedly not looking forward to cutting out dairy, but my little guy is worth it.
They both got two shots - one in each thigh. They were not very excited about that. Miles had fallen asleep on his daddy's shoulder, so he had to be woken up and then got his shots. Needless to say, this did not go over well. However, they settled down quickly and they were asleep before I got them home. Miles took a 3-hour nap today, and both babies fell asleep earlier than usual. I'm hoping that they are back to normal tomorrow.
This afternoon, we went on a walk with our friend Pam at Hemlock Bluffs. We had a great time walking through the forest and seeing all the trees. Fall has been spectacular here in North Carolina. Now, most of the leaves are on the ground, but there are still many beautiful red, yellow, orange and purple trees covering the landscape. I have really enjoyed taking in the scenery during my walks with the babies.
I suppose this is my last of the "happy x weeks!" series for Miles and Vivienne. On this upcoming Thursday (November 18), they are turning 4 months old. I can't believe it.
This past week has been a lot of fun. Miles has started "talking" a lot more. He has been cooing at me, Daddy and Grandma all week long. Yesterday, he rolled over again for the first time since the first day that he rolled over. Two weeks ago, he rolled over 3 times, and he had not given a repeat performance until yesterday. Miles is about 25 inches long and weighs 14 pounds and 14 ounces.
Daddy dressed me this morning. Do you like my socks? It's Stripe Day!
Vivienne is still talking and giggling up a storm. She has gotten very good at spotting a toy and then reaching out to grab it. She is just under 23 inches long and weighs 12 pounds and 7 ounces.
Vivienne is still deciding whether she likes the Bumbo.
Both babies hold onto my hair like crazy. I can see why a lot of new moms get their hair cut short (though I won't be doing that). I can't even imagine what they would do if I wore necklaces!
Grandma (Fox) has been here all week visiting us. The babies are loving all the cuddles and attention that they get from her. We're sad that she'll be returning to Indiana on Tuesday.
Grandma and Her Two Newest Grandbabies
Grandma's shoulder is the babies' favorite place to nap. They quickly reach a catatonic state.
Last night, the babies slept very well. We fed them around 6 and then went to our Life Group at 6:30. I held Miles and our friend, Ian, held Vivienne. I'm pretty sure that this was the first time that Vivienne has slept at Life Group. Maybe Ian should hold her every week. =)
After Life Group, we got home around 9 and put them in their nursery (still buckled into their infant seats). Surprisingly, they slept until 1 AM. Whoohoo! I'm hoping that we have many more nights like this. Hopefully it wasn't an anomaly.
Today, while our amazing doula, Pam Diamond, was here, I went on my first run in a year. I went about 3 miles, and it was painful. I ran an average of about 11 minutes per mile. That's really depressing considering a ran a half marathon at about 9 minute mile pace 2 years ago. But I'm so glad that I got out and got my legs really pumping again. I'm hoping to run more frequently in the future. Once the babies have good neck control, I can run with them in the BOB stroller. I'm really looking forward to that.
I'm not sure when I'm going to cut out this "week" stuff with Miles' and Vivienne's age. I think after 4 months, I'll start to say their age in months.
They turned 16 weeks today. Luckily, we got a great night of sleep last night, with them really only waking up twice. They went to sleep around 7, and then we went to sleep around 10. They woke us up at 10:30 to eat, and then they woke up again at 2:30 to eat. Then they slept until around 7 this morning. All in all, it was a good night and I'm hoping that this means that we're over the hump as far as the frequent night waking goes.
Vivienne is still laughing a lot. She loves to kick her little feet like crazy. Miles is doing great at lifting his head and pushing with his arms during tummy time, but he hasn't rolled over again since the first morning he did it. Maybe it was an anomaly. It's weird, though, because he did it 4 times that morning, and he hasn't done it since then.
We tried putting Miles in the Ergo carrier this evening for our walk, but he wasn't having it. We're still not sure whether it was just bad timing (just a fussy time) or whether he doesn't like the Ergo right now. Jason put him in the Baby Bjorn and he was fine for about another hour to visit our neighbors and take a walk.
Mommy and Viv in the Moby Wrap
Am I cute or what?
Miles in his outfit from Grandma
Cutest. Baby. Ever.
Jason and I have repeatedly talked about how weird it would be if we only had one baby. We're so used to having two car seats in the car, two infant carriers, a double stroller, having a baby for each of us to hold or carry. We're just so accustomed to having our two babies. When I have spoken to friend who are pregnant, I will say things about when their "babies" come (oops!). If we have Baby #3 someday, I think it will take me a little while to figure out that I only have one baby.
