Happy Hallowe'en (31 for 21 Challenge, Day 31)

I'm going to forgo Medical Monday this week (I think I made up for it on Friday) and instead have "Mommy Monday".  I have tried to share as many pictures of my family as possible;  I firmly believe that inclusion is best accomplished through familiarity. Instead of a paper on Atrioventricular Septal Defect today, I'm going to instead post squeeful Hallowe'en pics of my twins.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Pumpykin Wyatt

I am NOT wearing this hat!

Pumpykins

Pweeze don't make me wear it

Wyatt

Zoe Kitty... sans hat

Twins

I am THE STAR of this pic!

Sad Pumpykins

Sweepy Pumpykins.  Night night.

Bon Appétit!

We're on day four of The New World Order here at Team Logan and there have already been quite a few changes.  The kitchen is getting overhauled.  The laundry is no longer "Mount Logan" but rather resembles a large burial mound (hopefully not mine).  Everyone is a little more relaxed and Wyatt and Zoe are now eating solid food.

Last week I mentioned that I was leery of starting the babies on cereal;  I was concerned that Wyatt's head was still a little unstable.  My hope was to wait another two weeks to be well beyond the "six weeks corrected" grace period that each of their milestones is given.  That grand plan lasted until Saturday afternoon after observing both of them watching me eat.  After trying to take food away from me (not a wise move for anyone, even my own offspring) they sat there salivating as I ate my brunch.  Their little eyes bored into me, their jaws were moving in time to mine.  Their little pink tongues were darting out of their half open mouths over seemingly parched lips.  It was creepy.  It was time.  It was more than time.  These babies were hungry!

I hadn't dug out our high chair yet so they were each plunked into a Bumbo.  Wyatt still has trouble sitting up straight in the Bumbo for periods of time, so we were on the clock (I have since set up the high chair for him in the kitchen that works much better).  I mixed up a batch of runny rice cereal according to the directions for  "first feeding" and went to town.

Not surprising, my babies like to eat.

I love this and you Mom!

Rice?  More like awesomesauce!

I couldn't remember any of the first feeding guidelines so I had to consult 'the experts' beforehand.  According to a few places, a baby's first feed should be somewhere around a tablespoon or two.  These two polished off 1/4 cup (or more) each and were upset that I wouldn't give them more.

Please Mom... can I have some more?

I swear, I had to count my fingers afterwards as I was afraid that I had lost a few.  They were snapping at the spoons like little sharks.  According to the aforementioned 'experts', I was also supposed to keep food to once a day.  It was apparent by the end of day two that 2 "solid food" meals were going to be needed as they were starving (they still start out with a full breastfeeding session prior).  Can we say "growth spurt"?  Now they get BF 4 times a day, 4 hours apart and at lunch and dinner they get solid food and a "top up" bottle at bedtime.

I had been looking everywhere for first feeding instructions for DS kids and found little that was useful.  There's a reason for that;  the instructions are no different than any other baby.  The main concerns are still head/neck development and swallowing ability.  Although Wyatt pushes a little food out with his tongue at times (because he is actually giving me his patented "raspberry of approval", not because of his glossal co-ordination), he has still taken to food pretty well.  He requires a little more "shaving" than his sister, but that is typical of a boy.  They like to wear their food.

We also have a new secret weapon this time:  Sean brought home The Baby Bullet.   I was skeptical at first, in fact the first time I saw the ads I remember thinking "how superfluous is that stupid thing?" (I used to have a vocabulary BT or "Before Twins").  I have a blender... yes it was a wedding present and therefore almost 14 years old, but it's still practically new (right?).  Except for the cereals, I made all of Quinn's baby food with it.  I would cook huge batches of things that were pureed according to his texture tolerance and frozen in ice cube trays (which I would then empty into labeled freezer bags).  It was a good system, it was healthy, it was cheaper... and it was a helluva mess.  I think I finally threw out the last of it a year ago.  This time I can make up one thing at a time, quickly and efficiently.  What really sold me on it was the milling head.  It never occurred to me to make my own cereals.  So I did.  This afternoon, I started with 1/2 a cup of brown rice and ended up 20 minutes later with enough ready made rice cereal to last us a week (if they ate at every meal).  I filled four of those wee containers (2 oz each) for the fridge and filled our freezer container (which is half the size of the one shown) and froze it for later.  It is awesome.  I still have a box of baby oatmeal cereal to start them on in a couple of days, but after that we are totally making everything ourselves. 

