27 Months

This month, the twins are 27 months old.  They continue to suprise us daily with all the new things they are learning, too many new words for me to remember...The newest thing is "Mummy, what is this", then you say what it is and they repeat the word...to everything! Some of the more impressive verbal feats include words like Shongololo, Flaxseeds and Rhinocerous.

Finn bit Becky the other day and she is sporting a blue bite mark on her back. They continually test the boundaries around what is allowed and what isn't, and even when you say no, they carry on to see what you will do. This new trend is escalating and it has become necessary to introduce the naughty chair.  Only problem is the other twin delights in seeing the naughty one sent there and then asks to also sit on naughty chair. Sometimes they ask to sit on the naughty chair just for fun when the word naughty hasn't even been mentioned. Funny little people.

They are sleeping so well - Finn doesn't ever wake up anymore. So every night they go to sleep at 7pm and wake early at 6. When we check on them before going to sleep later, and move their little sleepy bodies into more comfortable positions and cover them up again, their little peaceful faces are so dear.

Yes, it is exhausting and tiring running around after two year olds, but their ernest little faces and cheeky grins are enough to melt my heart every day. Even in the peak of intense lack of patience and irritation sometimes, one little grin or "please mummy" makes me swoon with mummy love for these little poppets.

This will be their third Christmas with us and we have so much to be thankful for.  This journey is the best one of all.

25 Months

Age: You are now 25 months old and every day you are learning more and more new things!

Development: You are both growing so fast! You are tall and strong and getting more agile by the day as you get better at balancing and moving. You both love playing down in the garden but are only starting to be aware of the dangers around you like high walls, sheer drops, stairs, the pond etc. Our garden is fraught with these things so we have to be on the super look-out when we play down there. You both love playing with water and I am sure both of you would just step straight into the pool if it was uncovered! You are going to swimming lessons and we can't wait until you can both swim so we don't have to worry about that.

You go to Toptots on Tuesdays and swimming on Wednesdays alternatively which is nice as you get to have one-on-one time with Silvana - but you miss each other when you are apart and ask "where are you". You are learning to say your names now and proudly say RebeccaLor and FinnLor and you called Daddy, DaddyLor the other day. When one of you cry the other one says "stop crying" sometimes shouting it. Not sure if this is because I said it once to you sometime but we will have to help you understand that it is absolutely okay to cry if you need to. You both love cleaning and you wipe down everything frantically when given a wet cloth. This will be handy to help mum and dad clean up!

Finn loves vaccuuming and pretends his upside down hobby horse is a vacuum cleaner. Becky is a whizz at Lego and so good at building things already. You both love singing and playing in your sandpit and with your little stove and wooden toys. Your imagination is really starting to grow now as you pretend to feed your little animals, or pat your dolly or cook or make tea in your tea set. Oh the wonderful times that are still to come with pretend play...

You are starting to be very interested in the potty and your nappies and Finn is leading the pack on this front - he has already made quite a few wee wee's in the potty! You have both started taking off your nappies whenever you can and also love stripping off and running around kaalgat. Finn made a poo on the stoep the other day! So yes, potty training is starting seriously as you seem ready and in December holidays, we will make a focused effort to get you super-used to it.

Becky has her last two bottom molars which arrived without a fuss - so just two more for Becky and the last four for Finn and then all your teeth are here! You are both very good about brushing your teeth so let's hope no cavities until your big teeth arrive.  She had slapped cheek disease for a while - a raised rosy rash on both cheeks with a bit of a fever. You also both had a few colds this season but otherwise are strong and healthy. Finn has a little eczema still which flairs up now and then and his hair is growing long, but I will not cut it...yet.

Eating:  Your appetites are back! You are both eating so well and eat almost anything. I love this and I want to start making you more healthy superfood snacks. I also want to start making you yummy healthy smoothies and with summer coming I want to get an ice lolly maker so that we can make coconut ice-cream lollies and frozen yoghurt lollies - yum! We don't give you loads of sugar to eat or juice to drink, but if we are going to a party or for a special event you just love the sweet stuff. We will try limit it to honey at home ;)...

