Night Three

Last night was the third night the twins slept in their own cribs, and WOW, it was great. Yes, you heard me, it was GREAT! Everything started the same as it did the last two nights - we put them to bed by reading to them. They fell asleep in my arms, and Sarah helped me put them in their cribs. I don't remember the time now, but I think it was around 2:30 am when I heard the first cry. It was Emily this time, not Ella. When I went to check on her, I saw Ella stirring. I thought for sure Ella would wake up. However, to my surprise, within 2-3 minutes of me leaving the nursery, all was quiet. No one made another sound until about 7:15 this morning when Ella woke up first. Emily slept until maybe 7:45.

I'm not ready to call this war won, but I think at this point, Sarah and I are winning every battle. :)

Sarah's Birthday

Today is Sarah's birthday. We had a small gathering over at Sherri's with pizza and cake. It was really nice. I had fun planning (most) of it.

The main reason for today's update is, as always, to talk about the twins' progress. Last night was the second night we had them sleep in their own cribs the whole night. It started the same as always - I read to them, put them in their cribs, and they went to sleep. Ella woke up first, around 1:30 am and started crying. We started the cycle of checking on her every few minutes. This time, it only took about 35 minutes for her to fall asleep again. However, from 1:30 - about 3:00, she would wake up, cry, fall asleep, and repeat the cycle every 15-20 minutes. I think Emily woke up twice. Eventually, everyone fell asleep, and didn't wake up until after 7:00 am.

The last update I have has nothing to do with sleeping. Ella and Emily both say "Uh-oh" now, and I taught Emily "pee-yew" (as in stinky diaper). My mom (Sharon) has been trying to teach them "Woopty-do".

Last Night the Earth Shook

Well, we finally made the decision to get the girls to sleep the whole night in their own cribs. I'll write more later - gotta get ready for a Birthday Party.

We decided it was time to start getting the girls out of our bed and into their own for the whole night. And since Sarah and I have several days off between now and New Year's, we thought this was the best time to start. We started by putting them to sleep like we normally do - we change them into their PJ's and read them a few books. Everything was as usual. Then Sarah and I went to bed. Around 1:00 am, Ella woke up first. This is where things for the girls changed. Instead of bringing her straight to bed with us like we would have done in the past, we put our pediatrician's advice to work. I checked on Ella right away, said some soothing words, and laid her down in her crib. Then I left. She kept crying. Five minutes later, I repeated the same thing. Then 10 minutes after than, then 15.

At this point, 30 minutes has passed. Ella cried the whole time. Emily hadn't woken up at all. After 30 minutes, you're supposed to wait another whole 30 minutes before going in again. I think I fell asleep sometime in that second 30 minutes. I woke up a little after 2 am when the alarm went off and Ella was still crying. I checked on her and stayed with her a little longer to settle her down. Maybe two minutes. Soon as I left, Ella started crying again.

Basically, she cried constantly for 90 minutes. Emily didn't wake up at all while Ella was crying. At some point, Ella quieted down. Then, around 3:00 am, Ella started crying a little again. She finally woke up Emily, so I checked on them both. It didn't take long for them both to fall asleep. Then they didn't wake up until 8:30 (for Ella) and 9:30 (for Emily).

It was an exhausting night, but an important one. We have to keep it up now until they have fully transitioned to sleeping in their cribs all night.

What a Great Christmas

I'll share some pictures in the coming days, but let me just say what a great time we had. We went to Gary's on Christmas Eve and Sherri's on Christmas Day. We were supposed to go to my dad's today, but Sarah has gotten a virus and saw the doctor today. He said it's nothing to be worried about, but she's going to rest up and we'll reschedule with my dad.

The Girls Saw Santa!

Yesterday, Sarah and Sherri took the twins to see Santa. He was visiting our little town of Auburn. He really likes Auburn and stops here a lot. Fortunately, there wasn't a line of kids waiting to see him, so the twins got right in. From what I hear, Santa's little helper was very nice and took lots of pictures. The North Pole Developing Company (NPDC) is preparing our pictures now. We'll be picking them up at the Auburn branch on Thursday, so I'll be sure to post them on this blog.

We also did another Christmas related activity yesterday. Around 8:15 last night, we loaded the girls into the car and drove around Auburn looking at Christmas lights. Our neighborhood is quite impressive, if I do say so myself. If you want to check out some pretty lights, come by and drive around Canal and Calloway streets. Another good neighborhood to check out is Incline off Dairy Rd. Several wonderful displays. We also went to the Atwood Bail Bonds, which is spectacular as always. Every year gets better, but this year is especially amazing. It boggles my mind to think how much electricity he uses. By the time we got home, it was a little after 9:00 and Emily had fallen asleep. Ella took a little nap earlier in the evening, so she was awake. We put Emily to bed and Sarah cozied up to Ella on the Lay-Z-Boy until they both fell asleep.

