On breasteeding...

I am happy to say that now we are nursing exclusively, but at first I was both nursing and bottle feeding (except for 4 days of exclusively nursing when he first came home which did not go well). My little guy had low blood sugar and jaundice and then as soon as he came home he caught a cold from his brother and sister, so we got off to a rough start with nursing, which caused me to have a dip in supply and he was losing weight after the first week. I started nursing him (when he had the energy to latch), pumping afterwards and topping up his feed with a bottle of pumped milk and/or formula. I also started taking Domperidone (prescription), Fenugreek, Blessed Thistle ( both capsules from the health food store) and drinking Nursing Mothers Tea. It took a couple of weeks of doing a lot of pumping/bottle feeding as well as nursing before I felt like he was able to nurse exclusively again. Now things at 6 weeks are going wonderfully, it has been a couple of weeks since he has had a bottle at all.

Some tricks/things I think helped get to this point (for anyone who is like me and wants to avoid having to wash/sterilize/pump/bottle feed etc.and wants to exclusively nurse):

* I would use an oz or so of pumped milk or formula in the bottle and would get him started sucking on that, then would quickly switch him onto the breast. I called it his "primer". It helped trick him into latching on the breast. Sometimes I had to "prime" him a few times during a feed to keep him on the breast. I no longer need to do this.

* I breastfed on demand, if he was awake I offered him the boob and let him suck as much as he would. I woke him up every hour or so through the day and every 3 hours at night to nurse as well if he didn't wake up. This helped get my milk supply up. I also let him cluster feed ALL evening. He still does this, and from 8 until 11 I feed him about every half an hour.

* I used the Medela Calma nipple system to bottle feed with. This works similarly to a human nipple, only giving them milk when they latch on and suck. I think it helped to avoid him developing a preference for a faster (easier) flowing bottle nipple.

Those few weeks at the beginning when I was scared I wouldn't be able to exclusively breast feed him were hard. I ended up in tears a number of times. I am so happy that I persevered and didn't give up on the nursing. I am doubly happy when I have to leave the house and don't have to stop to think if I have the bottles, pump, formula, boiled water etc. all packed. I carry his food supply with me wherever I go :)

REMEMBERING

On remembrance day I always used to make a point to visit or call my grandfather Ben. He had served in the navy during WWII. Ben passed away in 2010 at the age of 99, so I am no longer able to phone him on this day. I do find myself, in the spaces between the craziness of a household with 3 kids under 3, taking the time to remember today. Not only to remember my Grandfather Ben, but to remember all the men and women who have fought.

Evans arrival:our birth story part 1

Evan was due on Monday September 26th, so when I was woken up with contractions on Wednesday Sept 28th, I wasn't surprised. Previously for the last few weeks I had been having occasional bouts of contractions, but they were never painful. These contractions were painful enough to wake me up from a sound sleep at 5 in the morning. I knew not to panic, as I figured once the contractions started I would have plenty of time before rushing to the hospital was needed. What I didn't know at this point is just exactly how much time I would end up having. I remember that morning doing a load of laundry, packing my bags and getting Ian to load a few things into the car "just in case". Contractions were still irregular coming anywhere from 20ish to 7 minutes apart. I would have them 7 to 9 minutes apart for an hour or so, then they would slow back down again. They were painful, but manageable. I had to stop and breath through them, and had a hard time getting comfortable, but wasn't in severe pain. I remember spending most of that day sitting on my exercise ball. My Mother, fortunately, was able to pack up and drive to our house that afternoon to look after the twins. I wasn't in a very nurturing state, and often needed Ian's support, so having another caregiver in the house was a huge blessing. I had been told that when my contractions were regula, and 5 minutes apart for an hour to come to the hospital. This never happened. Bedtime arrived and we all decided to head to bed early just in case we had to get up in the night to go to the hospital. I got very little sleep that night, as every contraction would wake me up and I found myself watching the clock, hoping they would start coming 5 minutes apart. I remember being excited that my baby was going to arrive on the 29th, exactly 1 month before my birthday. It seemed too perfect to be true...

Thursday the 29th arrived, and the contractions continued some were 20 minutes or so apart, others as close together as 7 minutes. They hurt a lot. In between contractions I felt perfectly fine and would run around getting stuff organized, the last details packed, etc. I was getting excited to meet my new baby soon.