Sleep: You are both sleeping so well from 7pm to 6am with a 2 hour nap from 1pm to 3pm.  If it has been a busy disrupted day, Finn sometimes wakes up but he cries a bit and then goes back to sleep with no fuss. When you wake up in the morning, Becky usually throws Pea and her dummies out the cot and then cries for them, or you call "Mummy Uppie" or "Daddy Uppie" and you get quite upset if we take too long.  We tried to change over to the sippy cups with rooibos tea in the mornings but Becky gets very upset and wants her bottle. Finn doesn't mind but he doesn't drink much from the cup.  So we have gone back to the bottles for a bit.  We don't really mind if you keep drinking from a bottle as we are sure you will give them up sometime.

Mommy and Daddy musings: You two are growing up too fast...sometimes I wonder what happened to our tiny little babies and how time can go so fast and yet I don't want to stop time because you delight us every day with all the new things you are learning. We cannot imagine how how lives would be without you now. Yes, sometimes we don't get a single minute to relax as you are so busy and loud and demanding and learning to deal with your frustrations at not being able to communicate effectively yet, but it would just be too quiet and boring without you two precious tots around. We love squeezing you and snuggling and sometimes you love it but sometimes you protest loudly. You make us laugh every day - this is such a glorious age.

Twins are special

It really touches my heart every time I think about how special twins are.  They will always have each other I hope, as I do that they will always be close and be each other's dearest friends.
So so special.

Just pondering together

Playing with sand

Wearing mum and dads hats

2 Years old!!!

Rebecca and Finn turned 2 on the 18th! We had a lovely little party with a few of their first friends to celebrate this amazing day.

 

Birthday Treats

Proud Mummy

First friends!

Fox, Owl mummy

Happy Birthday to us!

Excuse me while I take this call

Birthday Boy

23 Months

Hanging with my teddy

Drawing with yoghurt

Age: You are now 23 months old...just 3 weeks to go until you turn 2 on 18th September. Your actual date of birth was 16 November, but as you know you were too impatient to get to earth and came two months early.

Development: We have to keep reminding ourselves that you are actually only 21 months old, as you have caught up developmentally so well. From your 2nd Birthday, we will not adjust your ages anymore - you will just be two!

You are doing so many new things, we can't keep up. Most especially, your talking is quite incredible. Finn - you are such a mimic and you repeat any word said to you, even "helicopter" and "spectacular". You dont always get it right, but pretty close! You also count to 5 and almost to 10. You both sing quite a few songs.  Becky, you love reading your books and babble away. You also repeat words but you are quieter about it and almost want to make sure it is right before blurting it out. You have the most precious little laugh and both a great sense of humour. You have started playing jokes on us like saying "Nicky's bum" and then laughing loudly, or saying "mummy" loudly and then I say "Becky" in response and you laugh and laugh. You both love being tickled. You say "turn" "turn" when you want a chance. Finn loves a "snuggle" and frequently asks for one, sucking his thumb and cuddling. Both give really good hugs and kisses saying "Mwah".

You look for each other when one isn't around and you share your food so nicely. Yes, you do squabble a little and I am sure this will continue - Finn you do take everything Becky has but she is usually good about allowing you to, occasionally however she will run away or put up a fight. Finn can jump and Becky almost does. You both run really well.

We have had a few big falls lately - Becky fell face first off the changing table and then the next day you both got tumbled up the beach in a big wave - very scary and you both got sopping wet but were really brave.

Eating:  Some days you eat so well and others not so much - all depends on if you are going through a growing phase or not I think. You still eat a lot of different foods but one of your favourite is spag bog. One day you love avos and eggs and the next not. You both love sausage at the moment. You still get a night and morning bottle but from your 2nd Birthday, we will stop the night bottle and just give you a morning one.

