Progress and setbacks

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The girls helping me with the ironing

Both girls are doing fantastically on the mobility front. Ciara is now constantly standing up alone and maintaining her balance for anywhere up to 30 seconds before she falls/lowers herself down to the ground. She also thinks its a great game to stand up and then fall onto mommy when mommy is on the floor- we can play that for 10minutes before I start to get sore from having 10 kilos landing on me! Enya usually comes to cuddle when we play this game which makes the game even more complicated for me! Enya is walking up and down the passage with either the lion or a chair and she is now managing it with mostly flat feet although we still notice that she is going up onto her left toes occasionally, usually when she is feeling off balance.

Enya walking with her lion, she gets really cross when she hits an obstacle which with her poor steering is often! Blast wouldn't you know, she's on her toes in this photo!

On that note I must say we had our appointment with the neurologist yesterday, the EEGs of both girls came back normal but then the doctor started going on about how could we stop Ciara's physio as she wasn't walking yet. Although Ciara is showing no abnormal reflexes and development is on target, she should still be getting physio until she walks!?! It got even better when she looked at Enya, suddenly she had high extensor tone in the legs and as she was standing on her toes (on an unstable surface I hasten to add) she required urgent physio and under no circumstances was I to think of stopping physio until she walked, probably longer. I had just told this doctor she stood on her toes when she was uncertain and when she was on the floor playing in standing a few seconds previously she'd had both feet flat on the ground but no, now she has to try make me panic. Needless to say I'm taking her words with a pinch (large handful) of salt and will continue to follow the advice of my paediatrician who is specialized in the development of children especially preemies. The EEGs were normal and that is all that counts.

Now I have to go make a pumpkin pie for the Halloween party a friend is throwing tonight and decide what I'm going to make out of the second half of the pumpkin -bread, soup or baby food. Before I go though I promised to post a picture of Enya's weird way of sucking her dummy so here it is:


Enya sucking her dummy her way, yes her lower lip is hooked over the dummy otherwise it doesn't stay in!

Still sick

As the only healthy member of this family I think this is unfair.

Z didn't land up going to his dads after all. He did the grocery shopping for us on Saturday morning and just from that bit of exertion was pale, shaky and sweaty. For once he was sensible and agreed the 2 hour drive and then umpteen hours on his feet would be too much for him. I'm even more relieved that he didn't go as he has spent the last 2 days lying around, really not up for much at all, even putting a jacket on Ciara made him sweaty and shaky again. Anyway, he has 2 days leave now and hopefully will be fit for work on Wednesday.

Ciara has also gotten a very snotty nose, thank goodness we got her vaccinated last week as I doubt she'll be well by Enya's next tentative appointment next week, I'm just hoping Enya will be!

Enya has been practicing her walking and yesterday walked four laps of our entrance hall with her trusty lion, she even managed to keep her trunk fairly vertical which is a first. We go back to the neurologist for a EEG this week and she always is (brutally) honest about where C and E are developmentally so I'm interested to see what she says. We also have a preemie follow up in a couple of weeks to look forward to, you know how I enjoy reading the reports from those!!

Roof work

Our landlords daughter lives on the floor above us and they are putting in a gable to increase the usable space in that flat. It all started on Tuesday when the scaffolding went up and now 3 days later they are nearly finished with the construction and are hoping to put the tiles on the roof today. I'm very surprised how quickly this has all happened and how relatively quiet it has all been. The only disturbance to us has been that we have to keep moving or cars out the way (Z is still on sick leave). Usually I don't mind but when they came knocking at 8:30 this morning while I was trying to feed Enya I was a bit abrupt and told them it would take 15 minutes before I could move the car. Not 5 minutes later, someone else came to the door to ask that we move the car again. I'd been trying to let Z sleep in this morning as he's not been sleeping well but I'd just got Enya sucking well on the bottle so I had to yell to Z to get the door, I was fuming! As I've mentioned before once Enya is sucking/accepting the bottle we try not to take it out her mouth otherwise she will refuse it.

