Ryan and Juliet

Juliet helps get Ryan up from his nap

Ryan and Juliet,

I must write this quickly as you are both napping and likely to wake up soon.  I’ve been trying to write a blog post for what feels like a long time now, but really its only been a month. Oh, but you’ve both changed so much in just that short time!  You’re now both 9 months and you can crawl, stand, eat all sort of foods (still mostly on the mushy side), sleep through the night, hug, laugh, giggle, and play.

There’s so much I want to record about your lives so that I never forget.  I suppose that’s the reason I started this blog.  One day you’ll have a moment in your life that you just want to hold onto and slow down time so that you can savor it and just relish in the happiness of that moment.  Maybe a date with a cute guy or gal, or a baseball game, or who knows, maybe even prom (likely not that though).  For me, since the day you were both born, those moments never seem to stop.  And just as the moment is upon us, just as quickly it passes.  I want to hold onto you both and hug you and make these moments last.  But alas, life is about change.  All things change, even rocks!  It takes courage to accept some changes, but the more positive we are about them, the happier I believe life can be.  And as I’ve said in many posts already, I can’t wait to see what new things you’ll start doing tomorrow!

Some cute moments and happenings:

• We took you both to a restaurant on the Hudson.  You were both so good!  Juliet waved for the first time to a couple waving to her.  She holds both hands up in the air and opens and closes her hands.  It’s the cutest thing.  Our little social butterfly.
• Ryan waves but sideways like he’s squeezing a lemon.
• Juliet loves to take her finger and make blub, blub, blub noises with her lips.  She likes to put her finger on our lips to help us too.  Ryan wasn’t quite sure what to do at first but seems to have caught on to her game.
• Ryan puts his hand over his mouth, yells “Ahhhhhh”,  shakes his head back and forth, and loves the sound it makes.
• Juliet and Ryan both put their hands up to show how big they are when we ask “How big are you?”
• Ryan claps.
• Juliet does the Quasimodo crawl (one foot on the floor and one knee).
• Ryan slaps and stomps his hands on the ground when he crawls.  He’s likely not to be a graceful ballet dancer.
• Ryan seems to understand chase and tries to get Juliet to play.  Juliet isn’t quite compliant but still laughs and giggles at him.  Daddy, however, loves to play chase with Ryan.
• In the last month, you both starting sleeping through the night.  From 8pm to 6am!  Yippee!!
• They are both as thick as thieves when I put them on the ground to crawl around.  They want to discover EVERYTHING!  Together of course.  And they find all the things Mom forgot to baby proof.
• Ryan likes to analyze things with his index finger.  When he gets his finger out watch your eyes!
• Juliet LOVES to be held and will crawl to wherever we are.
• Ryan LOVES to be hugged.  Sometimes, if we’re lucky, he hugs us for long periods of time. Usually, though, it’ll last only for seconds and then he gets distracted but quickly remembers and wants another hug (repeat, repeat, repeat).

All my love,

mom

Apparently they figured out that the pack-n-play is really just a cushy prison with mesh walls and toys on the inside.

Click here!

On our walks, I often hear people say, “Double trouble!” when we pass them by.  I smile and agree.  In truth, having twins is double the trouble, but there is also double to love.

There are the obvious quandaries with twins, like how to keep them from waking each other up in the middle of the night and during naps, and how to feed them at the same time when they’re both crying and hungry, and how to provide them with the love and attention that they both need and most certainly deserve.  Then there are the logistical problems to consider, like how to get two babies from the house to the car when you live in the city and the car is parked two blocks down and one block over (this may sound like a simple task, but I can’t even begin to tell you the hours I have spent thinking this over in my head).  There is the gift of patience, which each of us must work to improve upon and pray for more.  I think this is hardest for Ryan and Juliet because they don’t understand why mommy won’t pick them up when they’re crying. Unfortunately, there’s two of them and only one of me during the day hours, so one must wait while the other gets changed, or fed, or loved. Worst of all, there is the question of what to do when one baby gets sick and you want to protect their twin from catching it. Answer: impossible.

Ryan and Juliet came down with a cold a couple weeks ago.  It started out with Ryan having a runny nose.  Daddy came home that night and told Ryan not to worry and “we would get through this.”  I thought, well of course we’ll get through this!  It’s just a runny nose!  That night his runny nose turned into croup.  Oh God, I didn’t know what croup was before this, and I wish for that blessed ignorance back. Croup is awful. It means a fever, vomiting, coughing, and an inflamed larynx that makes breathing difficult. His voice became very hoarse and his cough sounded like a seal bark.  The breathing seemed the most difficult to bear and the harder he tried, the worse he got.  As a parent, your worst fear is that his larynx might become so swollen that breathing might become impossible. At the doctors suggestion, I brought him outside into the cool night air and held him.  He calmed down and the fresh air helped him to breath easier.  Eventually, I brought him indoors, opened the window in the babies’ room, and rocked him to sleep.