Sleep: You are both sleeping so well.  Finn doesn't wake up much anymore during the night. You have moved into your new big bedroom and playroom and your cots are now head to head.  We love listening to you chatter in the mornings before we come to fetch you. Finn has to have his teddy and doggy at bedtime and Becky her dummy and a Pea (of two peas in a pod) - too cute.

Mommy and Daddy musings: You are no longer babies and while we miss your warm baby heads, we are so excited to be watching you become these delightful little people with unique characters and personalities. Such a special journey being your mum and dad - we can't believe we had to wait 12 years for you...but every second was worth it.

22 Months...

22 Months old and getting more and more adorable every day...

Am loving being able to tie my little girl's hair up into a ponytail!

They love exploring in nature...



Don't you think Finn looks like a little pixie boy here?

Twin love, growing so fast and oh so cool...

We just can't get enough pictures of these two, but mostly on our cells as the camera is always out of reach when the fun stuff happens.  I will post some of my favourites here...

20-21 Month Twin Update

 

Age: Rebecca & Finn - you are already 21 months old this month! In just 3 short months, you will be turning 2 and we can't believe just how very fast time is flying by.
Development: We are constantly suprised by your incredible developmental advances and you are learning so many new things everyday that it is difficult to keep track of all the amazing things you are doing now. Even though you were born two months early you are on track with all the developmental milestones for your ages. You have both started running and climbing everything you can - we are going to have to get you a jungle gym very soon. A sandpit is arriving soon in the meantime and we will be getting some great wooden kitchen toys to make your play corner extra interesting.

You love playing with lego and building and taking apart the big houses Daddy makes for you. You both love books - so much that you even eat them a little. Hopefully you will grow out of this and learn to love reading as much as we do.  We look forward to lots of storytimes. Finn, you love humming and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - you repeat "up above the sky" over and over.  Becky - you also sing, more so when reading a book on your own in the playroom. You are learning to share and play together but this is still a little difficult as Finn you really want whatever Becky has. You are learning so may new words and Finn you repeat any word while Becky just listens and repears it later. You both battle a little with the "f" sound, saying wwww sometimes but you have both started saying ffff now. So Finny is Winny and foot is woot. You have all your teeth besides for the very back molar still to come.

Becky had a case of croup a month ago which was very scary as she couldn't breathe - almost rushed off to the ER, and spent most of the night in the shower steam.  We are now prepared if it should happen again. 

Eating:  Rebecca is better at trying new foods, but you are both doing well and eating a good variety of all types of food.  We want to stop microwaving food - not great for nutritional values so will try be more oganised with cooked meals that can be heated on the stove easily. You have both been sick with bad flu so the appetites have not been great, but am sure you will be back to eating well soon. We want to get to a phase where you both eat whatever we are eating.  As you get older, supper time can be later and then we can try all eat together.

Sleep: Both are still sleeping just great. Finn still occasionally wakes and cries but I leave him for a bit before resettling him to see if he will self soothe back to sleep. Obviously there have been disruptions as they have been ill...

Looking forward to:  Your 2nd Birthday!

Mommy and Daddy musings: It is so interesting to watch you both becoming little kids rather than babies. You are both willful in your own ways practicing your independence and unique ways of being in the world. You are both super special little souls and we love you.

Almost 2!

I didn't do the 20 month update so will be doing a 21 month one soon! But I just realised that in only 3 months time our precious babbas will be turning two!!! Time is flying!

Thanks to a fellow blogger, found this amazing app...will be using it for pic updates - love it! Thanks Just Breathe xx just very frustrating that I cannot load pics from my ipad onto the blog aaargh please sort this out blogspot!

Like mother like daughter

So I stumbled across this photograph of my mother with me on her back at 7 months old and remembered I had done exactly the same with Becky when she was unsettled as she loved it - what an amazing memory echo - like mother like daughter.

