All about Lily

ok ok here are videos featuring Lily only.  You may only find these cute if you are a relative or you just love babies :)

Lily Singing

(and she really is singing, notice she pauses at the musical part and picks up when the vocals begin again)

Lily self feeding

(and blowing a raspberry at Bailey the cat)

Cloth Diapers

I wish I used cloth diapers and wipes, but with twins, i'm going to cut myself a little slack.  BUT if you are interested in them, and I hope you are, you can check out a great website here and even order them. Just an FYI for all my mommy to be friends out there

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late.  We've had a lot going on around here.  Jason got back from Columbia, in one piece, and without ransoms from any drug cartels.  But then he had to turn around and head to Fairfax, Virginia for meeting stuff.  Mama has been busy because poor Lily has not been herself.  She is normally an excellent sleeper but she started waking up from naps early (and very hyper) and was waking about 8-10 times a night for no apparent reason (later I think I've found out its from being itchy).  Her whole personality changed in the fact that she was fussy and down right mean.  A suggestion from Aunt Dr. Anne to give her benedryl seemed to do wonders.  Not only did it suppress the itching that had been going on, but as benedryl does it knocked her on her butt and she slept a very solid nights sleep.  Something she has been in desperate need of these days.  She awoke a new baby and seems to be back to her old happy self.

Zane has been flying around the carpet ever since he's learned how to scoot himself along.  However, for every exciting new development comes sleep problems.  He too is taking very short naps because he prefers to scoot around the crib practicing his new skill.  Who needs sleep when you can creep!?!

Below are a few videos of the babies, just in case you forgot what they look like :)

Playtime with our babies



Scooting along



Zane self feeding

Shots Shuck

Babies had to get their 6 month vaccinations today (ya ya I know...they're 7 months, stupid crazy doctor lady put us behind). Anyway.  For the FIRST time ever at a doctors' visit...NO EAR INFECTIONS! Can you believe it! I couldn't.  It's a miracle.

I hate shots.  To watch their little faces go from happy to "oh my God- what did she just do to me-I think I'm dying now-why aren't you stopping this sadistic nurse" is just terrible.   We did lots of rubbing and a warm bath so hopefully they won't feel too awful in the morning.

Oh, to all you expecting or even non-expecting mom's out there.  When your babies get their shots.  Give them Tylenol as soon as you get into the doctors room and after they get their shots rub rub rub rub rub rub the injection site.  It will keep a knot from forming and will ease the pain later on.  We made the mistake of not rubbing their first round of shots because they fell asleep in the doctors office after the shots (trauma) and we thought we'd be good parents by just letting them sleep for a couple of hours (we didn't know!)...oh man..big mistake.  They woke up with tennis balls in their legs and screaming in pain.

In other news...Jason is in Columbia.  Mama is scared.  I saw the movie "Proof of Life".  Jason is very very white.  mucho gringo.  and works for the largest oil company on the planet.  sigh.

7 months old!!

The babies are 7 months old!!! Feels like yesterday that I was writing the 7 week report.  A little statistics for you.  In the past 7 months we have gone through:

4, 300 diapers (~$1,250)

75 cans of formula (~$2,200)

300 onesies (~$2,000)

wow.  Makes you want to run out and have 5 more.  

The babies are happy and healthy which is all a mother could ask for, healthy being a term meaning, not sick sick, but I think we are still having some ear trouble.  I'm in denial now, but I think Mr. Zane is going to need tubes.  The slightest congestion and his ears back up causing major ear infections.  They just don't seem to ever go away.  Tubes would help greatly, we'll see what the doctor thinks on Tuesday (a not crazy one that I've found).

Below are a few snapshots and a video of our little ones.  They are just growing up so fast.

Lily loves going on her daily walk, she is very particular about how she sits though.  She must have her feet up on the safety bar and grabbing a hold of something (a ring, a toy, the strap etc.).

She still loves her jumper, but she moves so fast in it that it's hard to capture a photograph that is in focus!

Zane has major teething going on.  If there is something within reach to chew on, he will find it and shove it in his mouth.  Drool galore!