I had an ultrasound BPP appointment to attend Thursday afternoon to check on the baby, my fluids and placenta. Because my blood pressure has at times been high and because I had had a C section with the twins, I was being carefully monitored. My OB was willing to let my try to have a VBAC but she wanted to be careful.

We packed up for the appointment, loaded all our hospital bags, car seat, cloth diapers etc. into the car. I gave the twins extra special cuddles and cried because I didn't think I would see them again for a few days. I was pretty sure that at any moment my contractions would start coming faster together and that this baby would arrive.

We went to the 7th floor and waited to be called in for the ultrasound. I had occasional contractions while waiting. I could mostly sit through them and control the pain with breathing. Finally they called us in and did the ultrasound. Everything looked great. Baby was doing big and small movements, he was practice breathing, I still had a normal amount of fluid, the doppler on my placenta was normal. Even though I was overdue I was free to carry on. No C section that day. I did have some contractions during the ultrasound, so they recommended I head over to be assessed.

We had to go through admitting, and then wait for hours and hours in a tiny room waiting for a Dr to come and look at me. Having contractions in the comfort of your own home is not fun, but in a small room with no where comfortable to sit (except a gurney) and no room to walk around, they feel way worse. Finally after being told a number of times that the Dr was coming, and then being told he wasn't due to an emergency c section, a Dr finally arrived. I was checked and basically not much was happening. My cervix was only slightly dilated. Such depressing news as it had now been over 36 hours of no sleep and contractions. They said they would keep me in the hospital if I wanted, to be reassessed in the morning. I chose to head for home, determined to only come back when my contractions were regular and 5 minutes apart.

Thursday night, Friday and Friday night passed in a blur of pain, much pacing up and down the hallway, long soaks in the jacuzzi tub, back rubs, walks outside, hot showers and 10 minute dozes in between contractions. I waited and waited to see the contractions coming every 5 minutes for an hour, but they just seemed to fluctuate between 7-20 minutes.

Finally, early Saturday morning I realized that they were coming about 5 minutes apart, instead of 7 or more. I decided to go take a long hot shower to see if they would continue. In the shower they continued to come even quicker, every 3- 5 minutes. I got out, got dressed and we decided it was time to head in to the hospital. By this point the contractions were so strong that I couldn't stay still through them, I had to be moving, or rocking on the ball or the toilet. I knew the long drive to the hospital would be a test of my mental strength, but I was excited to do it as it finally ment the baby was coming. YAY!

As the sun was rising Saturday morning we arrived at the hospital. We were quickly admitted and sent to the assessment unit again. This time we were given a much larger room, with a comfortable recliner for Ian and a bed for me, plus a private bathroom. Luxury compared to 2 days before. But even though our accommodations were nicer, we still had to wait for what felt like forever to be seen by a Dr. When the Dr finally arrived and checked me, once again it was disappointing news. I was fully effaced, but only dilated about 1 cm. Basically nothing was happening and I wasn't in labour. By this time my contractions had slowed down as well and were back to their old pattern of varying between 7-20 minutes. They were very intense now though and literally took my breath away they hurt so much, I couldn't imagine them getting much worse.

The Dr told me to go away for a few hours then to come back to be checked again. It is about a 45 minute drive to go home, so it would have ment driving, and soon turning around and driving back the other way. The most painful place to be for me was in the car, where I couldn't get up to move through the contraction. We still needed some baby clothes (boy stuff) so we decide to do some shopping and headed to the consignment store. After that we went to visit our friends Jamie and Ian and their twins. Jamie had some used baby clothes she was willing to share with me. It was strange to visit with friends while every so often having to leave the room to go have a contraction. Between contractions I still felt 100% normal and fine, then for a minute or so I would be in great pain, and then once it passed I was fine again. During our shopping/visiting my contractions seemed to slow once again and were mostly around 20 minutes apart.

I was starting to feel a little desperate and was worried that my body just wasn't going to go into actual labour on its own as I had progressed from a fingertip dimple on Monday the 26th to 1 cm open on Sat. morning after over 3 full days of contractions. I had had surgery on my cervix and knew I had scarring on my cervix. I was worried that this ment it would never dilate.

