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

OK I have chosen a Child Care centre and *cough* it has a Chef :-) I do expect to see lightly sauteed, whipped pumpkin on the menu. It is a slightly more expensive but so much better than anywhere else I saw. It is only 3 years old and is purpose-built. I love the layout, the cleanliness, the decor and the toys, etc for the babies. It does have a waiting list but because I am not going back until May next year they think we will  be fine. It also has a Kindergarten so Kate and Aiden will simply work their way up. It is near the school to which we intend sending them so they will hopefully move up with some ready-made friends.

Everyday Kate and Aiden must have tummy time where they (obviously) lay on their tummy and lift their head up and develop their strength. Unfortunately my cunning duo just lay there and wait until it's over! At this rate all they are training for is sunbathing.

Any parent who has had a child with a dummy obsession would understand how hilarious it is to listen to a child complain with a dummy in their mouth! I do make it sound like they cannot live without their dummies when in fact they spit them out at any time other than sleeping time or grumbling time.

The babies are developing much better hand control and can now pat things that hang over them. They still are a bit spasmodic but it has definitely improved. As soon as they have developed a bit more head control they will be bouncing sky high in a Jolly Jumper (yanno those swing things that hang from the door frame).

In the photos you will notice Kate and Boof are wearing gigantic bibs. We live in the Land of Dribble at the moment. I am assured this is a good developmental sign. Before I go out anywhere I must do a thorough check of my clothes to be sure I am somewhat presentable. I dread those "special" somewhat disgusted looks people can give you when they serve you at the supermarket.

Speaking of supermarkets, I took Kate and Aiden to the supermarket the other day and they had the disabled/oh-no-got-a-twin pram checkout closed. I summoned an attendant who promptly ordered it opened specially. I had to pull the closed sign across after us but a short sighted pensioner pulled up to be served....sorry love move along, nothing to see here. (Actually she was a real sweetheart and I was hoping he would serve her but he had the personality and compassion of a dead log - not that there is anything such as a live log come to think of it). 

To Top

Tuesday November 6th

3 and  3/4 months

I am going to start by talking about sleep....before you groan I am going to talk about how much sleep I am getting!! Wooo hoooo! It is now rare that Kate and Aiden don't sleep through the night. They still go down between 7-8pm and we wake them for a very quick feed at 10pm and they sleep until 6-7 am. We don't hear a peep out of them...it's almost eerie. Not only do I get to sleep from 11pm - 6am I am still having a second nap when they go down again at around 8am. Sometimes they sleep for another 2 hours! I now have so much energy.

There has been some progress during tummy time. Helen was playing with them on the mat and all of a sudden Aiden started lifting his upper body off the ground so Helen gently rolled him over to get him used to doing it. Eventually he actually did it on his own! Kate lay there and watched. She'll probably all of a sudden do a head stand and surprise us all.

This week I bought the Baby Genius video tape. Research has shown that babies' brain development is aided by listening to classical music. This tape has visual stimulus (cartoons, animals in slow motion, etc) to accompany the classical music. Kate and Aiden seem to like it and that evening we let them watch Sale of the Century but they couldn't answer any of the questions. We'll persevere.

Laughter abounds in this house and what is wonderful is they will often spontaneously smile and laugh without the vast input previously needed by us. Aiden will often stop mid-feed and flash a massive grin and then happily go back to munching away. Kate just loves it when she is laying on the mat and I lift her hands over her head and kiss the side of her neck. She still loves to lay back and chat and gossip after a feed. 

Somewhere between changing nappies and burping babies I have lost my brain. I find it hard to remember what I want to get done and what I need to buy from the shops. So much goes on around here that I decided a whiteboard on the fridge would be an answer to all my woes. I asked Aaron to pick one up on the way home from work. He stopped off at KMart and looked everywhere for one, didn't occur to him to ask an attendant. He arrived home  with a tiny little Winnie the Pooh whiteboard with a little pen. It is about the size of my hand. In between Pooh's tummy and Tigger's feet I managed to remind myself that I need sugar and bread. That's all I could fit in. I found a proper sized whiteboard at Target the next day. 