I could only be happier if I were full of squished sweet potatoes

I even used it to make the banana puree this afternoon.  We'll give it another chance, but thus far the verdict is split:  Wyatt is of the mind that I should immediately switch to having it "on tap" instead, while after a few bites Zoe decided that it was worthy of her best yucky face.  I'll mix it with a little rice cereal and maybe a bit of what is currently on tap and see what she thinks then.

Overall, both twins are doing well.  At their doctor visit yesterday they weighted in at 13 lbs 9.5 oz for Zoe and 13 lbs even for Wyatt.  That differential can totally be attributed to Zoe's muscle mass which continues to astounds me.  She is faster, stronger and way more agile than full-term Quinn at this age.  Wyatt is much improved as he is much less "floppy" than he used to be.  In fact, when we lift him up high into the air he is not as ragdoll like and more like superman.  He will also stand on his legs when held in a standing position, something that Quinn was totally against for a very long time.  To quote one of my girlfriends, Quinn's take was "Legs?  What are they good for?"  Wyatt seems to have his own way about things which is very much a delight to watch.

There was a chill in the air this morning;  I can almost smell winter coming.  The babies will be 7 months old tomorrow and I go back to work a week later.   Time is marching on.  With each new thing I am reminded that they will not be babies forever and this special time will be over for us soon.  As bittersweet as that is, it also represents all the new things headed our way.  New things that will be done first one way, then repeated slightly slower and differently. Done differently, done in the Down Syndrome way.  Wyatt's little extra brings a whole new flavour to our family table. One that many, incuding us, have never experienced before but are enjoying immensely.

Bon appétit!

Zoe

I've been through a bunch of entries on both blogs and have come to the conclusion that Zoe needs a little time in the spotlight.  I'm sure that as time goes on, my wee gal is not going to have any problem at all making herself heard.  Oher than her surgery, it may seem that she is easily overshadowed by her two brothers.  We were very concerned for her after Wyatt's diagnosis as we were afraid that exact thing would happen.  Allow me to set the record straight;  that is hardly the case.

I joke frequently about her screaming, but rest assured that is reality.   At first it was mainly due to colic, but now we are well into the second month or so of teething (we have yet to see a single one).  I swear I spend a good 1/2 to 2/3 of the day just on her alone.  Not all that time is spent being miserable tho';  a good portion of the time she is the funniest baby I have ever met.  Hands down.

I has shooz. (almost 6 mos)

To start with, she communicates in a series of sneezes.  I'm not kidding.  It started out with a real sneeze one day and I mimicked her.  She sneezed another time and I mimicked her again and she smiled.  I sneezed one day and she mimicked me back.  Now when she sees either Sean or myself, she snorts and sniffles, all the while grinning and giggling, thinking we are having the best of conversations.  It's really hard to explain to people.  Is she allergic?  No, she's just saying hi...

Two weekends ago we were at friends for a playdate and dinner.  Staying true to form, she became fussy in the late afternoon.  I've taken to dealing with her screaming any way I can;  in order to bring some levity to what was going to become very loud, very fast, I took my finger and tapped it on her mouth as she was whining, making a "wah-wah" sound.  She stopped.  I did it again.  We did this off and on for a good half hour, me laughing like crazy and her thinking it was the best game ever.  We went home that night and promtly forgot about it.  Two days later, she is sitting on my lap and "talking" (that little burbly throw in a consonant here and there babble that babies do).  Suddenly she grabs my hand and puts my finger in her mouth to make a "wah-wah" noise.  Then she giggled.  She hadn't forgotten about it.  She will do this at least once a day, when she's not trying to actually gnaw off one of my fingers.  Or eat my face.  Apparently she is part cannibal on her father's side.

