Tuesday, January 31, 2012

giggles

We have wanted to capture Rafael's giggles for many weeks now, but of course, every time we get out the camera, he stops.  On our walk to brunch this past weekend, we did get some of his giggles on camera.  Sorry about the breathing, I was trying to encourage his laughing without making any noise so you could hear him, but that just means you hear my breathing.  So, ignore that and focus on the contagious giggles!  And I don't know how to rotate a video, so you'll just have to turn your head...


Friday, January 27, 2012

Rafa's turn


YouTube Video


Sylvia eating

Ok. I'm going to try posting individually.


YouTube Video


food glorious food

I wrote a post yesterday because we started Sylvia and Rafael on rice cereal. But, I had trouble posting the videos. And now it seems my post is gone. Ugh.

Well, here's a blurry photo from today. I was super excited to see that Rafael was holding his head up so high! In the morning, he can barely lift it off the ground.





We also got to experience Sylvia's laughter this morning, but she stopped when we got out the camera (phone).

I'll get a video up one is these days!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I hear babies

I'm not sure if this is a phenom that all new parents experience, but I hear babies. Or at least I think I do. Fairly frequently, Sylvia and Rafael will be happily snoozing and I'll swear I heard a baby's cry. But it's just in my head. It just takes a quick peek or glance at the monitor to know it's nothing to worry about. This probably doesn't bode well for my worry anxiety about them in the future...

When I went in this morning to wake my sleeping beauties, this is what I found.



Which is both sweet and slightly perplexing to me. We always put them in their crib on an angle since they're so tall, so their legs and heads won't bang into the rails too much. We also separate them so they have some space. I didn't think they could move much in their swaddled because they always end up in the same place we put them down. Not any more! At least they ended up snuggling rather than mashing their heads into the rails. Now, how am I supposed to try separating them into two cribs??

Sunday, January 22, 2012

i heart hand-me-downs


We just received two boxes of clothes from our two precious goddaughters.  I'm not much of a shopper, so this is heaven.  I haven't had a chance to go through it all, but know they are filled with all kinds of treasures.  Like these!!!!!  How stinkin' adorable!  Papi's going to have to start teaching her how to 2-step.



Saturday, January 21, 2012

Oma and Gong-Gong

One of the benes of living near Rice is that Oma and Gong-Gong swing by before and after events on campus to visit with us and play with Sylvia and Rafael. Today's visit was in between a tennis match and a basketball game. There's no way these kids will escape the Rice mafia...









reclaiming the night

D and I had a wonderful date night tonight! Our romance is a little different now, but popcorn and a movie on demand while curling on then the sofa was perfectly relaxing. A great way to end the week.

I can't remember if I've posted about the kids' latest sleeping schedule, so... We've definitely turned a corner and have fabulous kids. They feed at 6pm, then sometime between 11 and midnight and then not again until 6am. It's truly amazing.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

tere's request

Tere requested more pics, so I made the kiddos pose with their adorable owl hats. Fortunately, they have Aunt J to keep them stylin' because mom and dad lack in the fashion department.



And what fun pjs!



Sylvia's new favorite passtime is chewing on her fingers.



Post bath with daddy.



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

road trip

We did it!! Packed up the car and head out for Grandmother and Granddaddy's house.



It's a good thing we don't have a bigger car. I'm certain we would fill whatever size car we have.

The drive up was relatively uneventful. Twins slept most of the way. We stopped to feed them, let them out of their car seat prisons, and let D stretch his legs. For the next road trip, we will probably graduate one of the twins to a convertible car seat so D can scoot back a bit. It almost looks like a clown car with no place for his knees.

Sylvia chillaxing on the delicious B&B bed!!




The VassariƱos loved all of the arms and loving they got. Totally spoiled.




Even Pablo got in on the action. It was precious watching the cousins play together. We really look forward to when they're old enough to really play.



On the way back, we stopped in a McDonald's parking lot to feed, change, stretch, etc. A woman in the car next to us in the parking lot watched us and commented on how adorable our babies are and also what good babies they are. She then said, it must be because they have good parents. Super sweet. And really touching. Made me feel like I should compliment people more often. It was really nice to hear.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

back to the grind

I'm almost finished with a week back in the office.  It's been great.  The nanny is wonderful.  Even cooked us dinner yesterday!  Kids seem to be happy.  Everyone seems to be handling the transition with flying colors. 

And, apparently, I'm not alone in being much happier and healthier being back at work.  At least one study says that working Moms are happier and healthier.  And I know that if I'm happier and healthier, my kids will also be happier and healthier.  I'm still a little nervous that something MUST be falling through the cracks or something will fall apart, but probably need to just let it go and embrace the new normal and how smoothly it's all working out. Grateful.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Monday, January 9, 2012

big day

Today was my first day back at work, Gilian's first full day with the VassariƱos, and their 4-month checkup. Everyone did really well. Sylvia's stats: 24.75" (68%) 13 lb. 7 oz. (44%) Rafael's stats: 24.75" (43%) 14 lb. 10 oz. (43%) This time we had pacifiers and they only screamed for a couple seconds. We were quite amazed at how quickly they calmed down. Like last time, they were worn out and slept like rocks the rest of the afternoon. It's a good thing there's lots of chubs on those thighs!


Still smiling!


Awwwwww, how sweet! If they weren't siblings, they'd be a cute little couple. With giant cheeks and bellies.



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Go Texans!!

The nanny has been coming after work for a few days to get to know the babies (and they her) and the house. D and I seized the opportunity to let her babysit while we went to the TEXANS' FIRST EVER PLAYOFF GAME!!!!!!! Aside from having to pump at the game..., it was really liberating to be there sans kiddos. Even though I had a crazy sinus headache (did more smoke blow in from fires down south??) and the stadium was totally rockin', which didn't help me, but was excellent for the team, it was a blast. The nanny did a great job and the kiddos were fast asleep in bed when we got home. She was super excited about how good they were, too. We are super excited about her. She even did the dishes and laundry!! What a great night all around! Way to go, Texans!!!!!