Final update from yesterday is not Christmas related, but is about the twins' development. Yesterday, when Sarah was feeding them, Ella reached for some cereal and let out her usual soft yell, making sure Mama knew she wanted more. Sarah said, "Ella, no. Say 'more'." And she did. And then the next time Ella was about to reach for the cereal and yell, Sarah could see her stop just as she was about to screech and instead, Ella said "more." Emily quickly followed suit.

18-month Checkup

The twins had their 18-month checkup at the doctor's office this morning. All is well. The doctor says they are growing great, their speech development is progressing nicely, and that they are very healthy girls. He complimented us on what nice jobs we're doing with them. Here are their current measurements:

Ella weighs 21lb-4oz and is 32.25 inches tall

Emily weighs 21lb-7oz and is also 32.25 inches tall

One comment I was particularly interested in was that the doctor said he thought they would both develop into tall, lean body types. Sounds good to me.

Oh, I also asked him about giving them fluoride when they just had dairy products. The fluoride bottle says to wait two hours. The doctor said it won't make them sick, but there is a reaction between calcium ions and fluoride ions that diminishes the amount of fluoride absorbed by the body. But he said it's better to give them the fluoride than forget until the next day.

Finally, I asked about humidifiers since we bought one last week when the girls had a cold. The nurse said she recommends them for upper-respiratory problems and if we want to go a step further, we can add some of the medications to it or even rub Vick's Vapor Rub on the bottom of their feet to help relieve stuffy noses. (Yes, the bottom of their feet.)

More Dance Moves and Country Christmas

On Wednesday, my mom, Sharon, taught the girls how to do a high kick when dancing to some Christmas music. Funniest thing to watch. I tried to get some video, but by the time I got the camera out, they weren't interested.

Tonight we all went to Auburn's 21st Annual Country Christmas in Old Town. It was great. We met Darryl and his aunt Enid and uncle Bill. We parked at the fairgrounds at 5:00 and initially put the girls in the double stroller. There was a free shuttle bus from the Bernhard Museum to Old Town, but we decided to walk. It was cold, but the walk was fine. We all got a chance to visit. Bill and Enid are so nice. Bill genuinely makes one feel like he cares about them and is interested in what they have to say.

When we got to Old Town, the first thing we did was get some clam chowder in a bread bowl. It was the PERFECT thing. It was warm, and delicious! All of us had some, including the twins. We stood in front of a roped-off section in front of the old post office where a brass band was playing Christmas songs. When we finished the chowder (and our bowls), we let the twins out of their stroller and walked up towards Awful Annie's parking area. They had a small horse wagon that was offering rides. We didn't take a ride, but we got up close to the horses and the driver had sheep dog that the girls petted. Then we headed back down towards Bootlegger's and went in some of the shops. We moved on to where the Old Firehouse is and they had a section fenced off for pony rides. Nearby there were two or three large cages/wagons that had wolves in them. A wolf rescue group was collecting donations and doing some educating. Awful Annie's was the top end, the Old Firehouse was the bottom, so when we rounded that, we headed back towards where the brass band had been playing. This time there was a carolling group singing. We noticed the city had setup a fire pit in the middle of the street, so we huddled around there, and I bought hot drinks for everyone. We warmed up for 10-15 minutes and decided to head back.

We walked back up past Awful Annie's and headed to the Bernhard. Darryl noticed they were offering free hot cider and home made cookies, so we headed in the top of the winery and warmed up with a snack. Bill and Enid had never been to the Bernhard, and the house was open, so they all headed in for a tour while Sarah and I changed the twins and let them run around to burn off some energy. Then we headed to our car and came home. In all, we got there about 5:00 and were headed home a few minutes past 8:00, so we were there about three hours. It was really nice and we had a good time.

Their Words

Ella is doing most of the talking these days. Between the two of them, they can say:
Uh-oh
No
Dog
Diaper
Doctor
Mama
Papa

The Christmas Tree is Up

It's a little later than we thought, but it's up! I'll include a few pictures later.

Updates

The twins now say, "Uh-oh." As everything else, it is very cute. They started saying it the other day when I said, "Uh-oh, mom forgot her purse."

Also, they are getting upper molars now.

Christmas Lights Parade

We had a great time tonight at the Auburn Christmas Lights Parade. It was COLD, but we all bundled up. As you might guess when you look through the pictures, MY favorite part was the 501st Legion (Star Wars troop). Awe-SOME!