We headed back to the hospital around supper time to have another check. This time we were put into an even smaller room than the first one, without even a window. Basically a closet. Again it seemed that the Dr was continually being called away to the operating room or to emergencies and it took forever to be checked. This room didn't even have a chair, just a stool for Ian to sit on and a hard gurney for me to lie on and a bathroom shared with other people.

Finally, close to bedtime a Dr arrived. I was so happy to see a familiar face as he was one of the Drs who had done my c section and had seen me a lot after the surgery when I had a hematoma and an infection. He has a lovely bedside manner and inspires confidence. He checked me and it was sort of good new. I was between 2 and 3 cm dilated, fully effaced and he could feel the top of the babies head. Finally there had been some changes. He took the time to chat with me, basically telling me what I was going through was extreme, but still within the ranges of normal, that these changes were an excellent sign, but that I still had a way to go. He told me to go home, take painkillers, and to come back when I was back to every 3-5 minutes apart. He cautioned me that if I came back to soon that "Drs like to do things to you". Since I couldn't be safely induced due to having had a previous c section, doing things to me would have ment a repeat C section. I really wanted to avoid that. I had already gone through 4 days of intense pain, I wasn't about to give up on my desire for a VBAC very easily. We decided to head home, once again. This time I was even more determined not to go back to the hospital until "the baby is crowning" I joked.

Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday night again passed in a blur of pain, fatigue & more pain. I felt like I had already run a marathon, and that I was being asked to turn around and do it again. I was also determined that I was going to have a vaginal delivery and that I wasn't going to head into the operating room.

Sunday night/early Monday morning 2 things happened. First off I finally lost my mucus plug or had the "bloody show" I had read about. I had had some bleeding after the internal exams,where they had done stretch and sweeps of my membranes, but it hadn't been accompanied by large clumps of snot. The 2nd thing that happened was I peed myself. One position I found that helped during a contraction was to sit on the toilet, with my hands on my knees and to rock. I found the ring of the toilet seat put pressure on my thighs and kept the contraction pain from radiating all the way down my legs. It also seemed to be the right height (like the ball) to rock on. I had peed previously and didn't need to go, so stood up after my contraction and peed all over myself and the floor.

Monday morning arrived and still no baby. I was now one full week past my due date. Because I had had the bloody show in the night, we were debating if we should head back to the hospital to get checked or not. I was also in even more pain than before. There was no "breathing through" contractions. It was scream, swear, thrash, whatever I could do to deal with the pain. I even bruised my own thighs from gripping them so hard. Contractions were steady every 7 minutes (still not 3-5). I could tell that my Mother and Ian were both finding dealing with my pain hard. Then the phone rang. It was my Drs office asking me to go to the hospital for another BPP ultrasound.

We headed , for the 3rd time, to the hospital. I was terrified that there would be something that indicated the baby was in distress and I would have to have a C section. I was terrified that there had been no further changes since Saturday. I was terrified that I would be allowed to continue and that there would be days more of this intense pain. The pain I had during my contractions was incredibly intense. Women try to tell you about it, but not having experienced it yourself, it is hard to understand. It is a very primal sort of pain that starts in your center, radiates outwards taking over your whole pelvis, back and thighs, that holds you in its claws and then slowly releases you out of the pain. The moments after a contraction stops feel amazing, and then you remember a minute later that it is coming again, and you try to relax to keep it from gripping you once more. You want them to come, to do their job, to bring the baby out. You also feel like they are ripping you apart.

I am not sure if it was something my husband said to the receptionist, or watching me have a contraction, or just luck, but we had one of the shortest waits we have ever had to get in for the ultrasound. And there I discovered one of my fears had come true. My amniotic fluid was low. The ultrasound tech searched for a fluid pocket, but couldn't find any. Other than that everything looked great. The baby was fine, placenta was fine. No fluid meant the baby would have to come out ASAP and I was terrified they were going to tell me I needed a C section. The ultrasound tech sent for the Dr to examen me. When the Dr came she told me I was dilated about 4 cm, that the head was "right there" and that she could feel hair. She then asked me if my water had broken, and I clued in. I hadn't peed myself after all...

Finally something was happening and I was admitted to the labour and delivery unit. Yay! It was time to have a baby. Maybe? At least it was starting to look like it might be soon.