 

The start of Potty training!

So, I started thinking about the potty training issue and while watching TV one night was researching potties online as I had seen nothing great in local stores - all small silly potties or garish OTT colourful ones. I really wanted nice plain white potties so that they would look as close to a real loo as possible.

I have not researched the theory of potty training as yet suprisingly, so was only going on what I thought made sense...time will tell. However, I digress. So I was on Amazon looking at potties and came across the Baby Bjorn range. Which. I. Loved. So I whisked two high back potties, the portable loo top seat and a cute stair right into my basket to try see the costs before ordering. I knew it would be a pricey total - Baby Bjorn after all, but hey, I am only doing this once...right? So I can afford to indulge in my baby stuff fantasy world if I choose.

I was watching The Following at the same time. Mistake! In the distraction, I clicked on "one click" instead of "basket" or whatever the button is called, as the two orange buttons are one above the other. Eeek. I heard my cell sms buzz. Yes - I purchased them right there without even checking costs. Yikes. R2000's worth of potty equipment!!!!

 

So my darling twins, mummy hopes very much that you will appreciate learning to wizz and poop on your rather pricey potties because with that price tag they must have some magic in them lol!

No pressure however and I think they are still too young.  They have sat on them and find it hilarious when I say "come on weee weeeeeee pssssssss". They look back at me earnestly and echo "pssssss" but as yet no actual urine has been pssssssst.  So for now they look very cute in our loo and have become favourite new push cars for the stuffed toys or places to sit on while wondering what for.

Little parrot

Well, we most certainly have a little parrot...and his name is Finn! In the last couple of weeks, he has been copying everything we say - he repeats almost any word.  Thank goodness he is having problems with "sh" and "f", and he can't say his name yet - he says "winny" instead of "Finny" lol. But he pretty much repeats everything else. He even said "primary school" the other day! Okay, it sounded like "prirar schu" but it was a damn good try. He says "a, b, c, d" and "one, two" and even sang "ee i o" with me for Old Mac Donald had a farm the other day. Becky also says words but is more reluctant to say them - she thinks about it first.

Both their comprehension is leaping ahead and they follow more and more instructions.  Any wee or poo is referred to as "bum" so you know when they are doing their business lol - I must buy a potty asap to start getting them used to having one in the loo. If you say go fetch a rice cake (Finny says Ry Cay) they walk to the cupboard to open it. They both go shower if you tell them to go to the shower and they both stand under the running water - too cute. They "put shoes on" - bring them to you to put on. If we ask them to ta for mummy or daddy, they will take the object to one of us.

I couldn't even begin to list all the words he has said - it is as if their language development has gone into fast forward - amazing to watch.

The only problem in this very cute stage is that Finn has started being a little aggro at times hitting, pushing and scratching - both Becky and me! My reaction is to say "No" firmly, showing my disproval and then ignore the behaviour - but he just laughs and does it again...need to read more about how to deal with this in my "Happiest Toddler on the Block" book...

I really feel the terrible two's looming as this behaviour becomes real - oh dear...tantrums and learning how to acnowledge and control our emotions..here we come...

One and a half!

Age: Oh my goodness...the twins are one and a half today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. 18 months ago, I was rushed into an emergency caeserean and out popped our two little blessings, two months early weighing just 1.5kg and 1.2kg at their lowest, spending four weeks in NICU, and growing like weeds every day since then. These two little miracles are becoming such wonderful little people day by day. We are so blessed.

