* To see entries from 2001, click here *Click on all pictures to enlarge

Sunday January 6th

I forgot to mention in the last update that the feline attention-grabbing exploits have occurred again. Amos was patting Itchy the other day and commented on a lump on his back. We hadn't even noticed (hmmmm....can we say neglected? Although in our defense we pat his head not his back near his tail, what can I say - time is limited!). Sure enough there appeared to be an abysses caused by fighting with the neighbour's  cat. So I had to find the time to take Itchy to the vet where he had it lanced (with me in a different room of course, ewwwww). The vet asked how long Itchy had been off his food, of course I didn't know so I told the vet we have 5 month old twins and I really hadn't noticed although there was food left in his bowl this morning. Luckily the vet gave him a shot of penicillin so we wouldn't have to remember to give him tablets every day. Pleased to report Itchy is fighting fit again. It does feel like I have triplets, not twins and Itchy would like to know if anyone would like 2 slightly used children?

There is just so much laundry getting done around here. Being as thorough as I am I decided to wash my watch as well so now I get to view the time through little drops of condensed water *sigh*. I have also hung up the white flag in my on-going battle with the laundry and our bedroom. You see every day so many items of our clothing get washed (if so much as a drop of dribble hits Aaron's top he will change it) that I have armfuls to put away. It has been driving me insane and it has come down to prioritising, you know "Do I want to eat or put away clean clothes?". So now I no longer worry and leave piles of clean clothes on the tallboy and we just help ourselves, the white flag is waving.

Kate has the cutest little tongue and continues to play with it. You say to her, "Where's the lizard?" and she pokes her tongue out as you try to grab it. We realise that she now thinks her tongue is called a lizard and I can just hear her when she starts school, "Miss, Miss, Fred's poking out his lizard!".

Another thing Kate has improved is her ability to bear weight on her legs. Boy is she getting strong! I think Aiden will start crawling first (Kate will not tolerate tummy time) and Kate will just step over the top of him.

We borrowed a friend's Jolly Jumper (thanks Helen!) and squeals of delight were heard from the instant they started bouncing together. I must admit it is so entertaining to watch them. Great invention!

Aiden just LOVES his hands. As soon as one floats in front of his face he stops everything he is doing to watch it glide past, he wiggles the fingers and turns it slowly over. The moment passes and he goes back to what he had been doing until one catches his eye again.

My handbag felt heavy so I decided to clean it out. Times sure have changed. I removed one pair of fluffy socks, one pair of navy blue fluffy socks, a little mouse bootie and two dummies.

The other day Aaron had a really Daddy moment. We were walking along at Glenelg near the beach when Kate went feral and I had to get her out of the pusher and carry her. We didn't realise that we had gotten ahead of Aiden and Aaron so we stopped and waited for them. As soon as Kate locked eyes on her Dad she came out with the biggest grin, "There's my Daddy!"

I am currently taking a drug called maxolon and before you all think I am on sedatives it is actually to increase my milk supply to combat Kate's apparent hunger. It has improved life around here and I am so glad I found out about it. Next week we will begin solids so this should also help with the hunger, particularly in the evening. We are all psyching ourselves up for it. Highchairs are being assembled, rice cereal and plastic baby spoons have been bought. We are also eating, with great exaggeration, in front of Kate and Aiden. Kate had a good swipe at Daddy's Big Mac last night so we are wondering would a pureed McHappy Meal be an inappropriate first meal?   

Friday January 11th

*DRUMROLL* We've started solids! Woooo hooooo and none too soon says Kate. We started on Monday at lunch time and I gave them ricecereal with boiled water....Mmmmmmmmm just as disgusting as it sounds. Imagine clag glue and you pretty much have it. Aiden hated both the taste and the sensation...think he thought it was medicine again. Taking a massive hint from his facial cues I remade it using formula. Ahhh much better for both of them. They still wore most of it but it was a start!

They have gotten progressively better and now have apple and cereal for lunch and potato with milk for dinner. I am still taking drugs for my milk supply but the solids have helped all of us!

We're all getting used to a new way of doing things with this extra eating and also going back to sleeping earlier (as in 7:30pm) rather than 9pm as had been happening.

The last few nights they have stirred a few times and it may be a combination of starting the solids (upset tum?) and perhaps the beginnings of separation anxiety (ie they wake and think CRIPES where are Mum and Dad!?).

The preparation of the food has been interesting. I microwaved a potato, scooped out the flesh and poured whole milk into the container with the flesh. I them whizzed it up with the hand mix thingy which struggled to puree such a small amount, I added more milk and then wiggled it around and then wore most of it as it splattered around the room. I worried about the lumps and I worried about whether the containers needed sterilizing so I consulted with a higher power....the Parent Helpline. Lumps were fine at their age and only sterilize if freezing food. 

Glad that was sorted out!

Sunday January 20th

So far the dynamic duo have eaten apple with cereal, banana, yogurt, sweet potato, potato and broccoli. Now I just want you all to think about how disgusting it is to be sneezed on by a child with a mouth full of broccoli....yup as bad as it sounds. Our eating techniques haven't exactly improved but we're working on it.

Aiden loves a captive audience for his stage show "Look at My Hand", Written and Directed by Aiden Hendry. 

For the first act he raises it up for the audience to see *ooooo ahhhhhh* we all say. Then for the second act he slowly rotates it, much to your amazement, and for the grande finale he slowly works each finger *thunderous applause!* He also stops mid nursing to show me his hand, waits for the appropriate response (particularly fond of getting a kiss on it) and then happily goes back to nursing. Speaking of nursing, noone can be in the room when Aiden nurses as he loves to watch them.

Kate has developed a strap fetish where she loves to lick all of the straps around her; in the pusher, on the rockers and much to her delight her new car seat has a big strap she can lick all the time she is in the car!

The last few days the kids have been feral, particularly Aiden and we just can't work out what the matter is so yesterday by mid playtime he had had an extra feed, some teething gel, some panadol, a dummy and was sitting in the rocker right in front of the TV watching the Baby Mozart video. His partner in crime was at his side sucking on her dummy. Gave us about half an hour's peace!

Oh and I went back to visit the childcare center and still really love it. I looked it up on line and it has the highest rating available *phew*

Saturday January 27th

Every day, of late, we have been venturing out just to pass time and experience new things. It has certainly gotten easier as they have gotten older. We have about an hour out and about and then we come home for nap time. Usually we go to the shopping centre and chat to all the old ladies there. We have mat many different people and it is amazing how many people are a twin or have twins in the family.

Aaron is now looking for a larger car for us as I can't fit the shopping in with such a large stroller.

Kate is almost able to sit up on her own. She can sit for a count of around 20 which is about her attention span before she reaches for something and topples over.

Boof just topples over.

We had our first turn in the big bath, much to their delight and we used a bath seat. Aiden was beside himself with joy and squealed with laughter every time he splashed the water.

Speaking of squealing, this is Aiden's latest craze. He has also learnt to scream in a high pitched loud voice. He surprises even himself and he stops in wide-eyed shock when he has finished. 

We went to a friend's place for a BBQ and managed quite well. Kate and Aiden even had a nap in the stroller which was great.

My cousin Christy and Sam came over from Sydney and we got to have a great night hanging out. Kate and Aiden slept really well, life sure is easier now they sleep through the night. They are in bed around 7 - 7:30pm and wake 6 - 7 am. We do still wake them for a roll over feed around 10pm.

Oh and Aiden rolled from his back to his tummy last week!

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