Welcome Evan

Evan Lawrence arrived almost 2 weeks ago on Oct 4th. He was born at 6lbs 15 oz Tuesday morning. We were sent home a couple of days later and have been getting used to having 3 kids at home. Life is crazy but wonderful.

I will post my birth story as soon as i finish writing it down.

38 weeks

I haven't updated about this pregnancy in a while. I feel guilty about that when i look back and see the weekly updates I did while pregnant with the twins. Lets just say with two year old twins running around, and not on bedrest I have a LOT less computer time.

I am 38 weeks today! After having an incompetent cervix last time, I think everyone, myself included, figured I would have delivered already or at least be on bed rest by this time. Nope! I am doing great.

We found out at 36 weeks that we aren't having a little girl like the Dr. had told us at 20 weeks. Nope this baby is all boy. He showed off his parts very clearly. At first I was quite upset with this news, not so much because I cared wether I was having a girl or a boy, but because I had spent 4 months thinking, planning and dreaming about another little girl. After a week or 2 of getting used to the idea (including a fun shopping spree for boys clothes), I am more used to the idea. I am so glad I found out before he arrived though, as the shock of finding out at the hospital would have been crazy. Especially since I had already packed my hospital bag full of pink.

My blood pressure continues to be a worry. Much less of a worry than we thought it would be at 18 weeks though. I occasionally will have a higher than desired reading, but for the most part it is staying down in the normal range. As the end of the pregnancy approaches my fingers are crossed it stays steady, so I can let this baby bake as long as he wants to.

Because Anna and Alex were both breech last pregnancy, I had to have a C section. This boy got head down around 32 weeks and has been that way every ultrasound since then. This gives me a good chance of being able to have a VBAC, or to push this baby out, as my OB says. Due to my previous C section I can't be induced though, so we have to wait for him to want to come on his own. As long as my BP stays okay that isn't a problem, but my OB is worried that it will start to rise as we get to the end, or that my placenta/fluids will decline because of my BP. Fingers crossed I go into labour before my OB wants to do a repeat C section. I am enjoying being pregnant right now, am not even that uncomfortable and wouldn't be in a hurry for him to arrive, EXCEPT for the worry that if he doesn't come in the next week or so it will be surgery for me. Cross your fingers, pray, send positive vibes, whatever...

I love feeling this little dude move. He tends to have a real sleep/ active cycle. It is either go go go with lots of kicks, or very little movement. His kicks are getting much stronger. I love sitting looking down at my belly dancing away. I was resting a cup of tea on my belly the other day and he kicked so hard the cup bounced and spilled some tea. As excited as I am to meet him, I will miss being pregnant for sure.

Renovations are over!

Finally, after 4 1/2 months of living with renovations going on, they are all finished. We started the project to finish our first floor and to open up the main floor living area in March this year. Like all renovations, we ran into bumps along the way. Things we hadn't planned to do, ended up having to be done, as we found damage to our house from rats, ants, water and previous builders stupidity. All these issues are fixed now (fingers crossed) and we are very happy with how things have turned out. It is lovely living in a finished (although what house is ever truly finished, I already have ideas for future projects) house for the first time in either of our lives. The kiddos love having more space, a play room for their toys, and a deck to hang out on.

Turning 2!

The twins had an exciting day yesterday celebrating their 2nd birthday. They had a whole lot of guests come and received a lot of wonderful gifts. They were incredibly well behaved for 2 year olds and there wasn't one tantrum or sniffle the whole party. Highlights included cake, gift opening, bubbles and getting totally soaked with water.

They had lots of guests, it was a house full! Even though there were less people than at their 1st party, it seemed like more with 2 babies, 8 toddlers and 3 older kids (plus some kid like adults). Mommy , Daddy, Anna and Alex all had lots of fun and hope that their guests did too. Here is who came:

Anna and Alex

Mommy and Daddy

Grammy Olga

Aunt Emily, Uncle James and cousins Sadie and Ava

Aunt Holly and cousin Mason

Aunt Ellie

Cousin Crystal and Mike and cousin Jacob

Cousin Amy all the way from Toronto

Friends Jamie, Ian and the twins Carter and Aiden

Friends Ken and Katharine and Anna and Alex's special buddy Amelia

God uncles Shaun and Leif

Friends Harriet, Sasha and Deirdre

Neighbour kids Hunter, Maddy, Aiden and Blake

There were other friends (hay season!) and relatives who couldn't make it but who sent lovely gifts as well.