He is also quite particular about his walking style.  He does not want to sit back but would rather scoot all the way forward in the seat and hang on.  Try and lean him backwards and you will end up with one unhappy (screaming) baby boy.

They're both pretty cute, don't you think?

Zane is trying SO hard to crawl, but he just can't get the hang of it.  He kicks and fights trying to move.   He can lift his chest up, scoot his knees under him but can't put it together.   Unfortunately all he can do is grab the carpet with his fingers and pull himself forward.  

We tried to introduce him to "The Wiggles".  Mommy is way out of the loop of baby-ness so she had no idea who these guys were.  Luckily for mommy, Zane didn't like them one bit.  He is much cooler than that and screamed for Zeppelin.

Hi :)

Me like food!

Here are some random clips of us playing with the babies.  I think they like us too.

Separate but Equal

I've been getting a few comments that Lily is not getting as much billing time as Zane on the blog. Well, there is a reason for that. Lily is laid back. Featuring videos of Lily (besides those of her dancing) are not the most exciting media events. We all know that exciting action adventure videos are what people want to see. However, Lily is more of a lovebug who just likes to chill out and observe the world. She doesn't really like to talk but would rather listen. To demonstrate, I took video of Lily today during a playtime. I think you'll see my point.

"Dada"

Zane is becoming a lot more vocal with his words and is starting to copy our speech.  Here's a video of him saying "Dada".   Please ignore the misspelling of the world "independent" (independant).....it was late last night...

I completely forgot!!

Clouds and Stars Zip Sheets
One of the BEST baby items I have are the zipper sheets from Clouds and Stars.  I have Heather to thank for showing me these.  They are fantastic.  I can change the sheet on a crib in under 10 seconds....and by rolling/moving Zane or Lily to each side of the crib, I've even been able to change the sheets in the middle of the night without waking them up (when diaper leaks or major spit up sessions occur).  You just keep the base sheet on the mattress and zip on and off the top sheet.  If I didn't have these sheets, sheet changes would require lifting the mattress up out of the crib etc.  which is actually pretty difficult to do since crib mattress are designed to fit skin tight to the crib (safety reasons).  These would make excellent baby shower gifts too (if they lady in waiting didn't already know about them).

Worst Pediatrician Ever

Baby's had their 6 month check up today.  Did not go well.

1. The receptionist was also the nurse

2. The weighing scale and credit card "machine" were both analog..nothing digital in the place

3. I wiped the exam table with alcohol, the cotton swab turned brown

4. She entered the room smacking her gum

5. She didn't wash her hands

6. She never introduced herself to me and couldn't tell who was the boy and who was the girl

7. When noticing that I had only filled out ONE information form putting "Zane and Lily" at the top, she asked me why I had not filled out TWO seperate forms.  I said, your nurse told me to put them both on the same form.  She said, "no she didn't, she never would have said that."  After a long argument as to what she did or did not tell me.  She then left the room, asked the nurse/receptionist if she had said to do that, the n/r said "yes" and she proceeded to yell at the n/r in the hallway for 2 minutes.  She then returned. I confronted her and said, "Do not ever accuse me of lying to you again."  She then backed off and said, I didn't say you were lying, you just misunderstood me.

8. She then started talking in Spanish

9. She examined Zane and when she spent two seconds listening to his chest, I explained she needed a more thorough listen b/c of his illness a few months ago.  She looked at me blankly and said, What illness??? (she obviously had not even glanced at his history chart)

10.  She also looked in his ears quickly, I asked her to look again b/c I believed he had an ear infection.  She said, no they are clear.  I told her to look again.  She rolled her eyes and looked.  Yep...double ear infection. (poor baby)

11. She asked me why Lily's ears weren't pierced yet

12. She then corrected me by saying, people could more easily tell them apart if I hurried up and pierced them, because she couldn't tell the difference (never mind the ~20% weight difference!)