Development: Wow. Their vocab has really taken off. They say so many words now and really know what they mean - not just mimicking - bowl, thank you, hello, bye, yum, banana, up, down, ball, shoes, nose, eye, tank you, Raaraa (for TV), and so many more - can't think now. They also follow quite a few instructions like - take this to Daddy or Mummy. Go outside. Nitey nite - and they walk to their rooms for naptime. Fetch your shoes. Where is your nose / eye, winkie (Finn loves his winkie lol - such a boy), bum. Up. Down. Sit. Dance. Clap hands. Stamp feet. Supper time - and they walk to their highchairs. Fetch your ball. Bathtime - and they walk to the bath. Cutest of all, Finn walks around calling "Becky Becky". Becky helps herself to dummies from her draw, Finn walks around with his lappie when he is tired. 

The interaction between them is fascinating - both have tactics to deal with different situations already. Becky will lure Finn's attention away from something so he takes another thing rather than the thing she wants - already manipulating the situation lol. Finn doesn't really like to share, while Becky will share her biscuit or give hers first to Finn - but he always says "Tank you".

Both have their canines coming through without too much fuss. I had to trim Finn's fringe as it was growing into his eyes!

Eating:  We are keeping their sugar to a minimum - the only naughty food they eat now as treats are Marie Biscuits and a little dark chocolate (dark choc chips). Otherwise we are giving them lots of avo, banana, egg, cheese, meat, veg, oats, rice cakes, oat crackers, Greek yoghurt, fruit, organic milk. DH and I are on a low carb diet / Paleo / Caveman, so will be trying to keep them on a similiar real food diet. I have only just realised how bad formula milk, futurelife and other cereals etc etc - in fact all processed foods are...no reason to eat them at all. In fact, any food with an ad is worrying lol. Want to keep away from all the prepackaged junk.  We still feed them the fruit pouches (not the best as these have been cooked) and purity when on the go, and we used to buy the nestle toddler products...but NO more. Keeping it as real as possible going forward. Am loving the new Woolies toddler meals and their fresh fruit purees - makes planning their week's meals much easier.

Having said this - we will not restrict them from carbs or sugar completely - don't want to be too extreme as sugar will be all around them as they socialise with other kids and families - just want to keep it to a minimum when necessary or as treats. They are both eating really well at the moment which is great.

Sleep: Both are sleeping just great. Finn still occassionally wakes and cries but I leave him be and he usually settles himself again. Becky doesn't make a peep until we fetch her at 7am in the mornings. They are still in seperate rooms but I am still wanting to put them back together.

Looking forward to:  Setting up their new room when we do move them back together - will be decorating for their toddler - kindergarten years and not as babies anymore - so exciting.

Mommy and Daddy musings: We cannot believe how much you two have changed in just one month. We love spending weekends together with you and miss you every day we are at work. You make us fall in love with you more and more every day - what a cute age you are now! We love watching you become the special little people you are going to be xxx

Almost one and a half...

How did our twins grow so fast?  I seem to be missing time between them being helpless little preemies to tearing around toddlers.  It is all going too fast. Slow down time please. They will be one and a half years old in March!

Little Beauty

Beyond cuteness

17 Month Update!

Age: The babes were 17 months old on 18 Feb (15 months).

Height/Weight: We decided to weight them ourselves as they are really cooperative standing on the scale.  Not sure how accurate it is as I have been having issues with this scale - but that is another story. So if accurate, Finn weighs 11.3kg and Becky 9.4kg. I plotted the weights on their graphs and both are nicely above the median. Finn is only slightly taller than Becky, but they are definitely growing and many people comment on how tall they are.

Developmental notes: They have gone from being proficient walkers to running along in a toddling sort of a way - very amusing to watch.  They sort of lean forward and go for it at quite a speed sometimes. Both can turn around in circles. Both dance from side to side. Both bend over and reach between their legs. Both climb really well. So all in all great large muscle development going on.

They have so many new words, I can't remember them all. They say hello, bye, car, train, ball, kitty, all gone and more. SO cute!

Eating: They have started using a spoon and fork. Not that great at it yet, but we found these great suction bowls, so they can practice without flinging the whole bowl of food off the high chairs! I do feel that I would be feeding them much more variety if I was at home all day to cook, but now I prepare portions of various meals and freeze them or buy the woolies toddler meals which they like and are so convenient. It would be great to eat at the table together more like a family more often, but they have all their meals while we are at work. 