I've been polite and done what ever they've asked up to now, when I say I need a bit of time before I can move my car can they not give me 15 minutes! I would have left my car on the street side last night if they hadn't blocked the space.

I know in the scheme of things this is a minor problem but I wanted to vent and having unloaded, I'm feeling much better :0). The renovations will be continuing until next month I've been told so I'd better get used to this.

Z is off this weekend to help his dad out for another festival (Kermis- to celebrate the completion of the village church) so I'm home alone with the girls this weekend again. This time I'm looking forward to the time with them as having managed once I know I can cope. Fear of the unknown and all that. Before anyone points out if Z is well enough to help his dad, shouldn't he be at work. It wouldn't matter if Z was desperately ill, he said he'd help his dad so he'll follow through on that. Family is very important to Z, if only his family was as supportive of us, but that is another story and wil be told another time.

who needs walkers

Who needs walkers when there are chairs around. C and E have been taking our kitchen chairs for a walk for the last few weeks. I get up to go do something and then have to chase after my chair before I can sit down again. Unfortunately can't get any good photos of this as the monsters abandon whatever they were doing and crawl towards me every time they see the camera.

Enya got out of having her vaccinations again yesterday as she has caught Z's cold. Although Ciara will probably get it too, yesterday she was healthy so I grabbed the opportunity and took her to the doc. As Z is at home on sick leave anyway I only took Ciara out for the doc visit and it was SO much easier only having one baby to look after. I had her in the baby sling and it was so nice to be able to cuddle with her during our outing and not be wheeling a huge pram around. She was really good about getting stuck too, thankfully this time she only got one injection. After that we quickly did some food shopping and then it was home to the sickies.

To give Z some peace and quiet I met up with a friend in the city for coffee (or hot chocolate) in the afternoon. This time I brought both girls with and it was so funny to see all the attention we got. In the morning with just one baby no one gave us a second look, but with both girls suddenly we were getting pointed out and cooed at from all sides. If the statistics are right and 1 in 35 births are twins then surely people should be used to seeing them! The attention isn't mean and I don't object to people admiring my (if I say so myself) gorgeous daughters, I just find it astonishing how much attention something so commonplace arouses. I shudder to think what it must be like for parents of triplets (or for the quintuplets that were born here 2 years ago!!).

Today Z is feeling better so I'll try get the girls out again this afternoon to give him more quiet time but in the meantime it's lunch time here and I have 2 very hungry babies to feed.

Computer trouble

sorry I've not posted in so long but my computer is in the process of dying. It refuses to recharge on occasion or when I plug it in the mouse goes wild! Today it is however cooperating so I can update;0).

Both girls have got a third tooth now, Ciara is proving to be a bit of an exception and has got a top lateral incisor instead of a central one (at least I hope so or she is going to need lots of expensive orthodontic treatment). She is also starting to let go of support in standing and can maintain her balance for a few seconds before falling over. On Friday I even saw her stand up completely unaided in the middle of the bathroom mat, she immediately fell over but she is trying!!

Enya continues to be unsteady in standing, and is not attempting to cruise on the furniture. The physio remarked to me last week that we're going to have trouble with her as she is "hyperactive" i.e. unable to be still for a minute. Both Z and I have noticed this already, even when she is eating her feet are drumming on the stool. She loves music and I was wondering if I should register her for music classes in the hope that this will help soothe her down. She only has three teeth but has started grinding them none the less, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I can't stand that sound or the sound of people chewing food. as you may have guessed the radio is on during mealtimes in my house ;-).

I have started researching Kindergartens in our area, we're hoping to start them when they turn 3 but as the places are hard to come by you have to register early. For at least one of the local KG we are already too late to get places to start in 2 years time! I had briefly thought about registering them to start next year but none of the Kindergartens in our area take children from 2 years. In a way I'm glad about that as it gives me a good reason for staying home and spending time with them!

