Well, Mr. Elijah loved the hammock and did an 8 hour stretch! Holy cow, it’s a record for him! They are now consistently sleeping longer, it’s great. This morning we had an appointment with the cardiologist for Elijah. We left Rowan home with Mary Ellen. It always is so weird having only one baby to carry around. Elijah was just the model baby today. He was very patient and laid still through the whole echocardiogram, EKG, and all the other stuff they did. They had the TV on this time and he was glued to it. He’s never seen so many bright colors! They also did a weight today and he weighed a whopping 12 pounds 11 ounces! When Dr. Lewin came in, the first thing he mentioned was our Christmas newsletter. He was super impressed and read it cover to cover! He had no idea that Michael was such a huge mountaineer. That was a nice surprise, he probably gets a thousand of those things, so it must have made a huge impression on him to remember to mention it to us! But on to serious business, Elijah’s heart looks really good, better than last time. The last time, his left ventricle wasn’t working as hard as it should, so he was concerned about it. This time, it was working perfectly and so the outlook is much better. His VSD (murmur) is either closed or so small that it is undetectable now, so that is no longer an issue. He said that if all goes well, his appointments can get further apart and if there’s no sign of anything changing by the time he’s 10, then he can have checkups once every other year! That’s such great news and a relief. Dr. Lewin was also amazed at how much weight Elijah has gained! He is just a super baby! After the appointment, we went to Burgermaster to celebrate. Elijah was hungry so I had to nurse him while we waited for our food. After that, I dropped Michael off at work and went home. It was chaotic for a few minutes. Mary Ellen was about to leave, Jodi (our chef) was in the kitchen whipping up our meals, and the babies were crying and hungry. I fed them and then put them down for their nap. They immediately went to sleep and slept super soundly for 2.5 hours! Sometimes they were so quiet, I had to check to make sure they were still breathing. After their nap, I fed them again, and we went to pick up Michael from work.

The big news today is that Elijah started “talking”! Michael was holding him in the evening and he started making really cute noises while staring at him. Michael repeated what he said back to him, then Elijah would say it again. It went back and forth for a long time. I wish I had the video camera then, it was sooooo cute! Can’t wait for Rowan to start doing that too!

Happy 3 month birthday! Rowan amazed us all when he did a 10 hour sleep stretch! WOW! A record! Elijah is doing 4-5 hour stretches still. He usually wakes up at 3am. I can now pump at night at 12am and 3am (if I’m up) to build up my frozen supply. We celebrated the boys’ birthday by going to Cottage Lake for a picnic. It was a nice sunny day (projected to be the last in awhile). We got out the stroller and after making a hundred trips up and down (forgot one thing after another), we headed to the park. We found a nice secluded sunny hill and planted ourselves down. Both the boys fell asleep through the whole trip. We took them out to let them feel the warm sun and laying on a blanket. I really love barefeet on a picnic blanket, I don’t know why. We ate a sandwich (from Top Foods that I lived on while at the hospital). After a few more minutes, they started fussing a little. So we packed up our stuff and headed back. Once we started moving, they were super quiet and fell asleep again. Go figure! I decided to finally switch Elijah over to the hammock at night. Since he gets up anywhere from 3 to 5 hours, it couldn’t hurt.

Michael went trail running this morning and over did it. I think he ran about 16 miles. He came home and could barely walk up the stairs, it was too funny. We spent the day lazing about, and we watched the Karate Kid. Good movie! I lost my crochet needle that I use to do some finishing on my knitting projects and I looked everywhere for it! Tomorrow I’ll have to go to the craft store to pick another one up. The boys are starting to “bulk up” in the evenings and I run out of milk. So, I have to feed them until I think I’m out, then we give them a bath, then we feed them thawed milk. Sometimes they drink more than 100ml’s more! That’s a lot! But then they fall right asleep.

Today was a pretty low key day, nothing really going on. But it is Friday, so we went out to dinner at the Woodinville Cafe. We keep forgetting to put one of our dinners into the fridge the night before so we end up in this situation (having to eat out). The boys did well again, Elijah started to fuss a little, but nothing the pacifier couldn’t handle. Rowan slept through it all.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, but today I had the doula help me with a photo shoot of the boys. It’s been awhile since I last took studio pictures of them. Elijah was very patient and could sit there and look cute for a long time. We were able to get some pictures with clothes on and off. With Rowan, he was a little fussy since he was so hungry, we were only able to get some with his clothes off. But we still got some cute ones! Together with the doula, we figured out how to get a nice towel/pillow arrangement that will hold them up, since they still cannot sit on their own or hold their heads up without help. The photos were fantastic, and I immediately had to show them to Michael, who had to immediately show them to people at work. After this session, it gave me more confidence to do it professionally. We had a long talk about making some extra side money, and I am really excited about it!