When they are older, we will try do dinner at 6:30-7pm together, bedtime at 19h30... They are still drinking milk in a morning and bedtime bottle. Will look to dropping the morning bottle soon and replace with a cup of milk maybe - but they love their morning bottle. They only drink milk and water, no juice at all. We brush their teeth every morning and night.

Sleep: Going SO well, with sleep throughs from 7pm tp 6/7am the norm now.  Still in seperate rooms though.  Finn occasionally wakes up for no apparent reason now and then crying - I think he wakes up in the dark and doesn't know where he is so I still think a night light may help. He is quickly settled though and goes back to sleep. It is because of this that I have left Becky in the study as she has happily slept through without being disturbed for months now and never wakes up - even when the house alarm goes off in her room! They are still napping twice a day for an hour each nap.

Sometimes when I am giving Finn his bedtime bottle, he will reach up and stroke my face and the other night he actually said nighty night after I said it to him...no words!

Favourite Things: They now have extra-mural activities lol. On Tuesdays one goes to Toptots and on Thursdays to swimming lessons, and then they swop the following week. Silvs sends us the cutest pictures of them doing cool stuff! I do miss not being able to be mommy doing this with them :(.

Dislikes: Fighting occasionally, being scratched by the naughty cat.

Looking forward to: Moving them into their bigger room and big beds - but I probably shouldn't rush this as I am sure we have midnight playtimes and little feet pattering into our room in the early hours as they will be able to get out of bed lol. 

Mommy and Daddy musings: The cuteness factor is in overdrive  - you are in such a gorgeous stage and we find your antics so amusing and your amazing development so incredible to watch! Becky gave me the hugest hug the other day - my heart melted into a flood of love - so precious.

Weighty issue

Okay. So I need to lose weight.  Quite a lot actually.

But being a hardened yo-yo dieter since my teens, I really needed a lifestyle change that I can live with forever instead of being on and off diets.  I find low fat, low calorie diets so depriving - yes, you get results, but you feel like you are on the deserted island of boring food - like you are being punished or imprisoned.  And once you have achieved your goal, you loosen up a little have the odd treat here and there...and before you know it you've put all the weight back on and more! This is pretty much how it rolls for me.

So now, having pushed the weight gain further than ever before, I recognise that it simply isn't working. I don't have a bad body image in that I still feel attractive per say...but only with my clothes on lol! I am now tired again of looking huge in anything I wear, and let's dont mention the photographs - that's where you truly notice how bad it has gotten.

So. In my quest for a lifestyle answer that we could both adopt (yes DH also wants to lose weight) and still achieve significant weight loss and health benefits, the Low Carb High Fat way of eating starting appearing more and more - also known as Swedish / Paleo / caveman diet etc Essentially it eliminates absolutely ALL carbohydrates including sugar / most fruit / anything high carb. You can eat meat, fats, nuts, cheese, all veggies above ground and berries in limitation.  This way of eating pushes your body into a ketonic state and you become a fat burning machine. Your body effectively self regulates your calorie intake as you are eating nutirent dense and satisfying / filling meals so you eat less! Other nenefits include that you sleep better, have more energy, lower cholesterol (carbs cause inflammation cause cholesterol issues - simple version / more info on blog links), lessens need for statins and other chronic meds etc etc etc

So I have started a blog dedicated to our low carb high fat journey: http://ourlchfjourney.wordpress.com/ - Just thought I had to acknowledge this here and if anyone is interested, you can check out more detail / info on this blog.  I am trying to include links about interesting low carb stuff that will help anyone also eating this way.  We are feeling great so far! Both our blood pressures have stabilised from high, we both have more energy, DH has lost 6kg and me about 5kg in a month. Still a way to go and because it is not a one size fits all diet, you need to make adjustments as you go along to keep weight loss going.