Other than that we had a couple of firsts last week. First time on a train and let me tell you german punctuality is not a myth but they need to think about disabled access a bit more. We landed lifting our twin buggy about half a meter down to the platform on the way home. They also only have one coach where you have room for a pram. Unfortunately on our way home from Cologne we were late so we had to jump into the first coach and the wheelchair/pram coach was the last coach in the train. There was no way to go through the train with our pram without taking the girls out and collapsing it and there was no way I was going to let my girls crawl on the filthy floor while I carried the pram through. We didn't want to get off and swap at the stations as they didn't stop long and as I mentioned lifting the prams in and out was difficult. In the end my mom landed up with spectacular bruises on her arms from manhandling the pram in and out the train and I spent the next 2 days with a nasty headache from stress! Another first is the girls had their first go in a swing, I took them for a walk yesterday to get them out the house so Z could finish doing our overdue tax return in peace and we went past a park. I saw the swing and thought we could try it, the girls LOVED it. I'll have to start taking them out for more walks along that route, maybe it'll help with my weight loss as well ;0). We have also gone back to our original pram where they sit next to each other as our home pram as the borrowed pram where they are one behind the other does not work for us. Whoever sits behind always kicks the back of the seat in front and leans over the side of the pram so she can see what is ahead. I'm glad we borrowed this pram and didn't buy it!!

I said I would publish a few pictures of Enya in her new shoes but given the computer problems I'll just post a link to where I bought them.

If I don't post in the next few days please forgive me, my computer will have completely given up the ghost (or I'll have chucked it against the wall in which case it will be beyond resurrection).

PS Enya has nearly cracked 8kg :0)

AWOL

My mom is here to visit and we're having a great time. Cologne yesterday, multiple walks today, a trusted babysitter (after all if she raised my sisters and me she must know what she is doing, right!?!), I'm loving it.

Double Darth Vader

Okay I take back what I said about the preemie jackets not selling, all four of them are gone! If you just make them enough of a bargain somebody will buy!! About half my stuff is gone and the rest I will put away in the hopes that I manage to convince a certain husband that a third child would be nice;o).

C and E have taken to doing Darth Vader impressions, don't ask me how this started but they think this is great fun. Last night while chatting to my sister on the phone Enya started and before long Ciara was breathing hoarsely back. Usually by the end of the conversation we are all three taking turns at it while the others laugh.

As I mentioned before Enya delights in pushing objects around the house, up to now it's been our bar stools or folded up mattress, but now she has a lion toy to push around. J, my very good friend, gave us this toy from her daughter and the girls seem to love it. Ciara can walk really well pushing the lion except she doesn't steer too well. Enya keeps falling to her knees as it runs away with her but she doesn't give up, she gets up and tries again. Now if only Ciara wouldn't keep bouncing her and stealing the lion away, Enya might soon be walking better.

Hanging my head

I was so adamant that Enya's drinking was not due to teeth...until she bit my finger this morning and there was a sharp edge where her top right incisors would be!! In my defence she doesn't let us examine her mouth/gums/teeth, it's more a kind of quick peek when she laughs.

Anyhoo we now have 3 teeth for Enya and 2 teeth for Ciara (and before you ask, yes I did feel Ciara's gum line, she doesn't mind fingers in her mouth).

climbing step

So while I was fighting with my computer yesterday, things got suspiciously quiet around the house. When I went to check on what the little rugrats had gotten up to, I found Ciara standing on our folded travelling cot mattress at the window sill eating the gravel from one of our pot plants!

We knew that Ciara could climb a single step in standing, if she had something to hold on to (in this case a radiator) but until today she only has climbed proper steps. The mattress is soft and hard to balance on, so I really didn't expect her to manage it. Enya has also taken to pushing objects around the house in standing and I expect she pushed the mattress to the wall where Ciara could climb on it.