Don't let her fool you...

Her smile is the best, hand down.  It is probably not all that great by baby standards, but since most of my day is either spent praying that my hearing finally goes or that she goes the f☠ck to sleep, it is a thing of beauty when it arrives.  I have yet to fully capture it's glory, but this is the closest I have come so far:

Whee!  (3 Mos)

It starts out crooked and then takes up most of her face as she scrunches her nose and snuffles at you.  I hope to immortalize it in all it's gummy glory before those (damn!) elusive teeth come in.

Now, this is the part where I nominate myself for Mother of the Year by admitting that I accidentally call her the wrong name all the time.  I'm not talking about the "Sean-Wyatt-Quinn...YOU!!" thing that all mothers do (I am sad to admit that I do it), but rather a totally different name all together.  Specifically, I accidentally call her "Fenchurch".  Other than Arthur Dent's girlfriend, Fenchurch is my cat.  My dead cat.  You can read all about that here.

I accidentally started calling her Fenchurch about the two or three month mark.  I really don't know how it started, but I'm betting the sleep deprivation had a LOT to do with it.  Fenchurch made a lot of weird noises over the years and I think could have contributed.  Zoe makes a lot of whining/whimpering/mewling noises that sound like kittens, puppies and occasionally piglets.  She is also super intense like Fen was [read:  nuts].  These are guesses at best but it took me two weeks of thinking about her as "Fenchurch" before I accidentally called her that one night at the bedtime feed.  Sean leveled his gaze for a moment (most likely assessing my level of crazy) and then remarked that "they might just be Sable and Fenchurch, you don't know". I'm pretty sure they are not and the cheese has just slid off my cracker a bit, but he gets uber bonus points for being such a sympathetic husband.

Zoe is exactly like me.  Now, I know a lot of Moms say this about their kids and they might be right... and I do believe I said this about Quinn.  Believe me now when I say she is exactly like me.  Exactly.  From the "want" line on her forehead to the mole on her hip, she is a carbon copy, miniature me.  That scares me a bit, but other times it's hilarious.  Like this morning, when she couldn't seem to get her eyes open...

She needs her coffee too.

By the way, not 3 minutes later...

And the day usually goes from there.  She refuses to nap other than in 5 minute bursts.  By the way, when that unlikely event does happen, a bomb going off will not wake her up.  My eyelids closing?  Loudest sound on earth.

So there you have it... up close and personal with who I think is the most personable baby on the planet.    Daily she makes me laugh (and cry).  She may be the only girl and she may be the "youngest", but we have no delusions about who will eventually be the Alpha in our little brood. 

God help us when she learns to crawl.

Big and Little

I really have to give my head a shake sometimes.

Sometimes I have these ideas that are fantastic in theory, but totally suck when  I try to implement them.  Yesterday I thought "I haven't taken any pics of the kids lately... I should do that".  Later it was "Oooh!  when the sun comes around, I'll shoot them in natural light in the living room!  In front of the antique cabinet!  On the wood floor!  It will be all warm and natural!  We'll do jeans and bare feet!  AWESOME!"  [Enter other random squees here!  And more exclamation marks!!!!]

F☠ck no.

I started after lunch.  I cleared the playpen and the myriad of baby toys and equipment away, swept the floor and opened the blinds to let the sunlight in.  In the afternoon, there is a magic time where the light is just perfect, so this was going to work.  I was going to have happy full babies.  I was going to have a full 5 year old. This was gonna be good.

What I didn't allow for was the random spin of the Life wheel which came up "Five Year Old Freakout". I laid out Quinn's clothes on his bed and sent him upstairs to get changed.  When I was pregnant, I bought him a T-Shirt that says "I'm the Big Brother!";  I had laid it out with a pair of jeans.  He came down moments later in his shirt and Batman underwear.  When I asked what had happened to the jeans, he totally lost his sh☠t!  He screamed something about jeans being "boring" and "hot" and then stormed upstairs, crying all the way and slammed his door like a 14 year old girl.  WTF?

