FOOD!

The babies had their first real food! They had butternut squash and appeared to like it! We were supposed to wait until they were 6 months, due to Jeff's food allergies as a child. We couldn't wait anymore, though. They've been eying food and seem to want to eat. We put them in their Bumbo seats on the counter and started feeding them. Owen made a funny face, but ate the food. Chase made no face, like he expected it to taste like it did and was really eager to eat. He then wanted to put his hands in his mouth, so the food began getting all over. It's hard to feed a baby with his hands in his mouth. We had some good laughs and it was not nearly as messy as I thought it would be-yet. :) Enjoy the videos. Owen is in the blue bib, Chase the red.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. My parents came up and my mom did all the cooking. It was wonderful! Jeff's brother, Pat and his wife, Lindsay and daughter Sophia came. Lindsay's brother Lane also came to Thanksgiving dinner. On Thanksgiving last year we announced to everyone that we were expecting a baby and Lindsay was pregnant with Sophia. My how things have changed! Chase and Owen were wonderful all day, enabling us to converse and get the food made and cleaned up. It was a special first holiday for the boys.

Baptismal gown

My Grandpa Bob was born in White Owl, SD in a sod house in 1911. His baptismal gown was passed down the line with all his children, grand children and now greatgrand children wearing it. Chase and Owen will not be dedicated at church until next summer and the gown won't fit by then. So, I took pictures of each of them in it. They were so precious and the gown was so beautiful on them. Enjoy.

Chase Screaming

If you have sensitive ears, beware. Chase has discovered his "voice". He loves to play with it by squealing and screaming. It's delightful, especially when out to dinner. I love to hear it at home, but as you will see, Owen doesn't like it.

Today both boys sat up with the assistance of the Boppy. Owen found his toes and I'm pretty sure Chase's tooth is popping through. Big day.

I forgot to add these pictures to the blog. The pumpkin shirts are from my dad. :)

5 Months Old!

Today we are 5 months old! My how time flies. Here is what we are doing:

Chase:
I'm about 16 lbs, I think. I love to smile and have a little dimple on my chin. I look intently at things before I decide to smile, but once I do watch out. I like to take everything in and people have told me I look wise. I wonder what that means. I like to kick my legs and I can roll over. I'm good at rolling from my tummy to my back. Today my mommy was feeling around in my mouth and she swears she felt and can see a tooth. I'm not so sure. I like to eat about 6-8 oz. during my meal times, which are 2.5-3 hours apart. I like to sleep at night! I go to sleep about 8:00 and wake up about 6:00. Mommy loves me for it. She tells me every morning. I found my voice the other day and love to squeal and make screaming noises. I also make "oooohhh, ooaaahhh" sounds a lot. I like to chew on my tongue and drool is starting to fall out of my mouth. I'm happy most of the time, unless I get really really hungry. I love to stare at my brother Owen and smile at him. He's funny to me. Mommy says this picture of me looking down is her favorite. :)

Owen:
I also think I'm about 16 lbs. I smile at everyone and everything with my mouth wide open. Smiling is my favorite thing to do-it's because I'm so happy all the time. Sometimes I get a little upset though-like when I'm hungry. Mommy just hasn't figured out that when I'm hungry, it's time to eat-NOW. I like to giggle and talk alot. I mostly talk to myself, but sometimes I'll talk to others. Chase likes to look at me a lot, and I guess I like to look at him too. Sometimes we lay on our tummies and talk to each other, it's lots of fun. I love to kick my legs and grab things. I really like to put rattles in my mouth and chew on them. Drooly stuff falls out when I do that. I like to sleep most nights. Some nights it's so fun to see Mommy at 4:00 am, though. I figure she likes to see me too. I used to make a cough noise to get attention, but I found it wasn't working, so I stopped. I heard Mommy tell Daddy she was happy about this. I like to roll from my tummy to my back-it's my favorite. Once I bonked my head though, so now I'm more careful. Sometimes I like to take a long time to eat and I'd rather look around. Somehow I can get down 6-8 oz. though. I'm getting big! Mommy loves how I suck my thumb so she had to show you the picture.

We heard we get to eat food next month. Because Daddy had some food alergies we have to wait until 6 months for sure. We are excited to find out about food.

Look How Much We've Grown!

