I knew this day would come...

....the girls FINALLY got sick. :( This would be why we are such slackers and haven't posted anything lately. :( Our days and nights for the last 2 weeks have been consumed with breathing treatments....X's 2, and it sucks. It's absolutely HORRIBLE to see your babies sick and know that there isn't really any medication that they can take to make them better. The good news is that now we have our own breathing treatment machine and all that jazz. Now at the first sign of a cough or cold we have to do these treatments, which the girls alternate between loving and hating. However, sometimes you can bribe them with Yo Gabba Gabba, their favorite TV show. I know, sad to admit that we already bribe our kids AND that we use TV, but it's better than fighting them to give them medical care that they HAVE to have. Know what I mean???


In other news...the girls were 1 year adjusted last weekend. What this means is that they are their correct gestational age as to when they were supposed to have been born. All of their developmental milestones, etc are measured from. Thankfully, they seem to be right on schedule developmentally! Both girls weigh in at 17 lbs and some change. Still tiny, but one would NEVER know that from the way they are eating us out of house and home. Thankfully we've caught a eating break and they LOVE table food. After all the trouble we had with nursing and bottles, THANK GOD. They are actually even loving their bottles (well, of whole milk) these days...but now we are working on the transition to sippy cups. Fun times!

Olivia can walk, Sydney has 2 teeth. When Olivia will have teeth one never knows..as for walking and Sydney...well, she's working on it, crawling just seems to work for her! BUT she has been showing more interest in walking with the car walker these days than she has previously, so hopefully she'll figure it out soon. Sydney's current FAVORITE thing is climbing. She climbs everything...including the couch, ottoman, dogs, play kitchen, hearth, and of course she TRIES to climb out of her crib and the baby gate. Yeah, we're in for some FUN times with her!

Both girls talk...their joint words include Ball, Mama, and Dada. Sydney says dog and Olivia says yeah! Olivia will try and imitate words that you say, it's so cute! The love to screech at each other and it is VERY obvious that they think they own each other...and all of their toys. We now have fights over things, and we try to tell them not to take things from each other, but they are a little to young to understand. SO, we share everything, especially pacis and sippy cups. :(

The girls continue to love love love daycare. Georgine informs me that they have several girl and boy friends that they love to play with! Go girls! :)

In other news...this coming weekend, the girls are getting baptized!




Last Monday, Papa Rick was out of town on a golfing trip, so Nana Sharon watched us by herself! We convinced her to stay for dinner and the girls rewarded her by putting food on their heads for them. What can I say, it was their first attempt at broccoli. They ate it, but I see more attempts in their future!

Olivia...

Sydney....

Sydney doing her new FAVORITE thing...climbing...it drives Matt and I batty b/c we're afraid she's going to hurt herself...seriously! :(

Yep...hurt herself, but nothing so serious that cuddles with Daddy can't fix!

Playing with the dog's ball...Olivia LOVES to say the word BALL as does Sydney!

Rocking it out in our new cut outfits from Nana Sharon! We hit the jackpot and she got the girls several very cute outfits!

Hanging at the Metzler Family reunion! Everyone thought we looked super cute!

Playing around!

Sydney....Climbing...as usual. I think I say Sydney NO NO in my sleep.

MAMA, I LOVE THIS DOG! And I say dog too! So cute!

Olivia...showing off her new talent...WALKING!

Sitting on the music cube...she's been doing that lately and it's super cute!

Our new 'favorite' thing to do...fight. Makes us batty. :(

Playing around before Bath time!

Sydney LOVES shutting doors!

Olivia Rockin' it out....

Playing around with Daddy, in this particular picture he had just gotten home from a business trip, we all missed him! :)

Having Bronchitis apparently didn't phase the girls....playing around!

Playing around on Draft day! :)

And Aunt Amy wondered when she showed up why the Dog bowls were in the unused Pack N' Play! :) THIS would be why.

Aunt Amy and Cousin Caroline came over during Draft Day as a distraction to play with the girls...all had fun!

Waving goodbye...we miss you already!

Cassius and Sugar were TIRED by the time Caroline left! :) I think they were afraid that Amy would leave her and now they'd have 3 babies..I think the mobility of the girls freaks them out a little! But, they continue to be FABULOUS with the girls!

Playing with our new toys from Target...and yes, that is a kickball, but the girls (Olivia especially), LOVE that thing!

Olivia...my future dancer, rockin' it out to the Mizzou Fight song on her Truman the Tiger toy! :)

The girls LOVE looking out the front door!

Sydney..just chillin' before watching the Tigers BEAT Illinios! What a sweet victory (aren't they all!)?????????

"Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to play with these, but they make cool noises!" Sadly, I think she has a career as a drummer some day!

Hope all is well!

J

Just Playing Around....

Life in our house is slowly but surely settling into a routine, now that school is starting to get into full swing.

