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Monday December 10th

THE RIVER TRIP

On Friday morning Aaron and I, like a finely oiled machine, feed, burped and changed the babies and then proceeded to pack up and load half of the house into the car ready to travel up to the houseboat for the weekend. We had it all worked out so that we would be driving during the babies' nap time which is about an hour and a half. Never works out that way does it? By the time we actually hit the highway, going via Aaron's parents' to take some of their gear and via the shop it was later than we wished.

On the whole the drive wasn't too bad. Kate grizzled at every stop light and Boof slept and then finally we were on the open road and both babies were relatively quiet. We had to stop at a shop in Murray Bridge (about 30 minutes from the houseboat) and of course Twin 1 and Twin 2 woke up and let the world know all about it. Foolishly we thought we could hold their feed time off until we arrived.  0.234 kms later we had pulled over and I fed Kate and Aiden. Can't stop a hungry baby!

We arrived relatively sane, with 2 sleeping babies (nothing like a tummy full of milk!) and unloaded the ridiculous amount of gear from our car onto the boat. We had to work out where we were going to fit the 2 portacots. Eventually we moved a bed out of one of the rooms and set the cots up. Next we took over the whole boat with all our gear; bouncers, jolly jumpers, change table, bath, nappies, wipes, monitors, clothes...oh and of course our heartbeat music on the stereo (did I mention we bought enough batteries to power a small village? No way that sucker was going to run out). We kicked back and started to relax. 

Aaron's Mum, Dad and brother Amos arrived in the early evening and we all had dinner...after we had bathed and fed the kids of course. During this time we had set off down the river towards our first camping spot for the weekend. I can't tell you how great it is to sit on a comfortable lounge and watch nature pass by as you cruise up the river! I ventured out onto the front deck and took some video. Kate and Aiden went to sleep fairly well and we woke them up at 10pm for their usual top up feed. Aaron and his family stayed up and played cards but I went to bed "just in case" we were in for a bad night. I offered everyone some earplugs but they gallantly refused.

4 am Kate starts crying...you could hear the birds fleeing from the trees around the boat. Aaron tried the resettle her but she wanted to be fed. I suggested we wake up Aiden to feed him too but Aaron insisted he wouldn't need it and they would both sleep through until morning.

5am Boof starts crying (see Mum knows best)....you could hear wildlife within a 3 kilometre radius fleeing. We feed him and then all fall back to sleep until 8am. Not toooooo bad a night all things considered.

Aaron cooked us all an amazing breakfast and we lazed around, playing with Kate and Aiden and generally had a good time. We keep Kate and Aiden in their feed-play-sleep routine and it worked fairly well. It was great having others around to help with the playtime. Nana was great as always.

Midmorning we set off on the houseboat again and I actually had a drive (what skier in the water? I never saw a skier talk to my lawyer). The weather was lovely albeit coolish. We moored the houseboat in time for lunch which was delicious. Aaron set up some fishing lines and shrimp nets.

It is so relaxing up the river, particularly on a floating house! You have the best of both worlds as you park alongside the bank. You can have a campfire and go for walks just like when you camp but you get to have a hot shower whenever you wish.

It was a big day for Kate and Aiden as they were taken for walks, played with, etc. When it came to bed time Kate had become....*dread*.....overtired.. An hour and a half of tag-teaming was required before she would fall asleep. We then played a great game of cards.

There was only one stirring through the night which wasn't too bad.

Sunday was spent in a similar manner to Saturday although Pop and Amos didn't consume quite the same amount of beer! We slowly made our way back to the Marina where we loaded up the car and set off home feeling confident that the long drive would ensure the kids slept.

You know what happened don't you?

A phenomena called Kate Hendry is what. She would not go to sleep (she appears to be rather attached to sleeping only in her cot thank you very much). She grizzled and grumped as Aiden slept. I spent the first part of the journey trying to keep her dummy in in an effort to help her go to sleep. Her little legs and arms were flying everywhere as she was so tired. Not long into this Aiden woke up and it was too hard for me to reach him to do the dummy-shuffle so Aaron and I swapped places and I drove with him facing backwards.