I have been neglecting this blog a little, but will definitely keep up with the twin's monthly updates, so will post the next soon as today they are 17 months old and what little cuties they are!

16 Month Update

Age: The babes were 16 months old on 18 January (14 months).

Height/Weight: Don't know - will take them for a measles booster when they are 18 months old as we didn't do the MMR so will weigh them then. I can definitely see they are getting taller from their clothes.

Developmental notes: They are changing every day - so amazing to watch. The holiday was great in that we got to catch up with all our friends and family and show off our twins, but it was restricted by their routine and difficult not being at home where it is so easy as everything is just perfectly organised and tuned to caring for two toddlers. Knysna was having a heatwave and it was hot and sticky and all we could think about was our new pool that had just been finished at home lol.  We had a few wonderful swims - Rebecca loves the water.  Finn does too but not as much. One evening we went down to watch the bag pipers play on the beach and they really enjoyed that.  We also took them to the Friday market and they were so social it was too cute. We had lovely swims in the river and late evening swims on Leisure Isle before bedtime.  Finn started aberating, waking up several times a night and as they were sharing a room I had to run to soothe him. One night I think the strained routine got too much for Becs and she went off the rails for an hour before bedtime. This could also have been due to the fact that on our return we saw that all four first molars had popped out all at once! Finn only has one!The drive there and back was actually not as bad as I thought it would be, they were such good babbas considering. I think we will wait until they are 3 years old before our next trip lol.

Both are walking really well.  Finn has started wanting to climb everything!! Both are gabbling away and some new words are "Oh wow, bye, tanku (thank you), car, hi, ball" Both dance to music. They clap hands and stamp feet to the song "If you're happy and you know it..." sometimes.

  
Eating: They are not mad for anything fishy or meaty.  Their favourite meal is fruit, rice, chicken, broccoli and cheese sauce. They eat well for breakfast and usually have 1/2 an avo, a banana, berries or another fruit, cheese on brown toast, scrambled egg and maybe a yoghurt as well. For lunch, they have meat, veg meal with fruit pouch or smoothie and then again for supper or oats, yoghurt and fruit for supper. For snacks they have rice cakes, wholemeal biscuits, dried fruit, biltong etc. They have water on hand all day and drink when thirsty.  No tea, no juice.  Just milk in the morning, water in the day and milk again before bedtime.

Sleep: Both are sleeping well for naps and at night.  They now nap from 10am-11am and 2pm-3pm. We bath at 6:30 and then bottle and into their cots awake with a kiss goodnight to go to sleep by 7pm.  When we got back from holiday we had let Finn CIO for a couple of nights but he is fine now.  Ocassionally he will wake crying but we leave it and see what happens before rushing in to soothe him.  They must learn to be able to fall back to sleep themselves.  We have decided to leave them in seperate rooms for now. Will see how it goes. I am already planning their room for when they move into big beds together - it is quite a large room and we will have the playroom on one side and their beds on the other.  It has doors leading out to a covered stoep where they can do art activities and other fun stuff. Can't wait to paint and decorate ;).

Favourite Things: Walking everywhere!!! Playing throw and catch with the ball. Pushing the carts around and the bikes. Tormenting the cat. We started bubble baths which they like and they still like showering with me.

Dislikes: They do fight a bit - Finn is quite rough with Becs - hitting her, pushing her over and so on.  She is getting good at avoiding this but every now and again he gets too rough with her.

Looking forward to: It all.

Mommy and Daddy musings: I know I say this on every update, but I am so so grateful to have been sent these two treasures. There has been such sadness on the forum recently and my heart gets so sore for all those still on the IF journey. Be strong and don't give up. There is no way to describe the power of this experience - it is worth all the suffering we went through. I wish this for every woman and I pray that that our two babies grow up safe and are always healthy and happy...always.