End of August Pictures

Here are some pictures! Click the picture below to view the whole album.

Enjoy!

8-22 to 8-31-09

How do you get bitten by a snake?

Gabby's teacher distributed a piece of paper with the words, "I want to know..."

Gabby drew a few snakes, then on her own wrote this...

"HAW DOO YU BITN BY SYNACHE"

From Bitten by a snake

From Bitten by a snake

Awesome, I tell you. This was the day after her teacher tells us that she's the only one in her class that thinks to draw on the back of a piece of paper, before asking for more paper. It's the little things...

Oh, I've ogt one more recent Gabby story. Now, I wasn't there, but to have her tell it...it goes like this...

I asked, "How'd you get one of Lukey's birthday cupcakes, when you aren't even in his class?"

Gabby's answer: "Well, I heard from Miss Haley, Lukey's teacher, that he was having cupcakes, so I asked her if she could save me one. Then later I got the cupcake from her class, and went to Ellie's class to eat it. I sat next to Ellie and Kyla."

"Gabby, why'd you go to Ellie's class?"

"If I went back to my class, my firends would've wanted one."

"Didn't Ellie want one?"

Ellie says, "I ate a crumb!"

I think my girls run that school.

A brownie story

Earlier this week, one of Basia's stroller strides friends brought over dinner. With the scrumptious meal, she also sent a brownie cake. The girls loved it for a few days. And I quote...

"Daddy, who brought us the brown playdoh?" as Ellie smooshed the brownie on the table into a patty with a palm print.

"Look, Daddy. I make circles!" as Ellie used her carrots to punch out circles in her brownie patty.

Did I mention the brownies were very moist and delicious?

UH OH!!!

Click below to see an interesting video...

The collage incident

...boy did Gabby get a lecture that day!

Two Months!

Maggie and Ben had their two month birthday yesterday. It was just an ordinary day here, but it's hard to believe that two months have already gone by since their birth.

Today they had their two month check-up. Ben weighed in at 9 lbs. 14 oz. which was 10th percentile for his age, but 50th percentile adjusted for his prematurity. Maggie weighed in at 8 lbs. 15 oz, which was also 10th percentile for her age, but 50th percentile adjusted for her prematurity. (Note: The percentiles differ for girls and boys). They're doing well on all counts and are now up to date on their vaccinations. On a parenting side-note, we tried EMLA cream to numb them before their shots, and the pediatrician also gave them sugar-water, both proven to help with the pain, and I think it did. Now that we have the cream, I'll use it for all their vaccinations...I figure it can't hurt!

In other news...we're getting a teeny bit more sleep these days. I'm afraid to talk about it for risk of jinxing myself, but it helps to remind me that we will get more sleep in the future (some day). Before this week, we were lucky to get two consecutive hours of sleep, and often only two times per night. Nine weeks of 3-5 hours of broken sleep per night is TOUGH!

And here are some pictures from the first half of August. Click the pictures below to view the two albums.

Early August 2009

8-3-09 to 8-16-09

End of July pictures

More pics from the end of July. Click the picture below to see them all:

July 30 - 31

Six Weeks!

Maggie and Ben are six weeks old today...and we are six weeks worth of exhausted!

They had a weight check on Thursday and they're now both officially over 7 lbs. Maggie weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and Ben at 7 lbs. 14 oz. (He's pretty consistently been 10 oz. heavier than his sister at every weight check). They've now surpassed Gabby's birth weight of 6 lbs. 13 oz. but are not yet near Ellie's chubby birth weight of 8 lbs. 5 oz. Because of their successful weight gain, we've finally been released from waking them up every three hours to eat, and can now feed them on demand. The first night on the new program they taunted us by waking up every 2.5 hours to feed, but last night they did much better and graced us with a couple of 4 hour stretches, which means we got to sleep for close to 3 consecutive hours for the first time in 6 weeks. Woo hoo!

Aside from the weight checks we can tell they're growing well because of the clothes they're going through. We've already packed away all the preemie outfits, and Ben's now starting to outgrow the newborn sizes in length (although there's still plenty of room in girth), so we're now on to 0-3 month outfits in Ben sizes, and I imagine Maggie will be close behind in another week or so.

The one thing that I didn't expect is that although it has officially been the hottest July on record here in Austin, we've really got to keep these little munchkins bundled up. On doctor's orders, they're always in full on sleepers and hats, and we usually have them swaddled up as well (unless, of course, they're actually outside in the 100 degree weather, which only happens for very short stints between air conditioned comfort). As soon as we unswaddle them, their hands and noses get cold. I guess that's what happens when you don't yet have any fat to keep you warm! So much for all the adorable newborn summer outfits I have that were never worn!!!

In other news, "Babci," my mom has been in town this week. My sister Marta has been helping us out all summer, but this week she's on vacation, so my mom came to help out instead. She's been a great help with all four kids, and her own twin experience (my little sisters are fraternal twins, for any readers who were unaware) has been helpful. She will be missed (especially in the late evening hours when she's been helping with the babies and in the early morning hours when she's been helping with Gabby and Ellie)!!!

On Thursday we celebrated Joe's birthday, and I'll need to post a picture of his new T-shirt which proclaims him "World's Best Daddy according to Gabby, Ellie, Maggie, Ben!"

That's all for now. Pictures to follow as soon as we can get around to uploading them!