It took me half an hour to coax [threaten] him downstairs, get him changed and deal with the baby pukefest that had ensued after Dynamo:  The Kid Dramatic had his closeup.  All was well, I set him up in front of the cabinet... and he freaks out again.  "I'm not ready!  I'm not ready!", he cries, collapsing to the floor.  "And the Oscar goes to..."  Don't go storming back to your trailer either.

It's the end of the world...

Not less than two minutes later, he was back ON.  Here is the photographic proof:

I'm ready for my close up...

I'm not happy with the light as the dramatics had eaten up the perfect light time and the pics are a bit too dark for me... but that is just me.  Wyatt also is getting better with his head, but he also has a limited amount of time before he gets tired and he starts to droop.  We did get a good one of Quinn and Wyatt together:

My Boys

And a not too bad one of Quinn and Zoe...

Big Brother and Little Sister

Wyatt had definitely started to droop, but his pose makes it easy to explain away:

Hey, what's that outside?

I laid the babies on the floor and got a few things that I could play with later in Photoshop.  This is one of them:

Togetherness

Now that the smoke has cleared, I am going to revisit this spot again when the light is better and the little people are better at taking direction... who am I kidding?  That will never happen.

I think I'll just have my beer before, instead of after.  It and the session are a lot easier to enjoy when my eye isn't twitching like that.

---------------------------------

Big and Little

I really have to give my head a shake sometimes.

Sometimes I have these ideas that are fantastic in theory, but totally suck when  I try to implement them.  Yesterday I thought "I haven't taken any pics of the kids lately... I should do that".  Later it was "Oooh!  when the sun comes around, I'll shoot them in natural light in the living room!  In front of the antique cabinet!  On the wood floor!  It will be all warm and natural!  We'll do jeans and bare feet!  AWESOME!"  [Enter other random squees here!  And more exclamation marks!!!!]

F☠ck no.

I started after lunch.  I cleared the playpen and the myriad of baby toys and equipment away, swept the floor and opened the blinds to let the sunlight in.  In the afternoon, there is a magic time where the light is just perfect, so this was going to work.  I was going to have happy full babies.  I was going to have a full 5 year old. This was gonna be good.

What I didn't allow for was the random spin of the Life wheel which came up "Five Year Old Freakout". I laid out Quinn's clothes on his bed and sent him upstairs to get changed.  When I was pregnant, I bought him a T-Shirt that says "I'm the Big Brother!";  I had laid it out with a pair of jeans.  He came down moments later in his shirt and Batman underwear.  When I asked what had happened to the jeans, he totally lost his sh☠t!  He screamed something about jeans being "boring" and "hot" and then stormed upstairs, crying all the way and slammed his door like a 14 year old girl.  WTF?

It took me half an hour to coax [threaten] him downstairs, get him changed and deal with the baby pukefest that had ensued after Dynamo:  The Kid Dramatic had his closeup.  All was well, I set him up in front of the cabinet... and he freaks out again.  "I'm not ready!  I'm not ready!", he cries, collapsing to the floor.  "And the Oscar goes to..."  Don't go storming back to your trailer either.

It's the end of the world...

Not less than two minutes later, he was back ON.  Here is the photographic proof:

I'm ready for my close up...

I'm not happy with the light as the dramatics had eaten up the perfect light time and the pics are a bit too dark for me... but that is just me.  Wyatt also is getting better with his head, but he also has a limited amount of time before he gets tired and he starts to droop.  We did get a good one of Quinn and Wyatt together:

My Boys

And a not too bad one of Quinn and Zoe...

Big Brother and Little Sister

Wyatt had definately started to droop, but his pose makes it easy to explain away:

Hey, what's that outside?

I laid the babies on the floor and got a few things that I could play with later in Photoshop.  This is one of them:

Togetherness

Now that the smoke has cleared, I am going to revisit this spot again when the light is better and the little people are better at taking direction... who am I kidding?  That will never happen.

I think I'll just have my beer before, instead of after.  It and the session are a lot easier to enjoy when my eye isn't twitching like that.