Double Happiness--adventures with Lily and Elsa: October 2004

Happy Halloween

Lookin' cute for our first Halloween.
(Elsa left, Lily right)

They Sleep.

An amazing thing has happened over the past week. So amazing that we've dared not write about it (in case we jinx ourselves).

Our daughters have decided to sleep at night. As in 4-6 hour stretches. The first time it happened, I woke up at 2am with aching breasts because we missed the midnight feeding. In a panic, I ran into their room to make sure everyone was still breathing. There they were sleeping like little logs. The next night, it happened again. Then the next night. and so on. We are on night five of this. Either they are making up for all the sleep they missed last week. Or we have turned a corner.

What's the secret? Putting them in their own room. It worked like magic. Mark just stayed with them until they fell asleep, resting a hand on their forehead. Then if they woke up upset, he'd do it again until they were calm. Last night, he only had to put them down once! Of course, the 5-6 hour stetch is followed by a regular 2-3 hour stretch. But, this still makes a reasonable night's sleep for mom and dad.

The other exciting news this week, is that I finally am getting the hang of tandem nursing. I've done it several times over the past few days. It is all about the pillows and it shaves about 20 minutes off the night time wakings.

Of course, they don't sleep ALL the time!

Elsa NOT napping.

bookends

According to the pathology report of their placenta, Elsa and Lily are identical twins. Mark and I have suspected this to be true. However, sometimes we were doubtful because their personalities and facial expressions are so different.

This is not the most flattering baby picture. However, you can really see similarities between the two. Note the hairline, eyes, hands, etc. Elsa on the left has a thinner face, more hair and makes lots of goofy faces. Lily has a fuller face and less hair.

They both use their hands a lot. Here is Lily looking surprised.

Elsa grooving in her bouncy.

Picture with Grandma and Grandpa on the last day of their visit. We are very sad to see them go home. They spoiled us with lots of baby holding and good food! In fact, Grandpa P loaded our freezer with lots of meals to eat when we are two tired to cook.
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Our babies are cute even when they cry . . .

Elsa makes the saddest cry faces ever.

This is Lily showing what we call the full on tomato. The red is not a trick of the camera.

Here's a picture of our family at six weeks out. A little worse for wear, note the baby puke on mom's sweater and dad's facial hair. But, we are loving every minute.

Twins by the Bay

So the girls (and their parents) are now members of their local twins club, Twins by the Bay. We took them to a new parents/expectant parents support group, and it was good, but I felt a little awkward being the only dad there. Anyway, we're looking forward to the Halloween party the club is throwing. Undoubtedly lots of twins of various ages wearing very cute costumes.

Of course, with a new post here, I need to post a pictures. For a change of pace, though, I'll post one without the girls in it. It turns out that Elsa and Lily aren't the only ones to get use out of their bouncy seats.

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa Panning

This week Grandma and Grandpa Panning have flown in to visit the twins. Below are some photos of their visit so far . . . this visit has come just in time as Mom and Dad are quite worn out. It seems that Elsa is going through a growth spurt. She's been eating constantly and has slept about a total of 5 hours the past three nights. We're hoping she will get tired soon. On the otherhand, Lily slept about 12 hours last night, only waking for quick feedings. So, in answer to everyone's questions, the good twin/bad twin concept doesn't really exist at our house. I always tell people they just take turns! In more exciting news, Elsa took her first big girl bath with me in the real tub and liked it a lot. This morning Lily entertained us with her first cooing sounds. Also, the girls seem quite close to social smiling. Mark's convinced that Grandpa Panning will be the recipient of the first "real" smile. He thinks they will like his big fuzzy beard, since they are so into their bears.

The girls with Grandma and Grandpa

Elsa and her Grandpa

Lily and her Grandma

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Mark with the Panning triplets

4 weeks

The girls are exactly 4 weeks old today. It is amazing how quickly time is passing. It seems like we just brought them home from the hospital.

In things to report, we have been very spoiled by our friends over the past week. Jeff and Drew came over to make us dinner last week. Laura and Cristin stopped by to deliver an extra rocking chair, and we had a very nice bbq with the Berkeley grad-school crew on Sunday. Everyone finally got to meet the babies. Its so much work to get out of the house that it was great to have everyone come to us. Plus, they came with beer and food. What more could new parents ask for! Cristin stopped by again yesterday and gets special status as the first non-relative to change a diaper. Way to dig in!

