Two crawlers AND two spoon users

Big couple of weeks for the girls.

Bailey is officially crawling now (backwards AND forwards).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyrrVuReZMY

And, last night they used spoons to feed themselves. There was a lot of spillage and they weren't really getting a ton but they were figuring it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBwh91yUohE



They are also (kind of) learning how to give high fives (a very important baby milestone). Brooklyn is also starting to master putting Legos together. She is so funny because she gets so frustrated when she can't figure it out and doesn't want any help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-IEWyW_XeU

Mommy's first post-twin half marathon

Ran my first post-twin half marathon (13.1 miles) this weekend. I've done three half's before (Akron twice and the towpath one). I actually ran Akron's half with Darren about a month before I found out I was pregnant with the girls.

It was a tough run. Obviously it's a lot harder to train with two little babies, so I only ran three times/week after they went to bed or on the weekends (and sometimes only twice a week), and I didn't really cross or strength train like I should have (or at all, ha). We kept increasing our distance run on the weekends so I did run ten miles the weekend before. But to say I was sore would be an understatement. I feel pretty good now though.

Not my best time: 2 hours, 14 mins and 29 seconds (10:15 min/mile pace). My PR was the towpath at 2 hours 2 min. Still, I was really happy with the race. My goal was around 10 to 10:30. Plus I did not anticipate how much the hills on shoreway would suck! 

And wasn't it all worth it anyway for the adorable pictures of these babies holding our medals?????

I'm going to ease off of running for a bit and focus on T-25. Yes, I was sucked in when watching an infomerical one night while Bailey couldn't sleep. It's a ten week program, just 25 minutes a day, five days/week. I'm anticipating some days will be tough to pull it off so I'm going to approach this with some flexibility. 

Roseola and Baby Milestones

Roseola

Breakfast Picnic

Bailey came down with a fever on Mother's Day (my first Mother's Day! Which was great until the fever. We had a picnic breakfast Saturday at Rocky River park overlooking the lake then went to the zoo Sunday morning). Anyway she was really sick Sunday night and I took work off on Monday. Saw the doctor, no ear or respiratory infection. Fever still there. Hit 102.9 at the highest. Fever continued Tuesday and Wednesday morning, finally went away by Wednesday afternoon. She was able to go back to daycare on Thursday but we noticed a slight rash. By Thursday night she definitely had a rash all over her body - roseola. It's a really common baby virus that everyone gets before kindergarten with a really high fever followed by a rash. At least it's no longer contagious at the rash state. There's a nine to ten day incubation period so if Brooklyn is still healthy by the 25th we are in the clear. Let's hope!

Roseola rash on back

Bailey is feeling so much better (she's laughing and playing again) but hasn't been eating or sleeping very well all week. Poor thing!

Baby milestone update: 

Crawling

Brooklyn is now crawling everywhere like a professional baby crawler on a Pampers commercial. This lead Darren and I to the realization that we need baby gates and baby proofing. That will be the plan for this weekend!

Bailey is still crawling backwards but she is trying so hard to go forwards, especially now that she sees Brooklyn doing it. Any day now.

Standing Up

Brooklyn can now pull herself into a standing position, and yesterday at day care she was standing up in her crib after nap time. Slow down baby girl!

Toys

How can toys be a milestone? Let me explain. Brooklyn is really starting to figure out how toys work. She can put balls into the top of the chute and watch them come out the bottom, and then put them back in again. She can also put objects into other objects (like a coin into the piggy back slot or a block into the square cut out). Here is a hilarious video of Brooklyn figuring out how to put the coins into the piggy bank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdJnygpfEXw

11 months, March for Babies, new tricks, twin group

May is already a super hectic/busy month (as opposed to the previous 11 months, when having twins was a piece of cake and we sat around, ha).

First, the girls posed for their standard monthly photo shoot in the adorable sailor outfits I got at the twin sale. Check out the 11 month vs 3 week comparison. This is the last month my girls will officially be babies (toddlers start at one year). I can't get over how big they are and how much they are changing every single day.

Their newest trick is learning to stand (albeit a bit wobbly). Brooklyn does the craziest baby moves ever where she basically gets into a down dog or complete plank in an effort to try and stand herself up. This often results in her doing the splits and just rolling around like a maniac. She is so funny. Bailey is still trying to sit herself up but I can tell it's coming soon. She won't really try to stand on her own, but will hold the position if you put her up. She is also a good walker if you hold her hands.

Bailey learned to give hugs recently which is so adorable. Who received the first hug? Mom? Dad? Trick question - neither. The cat. Bailey loves Dexter soooo much its ridiculous. She could sit and hug that cat all day. But she is hugging people now too which will melt your heart!

Brooklyn is still the wild child in that she is always on the move. Even giving the girls baths in the sink (just once a week, ha) is a completely different experience between the two. Bailey plays with her toys in the sink and laughs the entire time, Brooklyn reaches for everything around it and never fails to find something she shouldn't have. She even wants to climb out of the sink. She can't be contained!

We had our twin survival get together this weekend. Five sets of twins ages 16 months to 10 months (minus one baby who was sick). It was so much fun. It is so cool to see so many babies in a similar age range all doing funny baby things. Plus I really like all the parents so we have a lot of fun eating and drinking and swapping war stories.