YouTube Video


Saturday, January 7, 2012

growing up!!

Sylvia and Rafa have enough head control now that we have graduated them to the jogging stroller!!! What a delight for mom. I didn't think the snap n go was all that bad until I went for a walk with this dream. The snap n go is still useful if we are going in and out of the car since they can stay in their car seat, but for walks, we're glad we made the switch. The main downside is that I really got accustomed to their facing me and being able to see them on the walks. But, it's super fun to see people's reactions when they see the kids. Ah, pride.



Friday, January 6, 2012

Happy 4 months!!

The kiddos are now 4 months old. They both smile that pure joy smile that melts everyone's hearts. It's fine to watch people's reactions when we are out. There's something about babies that makes people smile. an then when they realize it's two, they typically gasp. Some out of joy and others out of fear. We went in for Sylvia's ultrasound today. They couldn't find the hernia. It sounded like something had to be herniated for them to identify it, so there's a chance there's still a problem. We will get in touch with the surgeon to see what's next. I think the options are, don't have surgery an wait an see what happens, risk being that if the ovary get strangulated, we would have to have emergency surgery and it could affect her fertility. Or go into surgery, but there might not actually be anything to fix. We see the pedi on Monday, so we'll also find out if this is something that could heal on its own. Uncle time:


Rafa with Uncle Andrew at the Texans game.


Sylvia with Uncle John at Rice U. Either playing together or fighting over the same toy. You make the call:


Good thing we have two!



Monday, January 2, 2012

Ferber night 2

Ferbering on night two was a breeze! Because we didn't have to.... Sylvia decided to just go to sleep and stay asleep (or put herself back to sleep if she woke up). It's probably too optimistic to think we're done, but it was a nice break.

We still got up for the 2am bottle because both kids woke up. We are gradually decreasing the amount of milk at that feeding to train them out of getting hungry, but don't want to take that bottle away cold turkey unless they decide they don't need it. We think Sylvia would have slept through without it, but Rafa isn't ready to skip a meal two nights in a row. All in all a good night, except that D embraced the quiet evening to watch the Cowboys. Wah wah waaaah.



Sunday, January 1, 2012

omg

That's Oh, My Goodness!! for All my non-texting readers.

Just yesterday, a mom friend and I were discussing how the first question people always ask after learning that we have young kids is: Do they sleep through the night? At this age, sleeping through the night typically means 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. The answer has always been, no.

So, a typical night for us has been, bedtime routine around 7pm. Wake SylRafa at 10pm to feed. Get up when one of them wakes (typically between 2 - 3 am) and feed, then wake them for the day at 6am. We discovered that if we don't wake them at 10pm, they would wake around midnight, then again around 3:30. Since we were then staying up past 10pm, it meant terrible sleep for us. We do have the night feedings down to about 35-45 minutes, but still. Both kids have been great about going back to sleep after the night feeds, even if we put them down awake. We have struggled with Sylvia after her first sleep cycle until the 10pm feed, though (lots of tears between 8 and 10, roughly, which is leaps and bounds better than between midnight and 4, which it used to be). But, we have counted our blessing that they are 4 hours between feeds at night, since they only go 3 hours during the day. And we haven't been too worried that they aren't sleeping through the night because they seem to be doing quite well for babies their age.

Last night, for whatever reason, when Sylvia woke at 7:45, like clockwork, I asked D if he wanted to do Ferber in earnest. (This is a method of teaching a child to self soothe, by reassuring them after gradually greater time periods, but not picking them up). We have been trying to let her self soothe a lot and toyed with the idea of Ferberizing, but often resort to picking her up once the wailing reaches a heartbreaking level and thereby probably undoing all the efforts at teaching her to self soothe, since she eventually gets picked up. D somewhat reluctantly agreed, waited the 3 minutes while pacing and staring at the clock, then went in to reassure her while she wailed. D valiantly left after a minute or two, even though it broke his heart as her wailing intensified to a level we haven't experienced, yet. I was on reassurance duty for the rest of the night. Poor, sweet D felt terrible for her. Somehow, I went into mission mode, I suppose. I withstood the desperate cries without racing in to scoop her up and save her from her lonely, sad existence. When, about a week ago we were preparing dinner during her outbreak and D was letting her cry a few minutes to see if she would fall asleep on her own and I couldn't bear the crying and sternly and desperately asked him, Will you PLEASE go get her!!!!?! And so, I returned after 5, then 10, then 10 minutes for brief reassuring moments. And that was it. Then she went to sleep, with just a few exhausted, sniffled whimpers.

D and I enjoyed dinner and a calm evening and went in to wake them for a feed at 10:30. D did ask before we went in to feed: Do you think she remembers? And he spent extra time caressing and cuddling with her after her 10:30 bottle. I noticed. Have I married the sweetest man or what?! I love how much he adores Sylvia and Rafael.

Anyway, we hit the sack before the ball dropped. And we slept. And they slept. And we slept. And they slept. And I awoke at 4:30!!! because I couldn't wait any longer to pump. And they slept. And it's now after 5 and they're still sleeping! Our total Ferber time was still less than the time we would typically spend with her if we picked her up, rocked and soothed, until she was ready to go back to sleep. I think I'm going back to bed to see if they last until 6!

One night does not a pattern make, but we might have stumbled into wonderful, new nights for 2012. Happy new year to us!! And to you, may your year be filled with blissful, new experiences nearly as wonderful as 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep is for us (since there can't possibly be anything more wonderful).

Happy New Year!!