We tried to put some music on as this can often settle them but the only station we could find had a Spanish woman singing heartily. We were desperate enough to take it so there we were flying along the highway to the sounds of a flamingo guitar, Aaron a contortionist and me trying to see through the blinding sun with 2 grumpy babies wailing in my ear.

Eventually Aaron leapt into the back seat between Kate and Aiden. They were so shocked and delighted they stayed quiet for a whole 10 minutes. Aaron spent an enormous amount of energy and animation keeping them entertained. As we got closer to home it was all too much for Kate who was emotionally out of control and as we turned the final corner she was laughing hysterically.

I pulled into the driveway and rushed inside and fed them. I don't know if we even closed the car door. Single-mindedly we wrapped them and put them to bed.....

Ahhhhhh.....relief.

What a great weekend it was!

Latest Milestones

These last few weeks have been all about noise....making it and listening to it. Both Kate and Aiden have added new noises to their repertoire of speech, one of them sounds like they have found something hysterically funny. They also love anything that makes noise, be it music or rattles.

Their hand control is developing as it has been and their idea of heaven is to insert their fingers into a hanging rattle and shake it around, particularly at a crucial time in your TV viewing.

Aiden is still scratching his head and now wears 2 white mittens. He looks like a mime artist.

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Monday December 3rd

4 and half months

Well all is well in the Land of the Ill. By last Tuesday night we were back at the hospital as Aiden was in a lot of pain again. Yes when the Dr saw him all the drugs we had given him had set in and he was fine. The Dr x-rayed him just to double check his bowels and everything looked OK. By this stage it was basically identified as a virus that was causing stomach pains. My feeling was that he didn't have reflux but rather his stomach hurt when it stretched with food. It took about 2 more days for him to get better but now his appetite is back to its usual ferocious level and both he and Kate are sleeping through the night (thank goodness). When he started smiling again we were all overjoyed. I just gave him a hug and said, "We've missed you Boofy."

Kate's cold healed quickly and she has been delightful, full of smiles and giggles. She gets cheekier by the day and the girl talks non-stop.

Both Aiden and Kate are able to turn their hanging toys around in their hands and they can even do it without crossing their eyes. They have both been in the exersaucer and Jolly Jumper daily. Kate is a bit more advance because she hasn't been as sick. She sat in the exersaucer and accidentally found one of the animal buttons (there is a cow, horse, dog and cat) and you could hear the sound of a cow mooing. Unfortunately she gripped it firmly, as they currently do to everything and the poor cow was bellowing continuously until the playroom sounded like a slaughter house.

On Saturday night Aaron's brother had a party and his parents babysat for us. Because Aaron's brother lives around the corner I came back to feed when needed. Georgie was with us and when we went back at 7:30pm Boof was awake so we dressed him in warm clothes and walked him around for a 5 minute visit. He looked so cute with his warm navy jacket with a pom-pom on the hood and one of the girls squealed and asked if she could have a hold. Aiden started crying as soon as she took him and I had to take him back to calm him. This is the first time he has realised someone not in his (rather large) circle of trusted and loved people was holding him. It was also probably because the environment was strange too.

Aaron is now on holidays so we will be enjoying a nice week together although he has a heap of jobs to do around the place. Hopefully we will all stay healthy!

Oh and one good thing about motherhood is I am now 7kgs (15lbs) lighter than when I got pregnant! I am sure 1kg of this is the hair that has fallen out. I hope when I stop breastfeeding that it will grow back.

 Sunday December 16th

5 Months old today

This week we went to our final Wednesday morning parent drop-in at the hospital. This is meant to support parents after they leave the hospital and whilst they are adjusting to parenthood. I figure by 5 months we have almost overstayed our welcome! I did weigh Kate and Aiden and they are right on track.