The girls are getting more use to Georgine's house....they have made several friends and they no longer cry in the morning when Daddy leaves them, but they do continue to be VERY excited to see Mommy in the afternoons. Who'd have known that playing all day long was so tiring. I often feel as if my days are a race b/c I have so much to do once I am up and running, but my favorite time of the day is the afternoons, when I race out of work to get home to pick up the girls. Once we are home from Georgine's house (I walk over to pick them up, after I change clothes and let the dogs out), we have snack and play before dinner time!

I am amazed by how fast they are growing and learning. Sydney is getting her first 2 teeth...at first we thought she was just getting her bottom left tooth, but a few days later I noticed that there were 2 teeth coming in! Olivia, not to be outdone has started taking steps. She can take about 5 steps before she falls down. Sadly she doesn't have any teeth coming in, but that's cool b/c Sydney doesn't appear to want to walk any more! :) YES, I know they will both catch up and there WILL be more teeth for both of them AND Sydney will walk, eventually!



HEre are the girls celebrating the return of Aunt Nozomi from Japan, by wearing one of their many Japanese outfits....they did enjoy being Japanese babies for the day. Japanese baby clothes are MUCH easier to take off than American baby clothes....little stinkers! THey love love love their wagon that they got for their 1st birthday. THankfully it has seatbelts to keep them strapped in!

Sydney is wearing white and Olivia is wearing the black!

Sydney playing with her basketball...she loves that thing, but not was much as Livi does!

Olivia..

The remote, like the telephone, our cel phones, and laptops......is a lot of fun! :)

Playing around one afternoon after work. The girls are slowly but surely getting more and more freedom to 'crawl' or walk around the house. They LOVE the front window (just like Cassius and Sugar do)! :)

HEre is Olivia playing at the front window:

Sydney...also playing in the window...but with the telephone....she loves it!



Goofing off one day!

Olivia giggling!

Sydney must not have gotten her way...so sad isn't it!?


Bathtime continues to be the girls' FAVORITE time of the day! They pretty much love everything about it....splashing each other, Mommy, Daddy, kisses from Sugar, squirting their bath toys at each other, getting their hair washed. The bath tub is just plain old fun to them! I have to admit, I love it too! Especially the way they smell after bathtime!

Sydney telling her Daddy, "I don't know who did it Daddy!" He's going to have to get used to hearing that, I am sure! :)

Olivia and her big blue eyes, just looking at the camera and her silly Mommy!


I am a member of the St. Louis Mother of Twins club, and last weekend we held our annual fall sale at Lindbergh High School. We of course went, it's a great way to find cheap clothes, shoes, toys, etc. for the girls. We really hit the jackpot on toys, many of which we put away for Christmas, but those that the girls did get to keep to play with, they really really like. Our plan of attack at this VERY large sale was that I would go look for shoes and clothes and Matt would be in charge of the toys..in particular anything Sesame Street. You see at the last sale (in April) we bought this Sesame Street table that plays songs, etc from the tv show and the girls LOVE it. I was super excited when Matt found a DMX Cookie Monster..this is what I wanted to get the girls for Christmas...Olivia LOVES Cookie Monster..it's so cute to watch both Olivia and Sydney play with him..he's fun!

Olivia......






Sydney...


On Sunday...all 4 of my children playing at the front window!

Aaaaaaaha! Cassius's food and water bowls are SOOOOOOOOOO much fun. :) The dogs were VERY VERY concerned about the girls playing with their bowls! :)

Sydney...

Olivia....

As we move toward Labor Day weekend, I keep remembering what our lives were like last year this time. I wonder, will I 10 years from now always think back to our Labor Day in the NICU? Will we continue to celebrate the date that the girls came home from Children's Hospital? I hope not, to be honest, I hope that some day we can officially put all of that behind. BUT, this year we WILL be celebrating their freedom from the NICU with the girls' Baptism. :) So, on Sunday, September 27th, the girls will be baptized, and afterwards we will be hosting a small luncheon for the girl's god-parents and our parents.

Also, please remember that RSV season is rapidly approaching, the rules this year for RSV season will continue to be the same as last year, per our release papers from the NICU....we were given instructions that for the first 3 years we needed to be very particular during RSV season...so be prepared to wash up and hand sanitize often while you are here or when you see the girls! :) They will not be going very many public places this winter, if you have been sick or around sick people, please do not come visit. I know it sucks, but Sydney and Olivia's health has to come first. As for how we are going to deal with the Swine Flu, I am not sure. WHat I do know is that they will receive their flu shot in October, as for the Swine Flu shot, I'm not sure if they will get that OR if I even want them to get it....there are way too many questions about it for me to really want them to have it. I'm very worried that if they get it they will suffer some sort of side effect that is very bad in a couple years....so, we're going to wait to hear what Dr. Yassin has to say about it when we see her next. :( What I do know is that I'll probably use all my sick days AGAIN this year, b/c I am not taking ANY chances with their health...I'd rather miss work and lose money than have them be sick. Fun times. SIck babies are NOT fun...that I do know, and worrying about then when they are sick is even worse than a sick baby.

Have a Fabulous and Beautiful Labor Day weekend!

Hope all is well....stay healthy!

J