Big Night

It's been a fun big week of firsts for R: first time mailing a letter all on her own (she's just tall enough), first time zipping up her own sleep sack (yes, she still sleeps in one. It's cozy! But it's got a complicated upside down zipper that starts right under the chin), and best of all...FIRST SLEEPOVER at a friend's house! With her friend M, pictured below but conveniently obscured by a giant, rainbow-sprinkly soft serve for internet privacy purposes.

 

This wasn't R's first night away from us: we are lucky and grateful to have Max and Jerry nearby, and they have had her stay with them overnight a few times; it's always exciting for R and relaxing for us. But this occasion felt a bit different since it involves being comfortable enough with a friend and friend's parents to last all night long. As I recall from my sleepover days, 10pm at someone else's house is like a kid version of a trip to a foreign country.

So many, many times over the past few years (being on the parenting end of the parent/child relationship), I realize a whole fresh perspective on some staple of childhood. I understand dessert as a useful tool. I understand how passionately no parent really wants their kid to get to the dreaded number (as in "I'm going to count to 3 and you need to get start getting your shoes on), since whatever is on the other side of that number - no play date, no TV show, etc - is as big a drag for the parent as it is for the kid. Bigger probably. And now I understand the miracle of the sleepover. A quiet (or quieter, at least) night, knowing that R is having a fabulous time devouring pizza and pancake breakfasts and giggling into the wee hours with unlimited potty talk. I think the phrase win-win must have been created to describe sleepovers.    

Blur

That's what it is around here, a beautiful blur of still tri-hourly meals (give or take) and preschooler hijinx, peppered with milestones that I keep forgetting to jot down. Two weeks ago Tuesday - so what would that be, April 3 - Rosie and I came home from her ballet class. Maxine had been with the twins and she waved a finger toward Magnolia and said, "You know, this baby's rolling over." It took a few days for her to do it in front of us, but sure enough, Maxine wasn't fooling. (Though I admit I kind of thought she might have been.) I think she can only do it when she's put on her stomach leaning on her elbows, but STILL, that was a big surprise. That girl is fierce. She is a passionate eater, built of solid, ropy muscle. All 8 plus pounds of her.

Maggie is also our first smiler. That was last Saturday - April 7. She looked up at me and just beamed. She starts off with a sort of lopsided half-smile, then if you're really amusing, expands to a full grin. Sylvia has been the more smiley of the two, so I'd expected her to give us the first social smile, but I guess I'd say Sylvia's sweet looks are maybe a sign of happy-babyness while Maggie is more particularly cued into other people. Just talking off the top of my head. In any case, Sylvia did smile on Sunday, so she wasn't far behind. She doesn't do it quite as often yet, but that'll change.    

Thank you Tiff Findlay for the sweet backdrop.

Tasty sister:

Taking Shifts

12:30pm:

1:30pm:

This is what they call, in the twin biz, very off-schedule. One of them always seems to be on lookout today.

March!

Everything is sort of breathless right now, in a Really?-Has-it-been-3-hours-already, time-to-feed-these-babies-again? kind of way. Every single feeding is an experiment -- there's the staggered feeding, which is the most mellow but the least efficient since you finish with the second eater just before the first eater decides it's time for another go round. There's bottle feeding them at the same time, burping one while staring at the other willing her not to do any dramatic spitting up before it's her turn to burp. And then there's the tandem breastfeed, one baby on each side, which I know will get easier if we continue to work at it but right now reminds me of trying to operate two of those stuffed animal grabber machines simultaneously. Just when you get one latched on, the other drops off. When it works it's pretty cool. In any case, the babies are putting on the ounces beautifully - "Still not on the chart," said their pediatrician, "but I'm happy with their progress." Except now they are about the same weight as Rosemary was at birth, so they must be on SOME chart. On the Sanders-Wehr family chart, at the very least. At their last weigh in, Sylvia was nearly 6 1/2 pounds and Magnolia about 6 3/4. They seem huge to me. And strong.

And: it's official, the babies passed their due date on March 2 and here we are more than two weeks past already. Tomorrow they'll be 8 weeks. Young toughs:

I'm really looking forward to when they pass the milestone of being 2 months from their due date, so that Rosemary can do a little more cuddling. She's been so lovely with them -- the other day she asked my permission before adjusting Sylvia's cap which had slipped over her eyes a bit. So sweet and so cautious.