The past couple of weeks have been interesting. Vivienne has had a cold for almost two weeks now. I took her to the doctor's office, and they said that she's fine and it's better to avoid giving her antibiotics right now - she should beat the cold on her own. She seems to feel fine, except that she has little coughing fits a few times a day. Unfortunately, these also happen at night, and they have been causing the babies to wake up more frequently. Before her cold, they were only waking up 1 or 2 times a night to eat. Now they are back up to about 4 times a night. I'm hoping that this resolves itself soon, because we're pretty tired these days. I also got the bright idea to stop swaddling them right when Vivienne got her cold, so that may be adding to the sleeping problems. (However, we have tried swaddling them again, and they still wake up 3 or 4 times a night, so that doesn't seem to be it?)
Here are some pictures of my beautiful babes over the past couple days:
Miles shows off his sweet, crooked little smile.
Such a beautiful boy.
Stephanie and her sweet daughter, Chloe, stopped by to bring me an article from a local magazine. Chloe has gotten very good at figuring out which baby is which. She also thinks it's very cool that we have a cat with her name. =) Chloe made a ridiculously adorable "Jessie" from Toy Story on Halloween.
Chloe and Vivienne
Melissa stopped by to say hi and hold some babies.
Today, I was lying in the floor of our living room with Vivienne while Miles was asleep in his bouncy seat. I was lying on my side and she was lying beside me. Her big, beautiful blue eyes were just staring at me and I was staring back at her. Every now and then I would smile at her and she would smile back, or she would smile at me first and then I would smile back at her. The house was quiet except for the sound of the rain outside. I just laid there and stared at my beautiful daughter and thought about how someday I will probably be willing to give anything to have this time back. Someday, she'll be 18 and moving out of the house, and I will give anything to be able to stare at her blue eyes and see her sweet gummy baby smile and touch her soft, beautiful baby cheeks. I just want to soak up these moments, because I know they will go by so quickly. At least today, I have today.
A couple weeks ago, we started noticing that Miles will look at something and intentionally bat at it or try to grab it. He's not extremely coordinated yet, but it's fun to watch him learning to use his body and to manipulate the things around him.
This morning, Kristi and her adorable kids, Kylie, Caleb and Darcy, came over to take a stroll with us. It was a chilly day, so I had to bundle up the babies. Here is Vivienne in her ridiculously cute "snow bunny" getup:
We walked for about a mile or so, and then the kids played inside while Kristi and I kept chatting. We had a wonderful time. It's so nice to have some grown up conversation to mix in with all the baby talking that I do around here. Kristi even rocked Miles to sleep before she left. Thank you, Kristi!!
You know you're a mommy when... you have someone else's booger on your shoulder or on your face, and you still think it was totally worth the cuddle. (I seriously had one of Vivienne's "green things" on the side of my face one day, and I just nonchalantly wiped it off. I would never have been so nonchalant about it before I had kids.)
On a somewhat related note, a baby sneeze has got to be one of the cutest things on Earth. Miles and Vivienne sneeze with their entire bodies. When they sneeze, their little legs come up and their hands go out and just about meet their toes. I'm sure it must be some sort of abdominal workout for a baby to sneeze.
This morning, when I laid Miles down on his tummy, he instantly rolled onto his side. Then I started yelling (we call it "hollering" here in the South) for Jason to come look, because he was upstairs. He got there just in time to see the little guy roll over onto his back! I couldn't believe it! Miles did it a couple more times, and then we got the camera out to catch it on video. Here you go:
Miles and Vivienne are 15 weeks old today. It seems like the time is flying by. They get bigger every day, and they learn new things and constantly become more interactive. It's so much fun to watch them grow.
Vivienne has started giggling a lot more frequently lately. We were at our friends, Eddie and Rhonda's house on Friday night, and Eddie's mother, Maria, found a new way to make Vivienne giggle. Here are a couple videos showing our little angel's infectious laugh:
Miles gets stronger every day, and he's really enjoying his tummy time now. He has so many cute mannerisms that I love, like the way that he will grab his hair with one of his hands while he's nursing (he just looks so intense sometimes!). Miles is much calmer now, though he does still "lose it" at least once a day. He seems faster to soothe, though, which is a relief.
Vivienne is slowly growing her hair back. Miles has lost quite a bit of hair from the front, but I'm hopeful that it will sprout back again soon as well. It looks like they both may have blue eyes, but it's probably still too early to tell.
I still take the babies for walks almost every day, except when it's raining or weekend days that just get too busy sometimes. I have enjoyed watching the leaves change colors through the autumn this year. Because of our walks, I'm spending much more time outside than I did last year and I thoroughly enjoy it.
I have so many moments these days where I just stop and breathe in their beauty. These little cherubs bring so much joy to our lives, and I just want to soak up every second that I get to be in their world.