Sheesh...men....it's like driving in the car, they can't ask for directions.

To Top

 Monday November 12th          

4 months on Friday    

A Day in the Life of Twins

The trees outside sway softly in the breeze. Itchy and Snitzel snooze soundly in the lounge room....Looney's somewhere outside. The clock ticks quietly along showing the time to be 4:30am. No traffic can be heard....such peace.

WAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Up pop Snitzel and Itchy's heads in shock, up pop our heads equally shocked.......not again!

Aiden awakes at 4:30am as he has for the past 2 nights and demands to be fed. So begins our day. Like a well oiled machine Aaron and I manage to get both babies fed, burped, wrapped and back to bed within half an hour. I manage to do most of it with my eyes closed.

At 7:30 am the alarm goes off and I kick Aaron to wake him up (hey it's the easiest body part to move at this point in time). Aaron staggers out of bed and gets ready for work. I nap intermittently until 8:30am when Master Aiden yells out "NEGLECT! CHILD ABUSE! CHILD NOT BEING FED HERE!"

Quickly I run into the lounge room and put the capsules on either end of the couch and set my twin pillow up. I get Aiden up and plonk him into capsule number one where he proceeds to scream as only he can. I dash back to the nursery to wake up Kate who manages to give me a lovely smile and I almost give her whiplash as I unwrap her to the sound of Aiden's hysterics. Plonk....Katie is in capsule number 2 and I sit down in between them. By now Aiden has managed some tears to add authenticity to his hysterical act. Kate is also crying. Twin 1 is dragged on to the pillow, Twin 2 is dragged onto the other side and the feeding frenzy starts. I look longingly at the glass of water, remote control and the tissues which are all just out of my reach.....I vow to be better organised next time no matter how much Aiden is yelling and Kate crying. With a sly smile Itchy proceeds to drink my entire glass of water.

Both kidlets finish their feeds and Aiden looks up at me with his big blue eyes and with the world's largest gummiest grin he says, "Mornin' Mum...sleep well?". Irresistable! Little Miss Kate starts her giggling and chatting, same big blue eyes. We negotiate and decide that Kate will be burped first and Aiden will be changed first.

Knowing we are off to our Mother's Group I dress Aiden and Kate in their finest. During Kate's change she manages to pee everywhere...luckily it was on her PJs not her nice clothes. We all end up in the playroom (yes folks we have a playroom! The loungeroom is now for grownups and a haven I can go to when the kidlets nap) and I put Kate and Aiden into their rockers as I madly get dressed, eat breakfast and get ready to go. The night before I had packed the car and had my shower so the morning would require the minimum time and effort to get us out of the door. Also the night before I had rung the gal who was hosting the group to find out essential twin information like could I take the pusher inside? The answer was in the affirmative much to my relief as it is impossible to carry 2 babies, as you can well imagine. 

The timing of it all is essential and never quite works out. The group is meeting at 10:30am which is right in the middle of nap time....with one baby this might be OK with 2 it is a problem as routine is essential to survival. What should I do I wonder at 9:58am? I can't leave now and turn up early, should I drive around whilst they sleep? But then I would have to wake them to get them out of the car and into the pusher which means they may not go back to sleep. What a nightmare! Ideally I would like them to have an hour and a half of sleep...yeah right. So I stand there like a mad woman wielding a squeaking panda to distract Kate and Aiden and drag out the time before we leave. By now we are 20 minutes into nap time and moving dangerously close to that interesting phenomena called OVERTIRED. Time to leave so I heave up the HEAVY capsules and we all bang our way out the door, hitting every wall on the way (gosh they are heavy now and once momentum swings us it is lethal). 

We're off.

We're lost. 

