Two For Fun: January 2008

The past couple months have been great. The babies’ feeding and sleeping schedules have eased up a bit. They eat every 3 hours during the day, rather than every 2 hours like they did before. I am still nursing them but we manage to throw in a bottle every couple weeks to keep them flexible. They are also sleeping through the night now. We put them down at 7 p.m. and we usually don’t hear from them again until 5 a.m. when they want to be fed and put back down for a couple of hours. This is glorious. (Although they may backslide occasionally as they struggle with the pain of teething.) In general, we’re better rested and we can eat dinner and relax or get something accomplished after they go to bed.

I am also getting out of the house with them a lot more. I’ve mastered getting them into the stroller for a walk by myself but getting them into the car is still a challenge. I try to do it a couple times a week so that it’s not such a big deal. A neighbor that I hadn’t known previously had a baby 2 weeks after we did and it turns out that we really enjoy eachother and try to get out for a walk or a visit daily. I recently hosted a meeting of a new infant playgroup. The playgroups are quite nice and give me an opportunity to meet other moms who live nearby. I also went to a Movie Moms movie with the babies at the local theater where I met two other twin moms. We hung out afterwards and will be meeting up again this week.

Our time at home is becoming more fun but more challenging. The babies are cooing, giggling, wriggling, and sitting and standing with support - but they both want constant physical contact with me during the day. I am trying to figure out ways to hold and/or play with them at the same time and activities that they enjoy enough to do on their own. This is really only an issue on the days that they sleep and play on the same schedule. When they sleep and play on opposite schedules, they get my undivided attention. Below are some pics of the babies in their new Exersaucer (which we will use to support their new-found passion for standing)...

Eleanor in the Exersaucer

Ian in the Exersaucer

Kevin and I recently started looking for a nanny to take care of them when I go back to work 2 days a week in March. We are looking for someone with experience with twins or multiple infants and lots of energy for the coming months when they get mobile! We’ve interviewed two candidates and would like to interview a couple more before making a final decision.

And the past couple of weekends have been busy for us. PopPop and MomMom Perese visited two weeks ago, and then Krista visited last weekend. It’s always nice to share the babies with family and friends. Below are some pics from the recent visits...

MomMom and PopPop dress Eleanor after her bath

MomMom and PopPop help Ian and Eleanor nap

Krista cuddles Eleanor and Ian

It’s hard to believe that the holidays have come and gone. We traveled to Pittsburgh in November for Thanksgiving with the Gallaghers. Eleanor and Ian met their great grandmother, and many of their great-aunts and uncles and second cousins. It was the longest trip we’d taken with the kids and it went well. On our way there, we left DC at 5 a.m. and arrived before 10 a.m. On our way back home, we left at 10 p.m. and arrived around 3 a.m. The babies slept the entire time during both trips - all we had to do was sacrifice our own sleep! For Christmas, Gallagher festivities were split between Takoma Park and Annapolis and the babies finally met their New York and Denver aunts, uncles, and cousins. Perese festivities were a mere 2.5-hour drive away in Philadelphia, where they met lots of family and friends for the first time. Again, the babies were great in the car and our visit was long enough to space out the big drives. Over the holidays, Kevin and I also managed to get out for a couple dinner and movie dates while the babies were cared for by our families (thanks again GiGi and PopPop, Aunt Karen, and Nannie!).