We also measured their length and Kate has jumped up on the percentile charts so we figure with her long legs she is a supermodel in the making. She is already practicing for bulimia as she sticks her fingers into her mouth and down her throat. Thing is she has no idea of cause and effect so she shoves them in and starts gagging. She looks at you with a "Gosh help me!" look but doesn't realise she needs to remove her own fingers. 

Kate and Aiden have been sleeping through the night for quite a while now. At times one will stir around 5:30am but Aaron just inserts the plug and that satisfies them until about 6:30am.

We are not planning on starting them on solids until around 6 months of age. It should be a sight to behold!

Aiden spent some time this week cuddling with Molly the soft doll. This is actually Kate's doll but no-one told Aiden that. We had to take her to the change table with us as Aiden wouldn't let go. Aiden's doll Bill has been stranded in the car so I must get him out again. Mr Butterfly has well and truly been superceded.

Today Aaron and I went to my staff show. I actually washed and styled my hair. I have lost so much hair from breastfeeding that I had 4 hot rollers left over when I curled it!

Can I just be gushy for a sec and say how adorable Kate and Aiden are? Killer smiles, hilarious "speeches" and lots of good playtimes. They have even been sleeping well.

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 Saturday December 29th

5 and half months

Phew....we've been so busy I haven't had time for an update. The best news of late was that Simon came and stayed with us for a whole week....wooohoooo! It was so great to see him. We love you Slime, thanks for putting up with us! 

We survived our first Christmas with a lot of team work! It was very very busy but also lots of fun (particularly with Simon here). Kate and Aiden were great all things considered. They were tired and cranky by the end of Christmas day and fell exhausted into bed (as did we). It was hard on them with the disruption to their routine. Aaron and I laughed at how tough getting places with twins can be. 

Christmas lunch was with his family at a restaurant. People see us walk in and think "Awww look they're here" yet don't see the behind the scenes to get us to this point! We ended up being late because when we reached the point on the freeway where we were supposed to turn off, Kate and Aiden had finally fallen asleep (with me sitting in the back holding in dummies), so we kept driving for half an hour! Then when we arrived we fed them in the car, dressed them and made our way inside, knocking all the other patrons on the way past. Kate and Aiden were dressed in Christmas outfits which caused quite a sensation. Halfway through lunch we had to go and feed them again and then we wrapped them and put them to "sleep" in their pusher. 

I won't bore you with all the details of the 3 days of celebrations. We did have a big lunch at our house on Boxing day and this was so much easier as we could put Kate and Aiden down in their own cots.

Kate particularly found the whole disruption to her routine quite unsettling and she has been positively feral this week. I was beginning to think we had created a grizzling monster so I phoned the Parent Helpline to describe her behaviour and the lack of daytime sleeping. They suggested she was hungry and that my supply was low because I had been doing too much (yup they were right on both counts). They also suggested we be strict with resettling her during nap times. Today all I did was drink water, water and more water and rested. I constantly fed Kate and resettled her and finally our beautiful happy little Kate is back! Phew! One good thing has been that Kate and Aiden have slept through every night no matter how disrupted their day was.

You wouldn't believe how good Kate and Aiden are with their hands now. Their finger dexterity is becoming remarkable and they grip and pull things into their mouths (including my hair - ouch).

Aiden is absolutely addicted to the Jolly Jumper. He would bounce in that thing all day if he could, he now starts bouncing as soon as anyone holds him. He is a real champ at tummy time and, hmmmm, his legs look suspiciously like they are working towards crawling.

Kate hates tummy time as per usual but is excellent at bearing weight on her legs and at sitting up with help. Her addiction is to blowing rasberries both with and without the dummy.

They both chatter all the time, Kate particularly so. We think Aiden's first words will be, "Be quiet Kate"  

The other day I was doing a twin feed when they both appeared to be finished so I lifted Kate up onto my shoulder for a burp and Aiden saw an opportunity going to waste so he quickly re-attached himself which was rather awkward! It was a bit like when you see people with lizards attached to their fingers and they won't let go.

Well Happy first Christmas Kate and Aiden, may you have many more to come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

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