Monster Magnolia sneaking up on Unsuspecting Sylvia:

Power sisters:

And in the midst of everything, spring has really, truly sprung here! I'm hearing tales from my west coast friends of late winter snow fall and chilly temperatures, while meanwhile it's 70 degrees and all kids of blossomy here. Our backyard is pretty. Every day I step out and take a little tour to see what surprises there are. Here was one of yesterday's, a flowering quince. (Thanks, Mom, for the ID).

  

I didn't need any help identifying this one. A magnolia tree, right in our very own garden! It goes well with the rosemary bush nearby. Who knew we were bringing in two duplicates?

And last, a bonus picture of the girls today. Magnolia awake:

While Sylvia sleeps:

Home!

This is rather old news, in blog terms at least, but both baby girls are now here at home. Yay! Sylvia came home Friday February 17, and picked out her room, favorite seat at the dinner table, and wardrobe choices from the communal baby dresser, acing out Magnolia, who came home 5 days later on Wednesday Feb 22. Good thing Magnolia is scrappy. I think she'll have no problems getting what she wants down the road. We'd been warned by the doctors and nurses at the NICU that one twin usually goes home before the other, but of course it was still hard leaving Magnolia at the NICU for the extra days - not to mention logistically challenging getting back to visit. Thank heavens for grandparents! However, the silver lining is that both girls got to wear the Sanders Family Going Home outfit -- hand knitted by Mimi and worn by Samantha, Jason, and Rosemary before them.

Here is Sylvia on her day of departure:

And a few days later, Magnolia:

And waiting for them at home, Rosemary and her stuffed milieu (including some new additions for the babies, for which R is self-appointed guardian until further notice):

Our Big Week in Pictures

Sunday: we had a disco dance birthday party for Rosie with friends from school and the around the neighborhood. 

No better way to celebrate turning FOUR than learning how to limbo:

Tuesday: Rosemary departed for her first overnight with Grandmama and Baba, so that Jason and I could work with the movers to pack up our apartment. She was VERY excited.

 

Turns out we have a lot of stuff:

Wednesday: the movers came back to pick everything up. Wednesday was also Rosie's actual birthday, January 25th. I'd been keeping my fingers crossed all week that the babies -- who we knew would probably be early arrivals -- would at LEAST not come on her birthday. And we really needed to move, so we were hoping they wouldn't decide to come on moving day either. I'd been wondering whether we were minimizing our odds by doing the move on R's birthday or tempting the fates.

The babies held off...barely. I went into labor about 5 hours after the movers left.

Thursday: 4:14 a.m. Sylvia!

Thursday: 4:16 a.m. Magnolia!

Grandma and Sylvia:

Space baby. This is Magnolia catching some UV rays to help decrease risk of jaundice. Both girls spent time under the lights:

Magnolia with Grandmama:

Rosemary, sweetly excited to spend time with her little sisters. So far she hasn't missed a chance to go visit them, even though it's a long trip up there and she has to be pretty quiet and patient when we're there:

Sylvia, hanging out in her isolette:

Sylvia, up close:

 Two! I have no idea how to hold two babies at once, but I'm sure it'll seem like old hat soon!

Welcome Magnolia and Sylvia!

On January 26th, we welcomed our two new little tiny girls into the world. Sylvia -- formerly known as twin A -- arrived first at 4:14 a.m. in the morning. Magnolia -- twin B -- came immediately afterward at 4:16 a.m., both with great cries and breathing on their own. They were born at 34 weeks and 5 days, which is early but not so super early when it comes to preemies, and especially twins. Sylvia was 3 lbs 7 oz (or possibly 3 lbs 12 oz? We have differing info in two places) and Magnolia was 4 lbs even. Both girls have lots of dark hair and dark blue eyes, but otherwise look completely different. Sylvia's hair is dark, dark brown and sticks straight up (like her big sister's did at birth), while Magnolia's is maybe a little more fair.

Hoorah! We will soon be changing the name of this blog to plural.

The past week since they arrived they've done well, ramping up their every-3-hour feeds bit by miniscule 2cc bit. Sylvia is going gangbusters, Magnolia is taking a bit more slowly due to some digestive trouble but now she's getting more milk every day too. (Never as much as she'd like though. I think she'll be voracious once she's given the chance.) Both girls are masters of wriggling out of their diapers and IVs. Two days ago Sylvia wriggled out of her IV, and they decided not to put it back in because she's getting a good amount of milk. Magnolia still has her IV, but we're optimistic she'll be off it in the next few days!