I'm singing at every traffic light because the car has stopped and Kate is grizzling. Aiden must have fallen asleep, darn it! I need him awake so I can wrap them both and get them to nap when we get there. Eventually we make it and I start the unloading process. As I start I look longingly at 2 of the girls who are making their way inside calmly holding their babies and their tiny little nappy bags, happily chatting away. I open the boot and see that Aaron has loaded the pusher in the wrong way....sigh....I awkwardly hoist it out of the car, waving to several other girls walking happily with their single babies. "Won't be long!" I say through gritted teeth. I lock the brakes on the pusher and undo the thousands of straps and buckles to get Kate out of the car. I do the same for Aiden and then with an act of sheer strength I load the nappy backpack onto my back. It's crucial that I maintain equilibrium or I will be in trouble. 

We set off down the very steep and uneven driveway. The hostess emerges and we debate which would be the best way to get into the house. We go down a garden path with the pusher scrapping the walls. The hostess has to move piles of bricks out of the way and I have to maneuver the pusher through the door. I greet everyone as I move through the room, knocking over bags and coats and all sorts of paraphernalia, thanking God there aren't any babies in the way!

I settle us behind the couch in the back stalls and I quickly undress Kate and Aiden and wrap them, put them in the pusher and start rocking them. Several dummy resets later they sleep. Phew! Time to grab some chocky cake and guzzle down my bottle of water because by this stage I am terribly dehydrated.

About half an hour passes and Kate starts to stir. I know I am going to have to feed them and so I make the decision to get her up whilst Aiden is sleeping so that I can feed her. If Aiden awakes I pray that someone will have a free hand to be able to hold him. Even with about 10 women there often there aren't any free hands (anyone would think it was a mother's group with the way they all surprisingly have babies). I do look longingly at everyone sitting serenely on their chairs playing with one baby each.

I awkwardly feed Kate (hoping she won't do the screaming trick which she has been doing lately) and hear the unmistakable sound of a nappy rumbling. Oh goodie just what we need. Around this time Aiden starts to stir. Luckily the hostess had free hands so she was able to take Aiden who wasn't quite at his "NEGLECT" stage yet. I get out my nappy changing pad and all the paraphernalia and lay Kate down behind the couch to change her. As I change her I realise with dread that she has had a blowout. For those of you who haven't had breastfed babies or any babies for that matter, this is an interesting phenomena where the runny breastmilk poop manages to shoot out of the tooshy with such force it actually lands up the back...onto the good clothes of course. Not only this, it ruins the clean nappy I had put down and the cloth nappy I had laid Kate on. Everyone moans with sympathy and we all start swapping blowout stories and thank goodness another Mum offers to help dress Kate in the boring grow suit I just happened to have in the bag. 

I then have to feed Aiden which passes without incident and both babies are happy to be laid on the the floor for playtime. By this time I am looking at my watch calculating the most opportune moment to leave so as to get the babies home for a decent nap time. I have just done my calculations when I glance up and see that it is pouring with rain. 

Of course.

It takes me about 10 minutes to pack up as by this stage I have stuff absolutely everywhere. Everyone else just picks up their one baby ready to go. It takes a good 5 minutes to manipulate the pusher out the door, taking part of the bottom of the door with us (she assures me it was already broken). I stop the pusher under the verandah and the hostess and I decide to make a dash with a baby each to the car. I back it up as much as I can and we run to the car, leaving the pusher behind. We strap them in and I run back and try to get the pusher to the car as quickly as possible......remember the narrow garden path? I am quite wet by this stage and I heave the gigantic pusher into the car and dive into the passenger seat. 

Deep breath.

We make it home and Kate is fast asleep. I wrap Aiden first and he yells in protest all the way to the nursery where I start up the womb heartbeat music and shove a dummy into his mouth. I gently wake Kate to wrap her and get her into bed too. Luckily they settle fairly quickly which is usually the case. I know I have approx half an hour before they start to stir and I will have to do the constant settling. I grab a bite to eat and put a load of washing on.