In baby news, we scored a major victory as the twins have moved out of our bed and into their crib (in our bedroom). With two babies, two parents and a cat in a double bed, it was just getting too crowded. Plus, Mark's back was going out from sleeping in a contorted position for 3 weeks. Mark used the techniques in the book "The Baby Whisperer" to get them to sleep in the crib. It involved placing them in the crib and reassuring them everytime they got upset, then putting them down again. He only had to pick up the babies less than 10 times before they went to sleep. Every night it's been a little easier to put them down. I am very impressed. We had been doing mainly attachment style parenting before this (feeding, carrying around mainly on demand). This isn't really practical with twins, especially when I'm home alone. Yet, the whole "Crying it out" style seems quite harsh. This way seems like a good compromise and practical solution for twins. Self-soothing is a good thing. Now, I need to work on their day time patterns.

Well, Elsa is stirring so I must go. Here are their latest pictures.

Elsa (lt) and Lily (rt) in their thermals, dad's favorite outfit. Notice Elsa's new fuzzy hair.

Lily looking at her mom.

Elsa in yellow

We have a doctor in the house!

We have very exciting news to report. Yesterday Mark filed his thesis, thus ending 21+ years of formal education. (I'm not sure if kindergarten counts or not). He has now fufilled all the requirements for his PhD in Geophysics. The degree will become official in Dec, the department ceremony is in the Spring, but today he starts his postdoc. He also gets paid as a postdoc. So, for all intents and purposes, HE IS DONE! I am so proud of him. Finishing the degree with the added pressure of expecting twins was not easy. But, he followed through with his usual grace and hard work. Yeah Mark! For all you local readers, we are having a celebratory BBQ at our house on Sunday at 3pm.

In other news, we have also made it through our first week on our own with the twins...and we all survived. I've even had several 5-6 hour stretches on my own. Thankfully, Elsa and Lily are good babies overall. Nights and mornings are good. By the grace of God, they are on the same schedule at night. Plus in the mornings, they usually even give their parents at least an hour or two nap where they are both sleeping at the same time. Afternoons seem to be the fussy time. The trick is anticipating feedings before they get to the crying stage. One crying baby I can handle, the difficulty is when they both start crying at the same time. We've been trying to outsmart the fussy time by taking long afternoon walks. It seems to help.

They are growing very quickly. They seem to very aware of the world around them. I am also noticing their very distinct personalities. It makes telling them apart very easy. They are very unique individuals.

And now the fun part pictures!

Elsa and her dad.

Lily testing out her bouncy seat. This is actually a picture from a couple weeks ago. She's much bigger now.

The girls and I at the end of a long day. Notice Elsa's socks knitted by the fabulous Karrie.

Sleeping angel babies. (Lily left, Elsa right)

A Technical Note

Due to popular demand (okay one request from Karrie), we are now including a site feed for the website, which should make it readable via various newsreader and other random blog surfing applications. If this means nothing to you (as it did to me until quite recently), feel free to ignore this post, and wait for the next picture post. If it does mean anything to you, it's an atom xml feed, and it is also linked on the sidebar.

For those of you awaiting updates on the girls, I have no pictures, but I can say we went to the doctor yesterday, and both girls got a clean bill of health. Elsa's up to 7 lbs 2 oz, and Lily is at 7 lbs 5 oz, and both tested out fine. Elsa impressed the doctor with picking her head up like a 2 month old while she was on her belly. Lily chose not to be such a showoff in front of the doctor, but I've seen her do it without an audience.

Slingin' it

Sorry for the delay in posting. The phone company hit a cable in our neighborhood and we've been without phone and internet for most of the week.

In recent news, Grandma Angyus flew back home to Indiana yesterday morning. So, we are officially ON OUR OWN. Yikes! We sure appreciated having all the help and we miss her very much.

Thankfully, Great-Grandma Angyus sent us a present that has made a world of difference this week, the Sling. It has been a magical baby soothing device. It helps the girls fall asleep. It also allows us to hold one baby while still having our hands free. Its been a must-have for twins. No more eating dinner with just one hand! We were so impressed with it, that we went online and ordered a second. Now, we have his and her slings.

Here are some pictures from today's outing. We took a quick hike on Albany Hill. It is the highest point in the town where we live.