Thank goodness our next security gate has arrived so we can now block the girls out of the lounge, it seems despite my best efforts they still can get up to too much mischief in that room.

I'm in the middle of sorting out babys clothes to be sold at a bazaar on the weekend. I've discovered the preemie box and can't get over how tiny the clothes are. I can remember when these outfits drowned the girls and now they seem so minute. I'll probably take the preemie stuff to our local hospital as I can't see it selling. We've 4 preemie jackets which we were given, that the girls never even wore as by the time they were discharged they were too big for the jackets.

Looking at the newborn clothing is making me very broody though.

Enya's new shoes

Poor little Enya has sweaty feet just like her dad. Before anyone thinks I'm an judgemental mom, I'm not the only one who has noticed this, the physio has also commented on it.

Anyhoo, up to now we've had Enya in a pair of Addidas trainers to help stop her from slipping on our tile floors but this resulted in VERY smelly feet. Almost as foul smelling as when we still had the sats probed stuck on her feet! So I grabbed the chance to order a pair of Krabbelschuhe (crawling shoes-soft leather slip ons with a rough leather non slip sole) and they finally arrived this morning. Most important they fit and Enya really seems to like them. When I first put them on she had to inspect them thoroughly but now she is crawling around and pulling up to standing as usual, although they offer less support than the trainers did. They are probably better for her feet too asnow it's just as though she was barefoot ;0).

Staying with Enya, we've recently noted she has her own way of sucking her dummy. We put it in right way up and she immediately turns it upside down and hooks the concave side under her bottom lip. I have no idea why she does this but every time she has a dummy this is how she is sucking it.

I had some photos but they got lost somewhere between my phone and the laptop and right now I'm too irritated to try again. I've spent the last half an hour trying to find the blasted things! I'm going to make the girls lunch and will try again later.

Busy little bees

Weren't we busy little bees?




On another note, I've just cancelled physio and the doctors appointment for today as both girls are running a temperature (38 C). The doctors appointment was for a couple of vaccinations but they are not urgent, we have a new appointment in a couple of weeks. The girls have not reacted too dramatically to any vaccination to date and we want to keep it that way so we'll wait.

I'm dropping another bottle from our schedule as Enya is fighting hard during bottle feeds. We're hoping to increase the amounts of the 2 remaining bottle feeds to make up some of the difference and we'll try yogurts to make up the rest. I'm also offering her a sippy cup with water during the day which she is drinking from. Today at midday they had bran muffins with homemade jam, which were a little dry so both girls drank really well with lunch. Operation Christmas Dinner is progressing!!

Woodpile

Good news first, Z made it home late Sunday night and we had 3 out of 3 good nights with the girls sleeping through, on Monday morning they only woke up at 8am. They've been sleeping 13 hours at night since we dropped a nap during the day. I know it won't last, but it is allowing me to catch up on uninterrupted sleep so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Not so good news, Enyas drinking strike continues and she is getting picky about her solids again. It's been a while since she has had a full out strike so I suppose we are due, I can only hope it won't last long. Ciara in the meantime is making great strides forward with solids, she manages everything we've given her recently and our next attempt will be some very tender meat.

Z's dad came to visit yesterday to deliver our wood and pick up our old sofa, he was supposed to be here around midday but only arrived about 4pm. The bad thing about this whole business is that the wood was ordered on the condition that it was ready to be burnt (cut, chopped and dried) which it wasn't. We spent 3 hours last night and then another 5 hours today unloading, chopping and then stacking wood. Thank goodness Lee, Z's dad's girlfriend came with yesterday or we would never unloaded all the wood yesterday (she babysat while I worked). Z landed up having to take an extra day leave to get all the wood chopped.