They only sleep for about 40 minutes when I decide it best to feed them again as I don't think they fed all that well at the group. So we feed...I hear Aiden's nappy rumbling. Luckily it wasn't a blowout and we have a reasonably happy playtime although Kate says she will be happy if she can have 100% of my attention 100% of the time. So I do my juggling act where I whizz Kate around, singing and kissing her and then leaning over to kiss Aiden who is playing on the floor. Did I mention that Aiden had wet himself during his nap time? I had to wash the wraps and wait for the dryer to finish before the next nap time.

By now it is near 4pm and they are both in their cots and I am rocking Aiden. My savior arrives in the form of my mother who takes over the settling so I can have a break. We decide to cut nap time short and feed again. 

Playtime involves much of the usual, loads of singing, hugging, floor time. We wrap them and put them down again as Aaron arrives with take away. We all gobble it down and Mum leaves. We hear Aiden crying through the monitor and decide he may as well get up as it will be bath time soon.

It gets to 8pm and the babies are bathed and fed. They have giggled, drooled, screamed with wind, smiled a lot and generally been babies and finally it is time for sleep. At 8:20pm we stand in the nursery rocking Aiden's cot, both exhausted, Aaron still in his work clothes and both of us covered from head to toe in drool and vomit. 

I feel so tired as I reflect on the day and wonder how bad it could be when I hear Kate start chatting away with her dummy in her mouth....I break out into a big smile. What a cheeky girl! I then remember Aiden looking up at me as he was feeding and giggling mischievously, Kate squealing with delight as I "flew" her through the air, Aiden giving me big boofy hugs......

I wouldn't have it any other way! 

To Top

Tuesday November 20th  

4 months old

Aaron and the kids have gone off on a fun-filled adventure called "Let's get our 4 month immunisation shots". Poor old Mummy has been left behind because she would cry the most out of everyone!

Aiden has a mild form of cradle cap on his head and it must be irritating him. During the night he has gotten his arms loose and has managed to repeatedly slash his head with his nails. No matter how short I cut them it doesn't help so now he must wear a mitten to bed. He looks like he is ready to do some baking! The pattern of his cuts looked just like Jesus' thorns so we are thinking of advertising him as a phenomena and charging religious people to come and look.

To keep Kate and Aiden entertained I talk about everything I am doing. You know, "Now Mummy is going to tie her hair back so it isn't in the way" Thing is I find myself going to do it when I am out and about. Several times I have just stopped myself from saying, "Now Mummy is going to get the checkout lady the money" It's becoming a hard habit to break.

Aaron and I are very good at time management. We have turned rocking the cots into a workout. We can utilise many different arm muscles as we rock....hmmm....do I feel an exercise video in the making?? One good thing about rocking is we seem to be doing it less and less during sleep time which means Kate and Aiden are getting good at settling themselves (we won't mention how many times we have to put their dummies in now will we?)

The warmer weather is arriving and we have had several play times outside of late. Kate and Aiden love to watch the trees. Of course they also love it when I fly them around like aeroplanes and they have no regard for the fact that fatigue sets in when you have to do it for two babies (one of whom has a subscription to Weight Watchers on hold!).

Life is good here in the Hendry household! 

To Top

Can you tell the digital camera is fixed???

 Monday November 26th 

Can't tell you how much fun it is to have two sick children. Yes Kate and Aiden (and I) have a cold which has been going on for a week now. Poor Aiden has it the worst, he has had a terrible cough, fevers, the works. Kate only has a mild version. The immunisation shots set it off. Aaron had had the cold the week before and we felt it a tad cruel to insist he sleep outside....given current circumstances we are reviewing that decision for future reference.

The past few weeks have been all about hands. Both Kate and Aiden have been using theirs to their fullest potential. They no longer ball up into fists and have developed excellent control as they touch things with great precision. This is of course when they are not trying to shove the whole thing into their mouth, up to their elbows!

This week Kate and Aiden suddenly noticed each other. So THAT'S what was making that noise is what they seemed to say. It is very heartwarming to see them looking at and touching each other. My greatest wish is that they be close friends.... and also that they wait on me hand and foot. 