The next day our fears doubled when Juliet got a runny nose.  Dan stayed home from work that day, as he was sick too, and we took the babies to the doctor.  The doctor said “No more monkeys jumping on the bed,” he gave Ryan a steroid to help with the inflammation of his larynx, and lastly he said to hope for Juliet’s cold to remain just that.  The next night was easier for Ryan, but he still remained very sick throughout the week. And sure enough, Juliet started to show the same horrible croupy symptoms.  Because it was the weekend, I took her to the ER and they started her on a similar steroid.

Seven days and many sleepless nights later, we had two healthy babies again. They’re now back to smiling, and playing, and exploring their world full of wonders and beauty. For Ryan and Juliet, they will forget this ever happened.

As for me, I fear I might be perceived as being a bit over-reactive the next time one of them gets a runny nose and I rush them to the ER. I’ve heard it before, but now I understand “A mother’s love has no bounds”.

Ryan has toy

Juliet has toy

But sometimes they do play nice…

Click here to see more…

Saturday, March 6th, Ryan got his first two teeth. They are his two front bottom teeth.  He would not oblige me by letting me take a picture of them.

Thank you Gramee Marge for checking and finding them!

Over the last month feeding Ryan has become a bit of a challenge.  He wiggles and squiggles.  He pushes, no, whacks the bottle away.  He turns his head to where it’s impossible for us to follow with the bottle.  Very quickly it became clear that a change was in order.

For Ryan’s first 2-3 months he had problems eating due to his reflux.  It was heart breaking because I knew he wanted the food but it hurt him to eat it.  We got him started on reflux medication and he got much better.  Then about a month ago, he turned into Mr. Wiggles again while feeding him.  We tried all the tricks up our sleeves and the only thing that seemed to work was singing.  But, and this is a major but, we had to find the RIGHT song to sing in order to make him happy enough to eat.

After we discovered the singing cure, he was set on The Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Dan would begin by saying “Introducing the song of the day, The Itsy Bitsy Spider!” then he would proceed to sing it over and over and over again (with an intermission for burps).  Soon, however, Ryan got bored of the Itsy Bitsy Spider but seemed happy with You Are My Sunshine.  Then there was I’m A Little Teapot and B-I-N-G-O and Do Your Ears Hang Low and A Tisket A Tasket and Mary Had A Little Lamb and Old McDonald.  With Old McDonald he only liked the first part of the song and not the part where you pick an animal and sing its sound.  So we would sing “Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O” over and over and over again.

Anyhow, everyday we go through our repertoire of songs until we find the Song of the Day for Ryan.  I think we’re running out of songs to try…

Oh, but we love Ryan so so much and this is just the tip of the iceberg of the things we would do to make him happy.  So bring it on boy, we’re ready!  (I think? :-/)

Ryan and Juliet,

I was reading the Oprah magazine (yes, that’s right, but at least I wasn’t watching it and I WASN’T eating bon bons), and I came to a page titled “Live Your Best Life” with the following quote by William Henry Channing:

To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable;
and wealthy, not rich;
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly…
to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
await occasions, hurry never…
this is my symphony.

I hope this inspires you.  I hope you see how beautiful life is.  I hope you live your best life.

I love you, mom

Ryan watching the snow fall

At six months…

Ryan can roll over but sometimes gets stuck on his stomach (much to his dismay when it happens in his crib at night).
Juliet can roll over but prefers not to.
Juliet can sit up without help from mom and dad.
They like to touch EVERYTHING.
They like to eat EVERYTHING.
The LOVE their feet.
They laugh and smile and it melts our hearts.
Juliet has finally graduated from 0-3 mo. socks, but no socks will actually stay on her feet.
Ryan is getting too big for 9 mo. old clothes.
Juliet likes to wake up anywhere from 1am – 4am.
Juliet will eat anything we put in her cereal.  So far we’ve added applesauce, bananas, butternut squash, and carrots.
Ryan is still trying to decide if he likes that weird mushy stuff we give him to eat.
Ryan’s reflux is still bothering him.
Ryan has blue-green eyes just like his dad.
Juliet’s eyes are brownish-greenish-gray, but we think they’re still changing.
They nap 2x a day, usually 1-2 hrs.  Yay!!!
No teeth yet.
Juliet eats 25-30 oz. of formula a day.
Ryan eats 30-35 oz. of formula a day.
Juliet does a wonderful Mariah Carey impression.
Ryan still has the saddest cry ever.
Juliet has a cry that makes mom’s heart palpitate.
Ryan is pretty content in his highchair.
Juliet is content in her highchair as long as we entertain her.
They get excited about books and want to eat the books (according to a pamphlet we have, this a 9 mo. mile stone and further proof to mom and dad that they are in fact geniuses).
They like to play with their spoons after eating and can put it right in their mouth.
Juliet likes to call family meetings and Ryan seconds everything she says.
They’re trying very hard to grow more hair.
And of course, they love to hold hands.