For some reason Z doesn't trust me with an axe, but then that's not surprising given that he often will take a knife out my hand when I'm cooking. He says I hold the knife awkwardly, and given that he has an apprenticeship as butcher behind him, he is very quick with slicing and dicing. Sorry I digress. The girls slept very well for their naps today again which meant I could help Z with the stacking and by 3pm it was all done. Just in time as at 4pm we had visitors coming;-). I only got a photo of the trailer, tomorrow I will get a photo of our wood supply for the winter. We've got about 5 cubic meters to see us through, hopefully we'll have a mild winter so that we have enough. In the meantime our wood burner is lit and we are comfortably baking in the lounge.

Home alone day 3

Well my 3 days alone has turned into 4. Z phoned to say he will probably be coming home tomorrow instaed of tonight as he wants to be there for the evening rush. He thinks he will be driving early tomorrow morning but I don't expect him before midday at the earliest. We are supposed to be getting a load of wood delivered to his dad's place which his dad will bring down to us when he comes to collect our old sofa. As the wood is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, I know Z will stay to help unload and reload it;-).

On the home front things are going really well. For the first time in ages I have had 2 consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep. Not only that the girls are 2 hours into their morning nap and still asleep!! Feeding has gone well, Ciara is drinking her bottle without me having to do more than hand it to her and is eating textured foods happily now. With Enya I'm back to walking while she drinks her bottle as if I sit she refuses her bottle (never thought I'd say it but thank goodness she doesn't weigh more!!).

Yesterday was great fun as they played beautifully with one another (except when they were hitting each other or trying to steal the others toy). They both love to play with their reflection in the mirror. THeir latest trick is they try and lick their reflection! I've seen Ciara licking the floor as well (note to self: need to start cleaning more often!). The joys of tiled flooring! Enya also found a slug to terrorize- it had obviously found it's way inside through our front door and I only noticed after a couple of minutes that Enya was very absorbed in something by the front door and when I went to check she was playing with a slug. It must have taken me about 5 minutes to get the slug slime off her hands and I don't know if she had the slug in her mouth as well. To be honest I don't even want to think about that *shudder*. I thought it was only boys that played with slugs and insects and ate dirt etc. ;o)

On that note I'm off to go and wash my floors down, hope eveyone has a great Sunday.

Home alone day 1

So far so good. We three had a pj day- I haven't had one of those for ages and it is another first for Ciara and Enya. Z left around nine this morning so it hasn't even been a complete day by myself yet.

Ciara landed up going to bed after only about 3 spoons of dinner, so I'm expecting her to wake up in the early hour of the morning for an extra bottle. At least Enya ate well, bottling remains difficult!

I want a new law past:

Babies that refuse to sleep during the day don't get to be all crabby come dinner time.

With effect immediately!!

The tale of two sitters

You know for non indentical twins C and E are on very much the same schedule! On Monday we caught Enya up on her knees (M-sitting), not holding onto anything. Not quite the classical sitting position but she had none the less got herself in this position without any help and was using both her hands to play, so I'll take it as independent sitting. Ciara took the classical route, we've known for the last few weeks it was coming as she was propping herself up in sitting but her hand was getting ever nearer her bottom. Surprise surprise on Monday evening she managed to sit without her hands as well.

Both girls have been able to sit if placed for a while already but I was waiting for them to be able to get in this position by themselves (in Germany we are discouraged from placing children in sitting, when the back muscles and balance are strong/good enough they will do it themselves).

I'm dreading this weekend. I'm going to be all by myself with the girls for the long weekend. Z has to go help his father in his home town about 2 hours drive away. Z's dad is having an Oktoberfest at his restuarant this weekend and as Z will be pulling beer the whole day (and night) and won't be able to help with the girls, I've opted to stay home where everything is set up for us. This is the first time I'm going to be alone with the girls overnight without any possibility of help (the old no family near by, and friends all working or with their own families), I know it'll all be fine the girls are not difficult but I still dread the mealtimes where they get both bottle and solids!