For the past two evenings we have put Kate and Aiden to bed at the normal time of around 7:30pm. Kate then proceeds to whinge and whine and chatter until we get her up and feed her. On both occasions we have wrapped her to go back to bed and she has cried inconsolably. We noticed that she was turning her head at an incredible angle just to see the TV so we unwrapped her and she sat on my lap and watched the Halifax movie quite happily, even laughing at the serious bits. Hope it's a passing phase.

I must talk about tummy time and the great inroads that have been made. My children are no longer just fit for sunbathing they can now lift their heads and roll over! They really enjoy time on the mat now, particularly if I roll them all over the place (anything that requires a large amount of effort on my behalf is always perfectly fine by them).

You may see from the pictures above that we have a Jolly Jumper (yanno the things that hang in the door way and bounce). They have had 2 turns in it and have found it fascinating. Kate actually seems to love it the most at the moment (Boof is still not feeling the best). I can't wait to see them develop their confidence and bounce like maniacs.

Aaron has a week's holiday next week and then we are all going on the houseboat with his family for the weekend. Sounds like a plan!

To Top

Tuesday November 26th

The Hospital Adventure

As previously mentioned, Kate, Aiden and I all have a cold. It has been going on for a week now and life has been hard. My Aunty Jackie has been coming each day this week to help and my Mum (who is also coming down with the cold) had today off sick which was very fortunate with all that happened......

It began last night with Aiden screaming after a feed and being inconsolable. In the end I had to hold him in a tight little ball and rock him until he fell into a pain-filled sleep. When he appeared asleep we wrapped him and put him to bed. Throughout the night he would wake up upset and need to be comforted back to sleep so by morning Aaron and I were rather tired. Poor little Kate's cold had gotten worse (and wetter). Hers seems different to Aiden's whose appears to be mainly in his chest, with some congestion. Kate's nose is constantly running but apart from that she still manages to smile every now and then. Back to Aiden....

The 6 am feed wasn't too bad although Aiden was uncomfortable and needed to be held tightly. Both Kate and Aiden went back to bed and seemed to sleep OK. Knowing my poor mother was off work sick I rang her to say I may have trouble with the 9 am feed and would need some help. We knew Jackie would be arriving at 10am. Aiden awoke for his feed and seemed to feed reasonably well. All of a sudden he started screaming and crying like he was in terrible pain. His back was arching and his face turning red. Mum just held him tight and walked him and rocked him until he relaxed somewhat. His eyes were half closed with pain and I thought my heart would break for him. Somehow in this I fed Kate and put her into a rocker....and as is always the case with these twins, she knew she needed to entertain herself as her brother needed help.

Mum and I tried desperately to work out what was the trouble. We gave him pain relief but it didn't seem to do anything. We guessed from his actions that he was having stomach troubles, possibly reflux which was burning him. We grabbed the Mylanta and gave him some. It's hard to get a child to swallow something when he is in pain so Mum and I ended up wearing most of it. I rang Aaron and asked him to ring the Dr. He rang back saying there wasn't a free appointment until that evening, meanwhile Aiden is screaming in the background. Darling Kate was busying herself happily with Mr Butterfly. I rang the Children's hospital and all they said was come in if we were concerned but that it would be a 2 hour wait.

What a dilemma.

Aaron then rang some private hospitals but most don't have emergency departments. I toyed with the idea of calling the ambulance but figured that was probably overkill! I rang the Parent Helpline and the nurse was nice and sympathetic but there wasn't much she could do except say that he sure sounded upset. I think this was about as helpless as I had ever felt, watching my poor son so pained and at the same time exhausted. Thank goodness for my mother who patiently walked him around while I tried to work out what to do.