13. I asked her to clean out Lily's ear wax.  She said she would have to refer me to a specialist.

14. She walked in with the immunization shots...there were 5 needles...PER CHILD.  I asked her why the hell she was going to give 5 injections instead of the PediRx injections which combine vaccinations into 1 shot.  She said "um, it's on back order"...a lie.  PediRx injections are just more expensive than the old standards.

I said NO WAY, grabbed my kids, and left and will never go back.  Give a baby 5 shots (1mL each shot!).  You have got to be out of your mind.

Back to finding a new doctor here in Miami.  I miss Dr. Bootin :-(   Maybe I'll fly to Houston, just for doctors visit. 

Editorial for the day

THINGS I COULD HAVE NOT LIVED WITHOUT

when the babies first arrived...a clickable list:

Koala Baby Thermal Blankets

These blankets are perfect to wrap up newborns, they are stretchy and wash well.  They aren't flannel so they don't get too hot.  

I've heard though that if you don't want to do old fashioned swaddling, you can now purchase the Miracle Swaddle blanket.  I wish they would have had these when L&Z were newborns.

Medicine Pacifiers

I can't find a picture of the ones we have, but we bought them at Walgreens.  Thank you to Savannah who told be about them, these pacifiers are also medicine dispensers.  Why is that good?  Because a lot of times when you try to cram 3/4 of a tsp of medicine into a baby's cheek, they will throw it back up all over you.

Wipe Warmer

Though it may seem like a frivolous baby item, wipe warmers are fantastic.  When doing a 2am diaper change, nothing wakes a baby up faster than a freezing cold cloth running across their butt.  This little device actually kept our babies asleep during middle of the night diaper changes. (thank goodness the poop at night stage is over with, well for now)

Disposable Pads

During the early weeks, the bladders and bottoms of babies are way out of control and things will spurt out at any moment, especially while changing their diaper on a changing pad.  These throw away pads laid over the top of our changing pad and saved lots of changing pad cover laundry.  There was one day that we went through 10 of these things.  Things were just squirting out all over the place.

Mylicon
Oh how I love you. Some people say that this stuff doesn't work, but I thank the heavens for it. For the first 3 months, our babies would squeal and scream in gas pain. We started adding this to each and every bottle and like magic no more pain. Lots of noises coming out, which is better than staying in.

Bottle warmer

There is nothing worse than a crying hungry baby.  This device allowed me to heat their bottles up in under 2 minutes.  Running it under hot water would have taken about 5.  Think 3 minutes is not a big deal?  Stay in a room with a screaming child for 3 full minutes, you may change your mind.

Dr. Brown's Bottles
Yes they may have extra parts, but they work great. Less air, less trouble, less mouth explosions.

Dr. Brown's Drying Racks

Dishwasher safe, easy to use, stackable, love these racks.

Swaddle Me Cotton Blanket (Lily) & Halo SleepSack (Zane)

Now that they're older, the wrap up blankets don't fit them anymore.  Lily, who still loves to be swaddled, uses the cotton Swaddle Me blanket.  Don't buy the fleece kind, those are way too hot and if your baby gets cold in the cotton one, you can always put a blanket on top of them.  Zane, who is a stomach sleeper, sleeps in the zip-up sleep sack at night.  It keeps him warm and because he creeps, tosses and turns ALL night long, it stays safely on him.

Ring-A-Links

ok, they didn't need these as newborns, but they're great to have now!
These rings have many uses. They keep toys attached to other toys...you can hang things from attachment bars...you can attach toys to strollers or car seats...prevent sippy cups from falling to the floor...and they serve as teething rings too. Lily always seems to have one in her mouth these days. (Buy at least 2 packs)

Diaper Champ
Because Diaper Genie sucks. Diaper Genie requires you to buy special bags for it, diaper champ will take any trash bag. They're quick, easy to operate one handed and aren't so big that lots of diapers pile up before you need to take them out.

Sleep positioner

Newborns can wiggle all over the place and they need to feel snug when they sleep.  These positioners let you have peace of mind that they aren't going anywhere and keep them feeling secure.

That's all I have for now.  But I may think of more later.