We also did the March for Babies with my twin group at the end of April. The girls were six weeks early, which is obviously not THAT early, but enough that the NICU made a big impact on me. I really truly believe too that organizations like the March of Dimes that fund research to keep woman pregnant (and provide care for babies born early) are the only reason I made it to 34 weeks anyway (that whole I was in the hospital at 30 weeks overnight and they had to give me meds to stop my labor episode). I'd like to try and do this walk every year since it has special meaning to me. I know how lucky lucky lucky we were to make it as far as I did. I've been following a blog of a little baby boy (Benton) born at 23 weeks that my cousin Alice knows through a friend. He's been in the NICU for 175 days. For me, 11 days was hard. 175 is just... unimaginable.  If you feel like having a good cry (very emotional, but an incredible story), read his story on the Blessings for Benton blog. 

Mommy's first work trip away

I had my first business trip away from the girls. I don't travel often for my job since most of our meeting our easily conductive over the phone and WebEx. But this past week I went down to Atlanta to tour 12 hotels we are currently providing optimization for (and one additional potential hotel). It was a great trip as far as work is concerned (I absolutely love the Marriott brand and it was hugely beneficial to see the hotels in person, as well as the surrounding area) but it was so hard being away from my girls. I cried a little Sunday night when we put them to bed (left Monday morning before they woke up). When I got back Wednesday though I had HUGE smiles and that made it all worth it!

I prepped all their food in advance and labeled each day. Type A much? Darren had some reinforcements with family helpers and everyone survived! Did the girls wear the same clothing/pjs the entire time I was gone? Yes. Yes they did. (Which is super funny. Darren sent me a picture of the girls Wednesday morning and I text back, "are they still in the same outfits from Sunday night?!?!") I also tried using Facetime but they don't seem very interested in interacting with it. Probably when they are a little older.


Anyway, I don't know how parents survive frequent work travel. That would be hard! I do confess, sleeping in the luxurious Revive bedding (seriously, I am talking about awesome sheets, pillows and comforters, client or not) without a baby interrupting my sleep, even if I was up late and up early for work stuff, was very refreshing.

Fun outdoors

Now that winter is (kind of) over, we are finally able to take the girls outside!

We took them to the park for the first time and they got to experience the swings and slide. We put Bailey in the swing first and she cried. Brooklyn seemed indifferent to it. Then we put them in the same swing together back to back and they loved it! #AdorableTwinMoment

Bailey on slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLs9bduHKq8

Brooklyn on slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdydGbXaB3E

Super cute Easter bunny babies

Look at these adorable baby girls!

Trying to stand

Someone is trying very hard to pull herself up! Both girls started this week standing while holding onto things (if you put them standing up next to the couch for example) and Brooklyn wants to do it on her own terms in a bad way! 

Twin Interactions

The girls are getting really hilarious (and adorable) with their interactions (when they aren't trying to rip off their sister's hair, eyes, nose or ears). They are really starting to laugh, smile and babble at the other baby a lot more. Other times they are pretty aggressive towards each other with toy stealing/grabbing/rolling over. I can already tell the toy envy is going to be an ongoing battle. A room full of toys and they only want what their sister has. Observe:

Part one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZvuJyrdLHA

Part two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORwTNRxxItw

Diaper Rash Remedies and a Homemade Mixture

We've been battling some bad diaper rash on and off with both babies for the past six weeks or so.

A few things we've tried:

• Lotrimin - anti fungal cream (technically this is for athlete's foot) but works to clear up diaper rash if it's actually a yeast infection. A big thank you to my twin mom friend Sharon for introducing me to this!
• Aquaphor - my go to
• Butt Paste/Desitin - anything with zinc oxide

Every time their diaper rash flares up really bad, it seems to get better with one of the above methods. There's a few times it's gotten so bad that their butts have been cracked and bleeding a little but it always gets better by the morning so I haven't taken them into the doctor yet.

On Saturday night, after we put the girls to bed, Brooklyn was crying so hard in absolute pain. We took her downstairs and finally calmed her down but she was still shrieking in pain/withering. It really freaked me out because I've never seen my kids so upset like that before. I could tell she was trying to poop so I went in and changed her. She had some really bad diarrhea and her butt was bright red, cracked bleeding and extremely irritated. I actually paged the doctor for this one. This is only the second time I've bugged the doctor after hours (the other being Bailey's 103 degree temp). Anyway she gave me a recipe for a homemade diaper rash cream that has worked awesome:

• Aquaphor
• Maalox or Mylanta (which is impossible to find in the stores, or at least Walgreens or Target. Target carries a generic version of Mylanta though.)
• Gold Bond Baby Power with zinc oxide

So I mixed the three ingredients together and applied to both girls' butts (Bailey had a little diaper rash but not as bad) and it seems to be clearing up really well.

I also switched back to Pampers. We started using Luvs about a month ago and this probably has nothing to do with it but just in case, I switched back to see if that would help.

Also, if you ever feel compelled to search Google images of baby diaper rash, don't do it. I thought my kids had bad diaper rash (which it is bad, they are bleeding!) but OMG you will see SEVERE and awful diaper rash if you look! Those images cannot be unseen once you see them.