Eventually Mum and I decided we would take him to the hospital. By this time we were frantic and somehow I grabbed the nappy bag and started to get us organised. The dilemma became how to get Aiden into the car as there was no way Mum could put him into the capsule....we know because we tried. Tara, Nerd of the Century says that it's illegal to drive carrying a baby. Mum looks at me and says that this is a medical emergency.

Good point.

So I bolt Kate in and throw some pants for Aiden into her capsule as well as my purse and keys and we leave the house with every light on and the TV blaring. I write a note telling Jackie that we had taken Aiden to the hospital. Half way to the hospital I realised it sounded like I had left Kate to fend for herself at home.

There we are driving fast but trying in vain not to actually hit anyone, Mum cuddling Aiden in the front seat with the seatbelt over them both. I hear Kate sniffing and gurgling in the back and I remember I had thrown everything into her capsule on top of her legs. At the first traffic lights I lean into the back to see if she is OK. Yup, she's happily chewing on Aiden's pants.

We pull into the hospital and Mum leaps out and takes Aiden to Emergency. By this time he is quiet but just sort of breathing fast with pain. Kate and I park in the carpark and I hoist her out of the car. I take her capsule and start walking, remember that now that the babies are bigger, carrying them feels equivalent to carrying a small car. On the floor of the carpark they have colour-coded painted lines to help you find your way to the right department. I follow the red lines to Emergency when all of a sudden they stop where a new floor had been laid. 

Yikes...what now?

Being a reasonably intelligent woman of 30 I take a few more steps and realise I am right at the lift. Off we go to find Mum and Aiden who are checking in at the desk. I was hoping Aiden would be screaming so we would be seen first but he was calmish now. The lady was very nice and looked at me and politely said I had mess on my shoulder.....really? REALLY? Do I look like a mother whose son has been in incredible pain and spraying Mylanta everywhere. Goodness could THAT be the reason why I am standing before her with an old sweatshirt on, covered in medicine and mucus, old pants and hair all over the place (did I even have matching shoes on my feet?). But instead I good-naturedly smile - all part of being a mother we joke.

We sit in the waiting room getting admiring glances due to the twin factor. Kate is starting to grizzle as she is tired. I go back to the car and get the pusher out so that I can put them in it and rock them. I leave Mum in the waiting room whilst I go and get something to eat. 

When I return Kate, Aiden and Mum aren't in the waiting room. Another mother told me they had been called. I look around the corner and I can see Mum holding Kate and  talking to the nurse. I glance into the pusher and there is Aiden wearing a little clip monitor on his ear and his foot, and chewing contentedly on a stethoscope. Surely this isn't the same child??? He is flirting with the nurse and doing everything short of winking at her and she is suitable charmed. She also suggests getting Kate checked out too.

The nurse does all of their observations and attached two "wee" bags to their genitals to get a sample. How delightful. By this stage Boof is up on the bed giggling and laughing so I played with him as we waited for the Dr to arrive.

The Dr pulls back the curtain and for a fleeting moment I got a fright thinking she was the student teacher I had failed 2 years earlier....I quickly realise she couldn't have gotten through Medical School that quickly. Just an uncanny resemblance. She checks Kate and Aiden out and declares they will live.

Kate has her cold in the upper region and has a bad nasal drip...which in laymans terms means the mucus from her nose is dripping down her throat causing her to choke on it. Oh goodie. She suggests that we give her saline nasal drops and hold her in the bathroom with a hot shower running. My first thought is, great that'll do wonders to my frizzy hair (remember that one for my Mother of the Year nomination).

As for Aiden we decide to feed him so she can see what happens.....and folks you know what happened don't you?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

After he fed I lay him down and the practically held him upside down but he was fine. The Dr said she thought it probably was reflux which was all part of his illness and to keep giving him Mylanta.

Wearily Mum and I took the kids home and put them to bed. By later that afternoon Aiden was in loads of pain again and I spent an hour holding him as he slept. Boy does that make your arms ache.

He is now in bed asleep and we think the old colic drops we remembered we had may have helped him somewhat.

Wish us luck....it will probably be a long night in the Hendry household.

To top