Here are the pictures:
Elijah: http://galleries.mountainwerks.org/gallery/411442
Rowan: http://galleries.mountainwerks.org/gallery/411479

Today we went to another eMOMs playdate, this time with 4 other eMOMs! We had all stages of babyhood, one person was pregnant with twins, I had the youngest set at 3 months, then there was 5 month b/g twins, 7 month b/g twins and 9 month identical boys. It was really cool to see them at all the different stages. The 9 month old babies were huge, I can’t believe these guys will get that big someday (real soon!). It was also good to talk with other moms and compare notes. The poor pregnant woman was just being bombarded with info, I felt kind of bad for her! But, it was still good information to keep in mind. The boys were pretty fussy the whole time, probably because they usually like a quiet nap in their hammocks around that time, and it was nowhere near quiet there! I did swaddle them up and put them in their car seats (it’s the closest I could get to their hammock environment) and they dozed off for a few minutes. I did manage to take a few pictures of the other sets of twins, but I wish I was able to get more. Oh well. I think they said that it was a first time play date for all the people there. It was fun to get out on such a nice day. Once we got home, I fed the boys and they took a looooong nap! It was a little stressful for them, but I think they’re getting more used to it.

Their sleep training is continuing to go well! Elijah is still on the 4 - 5 hour schedule, which Rowan is consistently doing 8 or so hours now.

Last night, Rowan slept 9 amazing hours! I had to check on him to make sure he was still breathing. I was absolutely shocked! Elijah did 5 hours and then another 4, so I got a lot of sleep last night. I have to figure out when I should pump. I’m trying to build up a supply so that when I go to Hawaii for my sister’s wedding, they’ll have breast milk and not have to have formula. But I’m guessing I won’t have enough so we’ll have to supplement like we did when we were at the hospital.

Sara came today and we had a lot of fun talking about movies and stuff. We have a lot of the same tastes, and I sent her home with a few movies that she *had* to see. I no longer sleep during the day, so when she was here, I did other stuff like bills, shower and cook my breakfast.

We had a weird pattern this evening and the boys had a super hard time getting to sleep. We usually put them down at 9, but since they were still napping at the time we usually start the bedtime process, we pushed it off for an hour. So we didn’t put them down until 10, and that was a mistake! It took them about an hour to get settled! Ugh, never again!

I think because we had such a big day yesterday, they didn’t sleep as well last night (3 - 5 hour stretches). Rowan is sleeping longer than Elijah, but they are both doing so well with the sleeping! I can’t believe how quickly they adjusted to the longer hours. We are certainly going to expect some “off” days, but they have been fairly consistent so far. That’s been really nice. Michael is able to sleep in the same room with us and get woken up only once.

Today was a pretty low key day. Mary Ellen was sick again so we’ll have the substitute in on Tuesday and Thursday. This is the last full week of help. Next week my parents are coming and then after them, Michael’s parents are coming. And then after that, I’m on my own. I think we’ll do fine, especially since I’m getting a lot of sleep! We didn’t do anything special for Michael’s birthday since we pretty much celebrated over the weekend.

Today we made pretty big plans. First, since the weather has been so great, we wanted to go walking around Greenlake in the city. It’s a popular place for people to go and walk/bike/jog/blade. And of course, we could then lunch at the Red Mill. We headed out around 10am, after a feeding. Michael had a hard time fitting the stroller in the car trunk, but he finally got it in. Apparently, it will only go in one way. The day was cold and clear, I was a little worried that it would be too cold for the babies. They braved it out, and after all of our faces got numb, we were happy! This was the first time for Michael to experience walking with the stroller. It was fun to see him as a proud dad walking with his kids. It’s so funny because all the women who would pass by would exclaim “Look at the twins!” And the men who were with them would give a very nervous look and not want to make eye contact. Michael was quick to notice that and said “I was one of those men, but not anymore!” For some reason, I was only looking at the people who had strollers, and they at me, it’s like a radar. I felt like there was some unspoken camaraderie between us, a special “parent” thing, but mostly trying to take a peek at the other person’s baby! We were planning to go all the way around, but I thought it was like 4 miles around, so we turned around a little more than a mile. There was a nice espresso stand where we got some hot chocolate. We chatted with another couple who had a 7 month old boy. They kind of missed their baby being as small as our guys. It turns out that it was only 2.8 miles, we could’ve made it! The boys did really well, mostly slept through it all. After we got back, it was time for a feeding, so I did it from the front seat of the car. It was quite comfortable since I brought the boppy with me. Michael changed their diapers in the trunk, and we were ready to go again! We went to Red Mill, enjoyed a delicious burger, then headed home. Needless to say, they were super tired when we got home!

Michael left early in the morning to go climbing with Carlos and Robert. I got up late since we had another great sleep night (both of them had 1 6 hour stretch and 1 5 hour stretch). I decided to make a lemon cheesecake bar recipe (from a mix) but realized that we had no sugar! Can you believe that? So, I decided to walk to Safeway. I got the boys together and off we went in the stroller. It’s about 2.5 miles total. They did well again and everyone we passed had to comment on how cute they were and told me about twins that they know. It’s hard to get through the store with such a spectacle! I try not to make eye contact or linger since it will take forever if I make conversation with everyone. I bought some sugar and other supplies and packed it in the storage area below the seats. We made it home just fine, they are getting used to the stroller, thank goodness!

Michael came home later than expected, because they didn’t bring snowshoes and had to punch through the snow. As usual after an outing with Robert, almost every sentence is “Robert said …” or “Robert did …”. Too funny! We went to bed early again today since he was tuckered! But we did manage to eat some of the lemon bars and they were good!