Wow! We've grown a lot! The first picture of us was taken yesterday. The second picture was taken in August. Notice how we look at Mommy and the camera in our big boy picture and we have chubby cheeks. The third picture is from mid July, we were just born!

Chase is the first baby, Owen is under him.


It's been a good week. Little Owen had to go to the Dr. on Sunday. He had a sore on his elbow that wasn't healing-in fact it was getting bigger each day. Turns out he had impetigo-which is what I suspected. He has some antibiotic cream we put on 3 times a day and it's getting better quickly.

Chase found his screaming voice this week. Actually it's more of a squeal. He likes to use it often and it's very loud. Owen now prefers his thumb to the paci and will actually pull his paci out to put his thumb in. He also likes to let his pointer finger hang out of his mouth. Chase has taken a liking to his fingers too. He sucks them or his thumb.

They both continue to be smiley little guys and love to giggle. It's great fun.

Daddy Sings

Jeff loves to play his guitar and sing for the boys. Chase particularly loves it. Here is a sample of his music.

A Twin Household

Do you want to know what a household with twins looks like? I'm slightly embarrassed to show these pictures, but I feel it's educational. First of all, it looks like a twin tornado swept through the land. There are 2 of everything. 2 exersaucers, 2 swings, 2 playmats, 2 boppies, etc. Then, there are burp rags everywhere (you never know when and where you will need one) along with blankets. Pacifiers litter the ground. On occasion we "pick up". After doing this we don't know where anything is and we start to throw burp rags, pacis and the such around to make it feel more like "home". We need to be prepared, hence the crap everywhere. I'm hoping a time will come when it will not be like this. However I know boppies will be replaced with trucks and exersaucers with high chairs, etc. Oh boy.




If you look at the picture of the blanket with items spread around it you'll see "Home Base". This is where everything happens. The babies sit in the boppies and I feed them at the same time. The small brown wicker basket with a green box of wipes on top contains everything I could possible need. Diapers, butt cream, neosporin, wipes, Q-tips, fingernail clippers, lotion and a bottle of wine (just kidding). It is here the feeding and changing takes place. To your left you will see 2 play mats. While one twin is being changed the other is under the play mat. They get to play under each mat each day (as to not bore them. ha ha) In the case on of the twins needs to stay up-right, he will stay on the boppy (so he doesn't spit up). In this case a toy will be placed over him to bat at or the Fisher Price light up toy on the blue basket on the right will be placed near the boppy for him to look at. It's all a science and one we feel we have down-at least for the weekend. Then on Monday I'm sure they will change and we'll have to develop a new routine. For now it works and it's ours. Oh-I left out one very important thing. The bottle prop. In the event a twin is very mad and I'm not quite ready to feed them both, the bottle prop is used. The bottle fits in it and it props the bottle up so the baby can eat while I get the other baby settled. It's been a life saver for Owen, who is like his Daddy and can't wait for 30 seconds once he decides he is hungry. Chase will sit and suck on his fingers or pull on his outfit patiently, but not Owen. He's a screamer! :)

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

4 month appointment

So we had our 4 month Dr. appointment today. I was nervous all day because of the shots. It was horrible to hear the screaming, but they did much better once we got home. They slept a little and then played like normal. Jeff and I were sweating bullets trying to get them to calm down. Poor little guys.

Here are the stats:
Owen-15 lbs. 4 oz. 24.5 inches (50% for both)
Chase-15 lbs. 5 oz. 24.75 inches (50% for both)

I can't believe they are that close in weight and length. Amazing. They are healthy little boys and we are so happy. We are able to start feeding them food at 6 months. Because Jeff had pretty severe allergies as a kid we were told to hold off. We are looking forward to the day they get to try food, though.

Halloween

What a fun night we had! The boys were dressed as bumble bees and didn't really like being put into their costumes. Once in, though, they fell asleep and we were able to walk around the neighborhood with them. It was a beautiful night and a lot of fun. My parents were in town and handed candy out to kids who came by to trick-or-treat. Chase has the little bow tie on his costume.

Big news! Yesterday Owen rolled over! He rolled from his back to his tummy. And today Chase and Owen rolled from their tummy to their back! It was fun to watch them and it was so easy for them. They just put their little heads down and over their bodies went. Both Jeff and I were able to watch and my mom saw Owen yesterday. Pretty cool.