Thanks very much everyone!

Happy summer!

It has been summer for a few days now, but hasn't been feeling like it. I have to admit I am one of the few people not complaining as being pregnant I have my own built in heat source. I have been bundling the kiddos up in footed pjs the last few nights though and giving them an extra blanket.

This pregnancy is going very well. My blood pressure, although not as low as I would like, has been doing fine with no more high readings like the one I got at the Drs back in April. As long as I don't attempt to do too much more than the ordinary day to day stuff and keep my stress levels down it is staying just fine. I did my Gestational Diabetes test this week and passed with no issues. I didn't enjoy drinking the sickly sweet orange drink and sitting in the waiting room for an hour though. So glad I passed this one and don't have to do the 3 hour one. My iron levels are low though, so I need to take a supplement to get those up a bit. I don't feel super tired, like I did when my iron levels were low when pregnant with the twins. Other than a day and a half with sciatic pain after doing too much during the move downstairs, I have really had very little pain with this pregnancy at all in the first 2 trimesters. It is soooooo different to be pregnant with a singleton than with twins. I had constant pain from the end of the first trimester onwards with the twins. That could be because I had no cervix left acting as a cushion. My cervix measured great this week on my transvaginal ultrasound, between 4 and 5 cm. I got to see our little girl on an ultrasound this week. She weighs in at over 2 pounds now and is measuring in the 50th percentile. Which is perfect, not too big, not too small. Also got to hear her heartbeat at the Drs office later in the week. I love the sound of galloping horses feet that their little heart beats make.

The twins are turning TWO next week. Hard to believe! Time sure has been flying along. We are having a party for them on the 3rd (Sunday) as their real birthday is on a Monday. They are at such a fun age now, exploring and finding delight in everything.

The renovations are coming along... We started this whole project back in March, and now it is almost July. I do have to say I am getting very tired of having strange men in my house every day. The first few months weren't too bad as they were working on the first floor and we were on the 2nd (main) floor and never really had to see them. Now we are living out of 3 bedrooms on the 1st floor while they work on the main floor. This means that our kitchen/dining room/living room area are all under construction. We turned one of the 3 bedrooms into a living room and have the kids table and chair set for the twins to eat off of in there. I pack a cooler in the mornings with sippies, lunch and snacks for the day. Ian has been home a number of the days, which has made it much easier too, as then one of us can be downstairs with the kids while the other makes meals/fetches things from the kitchen. Soon it will all be finished and we will love living in our beautiful "new" house though. I'll put pictures up on here once we reach that point.

23 weeks tom.

I was just reading the facts on pregnancy tickers. At 23 weeks the baby is supposed to be the size of a papaya, about 12 1/2 inches long, have fully formed ears, fingernails and fingerprints. I certainly feel like I have something the size of a papaya in there when I look down, my feet have disappeared I noticed this morning, I have to bend over a tiny bit to see them. Other than the hardness of my belly and that my normal clothes no longer fit, I really don't feel very pregnant yet. I guess having had twins the first time around and feeling huge from the first trimester onwards, this girl is easy to carry by comparison (so far... I reserve the right to complain in the 3rd trimester!)

I had an OB appointment a few days ago. It went well. She told me I was doing "Awesome" :) My BP was way lower than it had been a month ago. I have really cut salt out of my diet this past month, and it seems to be helping. I am amazed by how much salt is in everything, reading labels is key. My taste buds seem to have adjusted to having way less salt too. I took a bite of a pickle the other day (1/2 salt baby dills) and it was so salty I could barely stand it. I used to eat dill pickles all the time. Also trying to take life easier, let people help, ignore my messy house and avoid stress.

I have gained 1 pound so far this pregnancy. And since the baby weighs over a pound now herself, I think that is pretty good. Unlike with the twins where I was told I needed to gain some weight, I have no need to gain any weight with a singleton, maintaining or just a small gain is fine. I figure if you take the baby, placenta, fluid, etc. into consideration I have actually lost weight. I am sure that the scale will go up during the 3rd trimester, but for now I am happy it is staying where it is.

I haven't really bought anything for our new little girl yet, but I did order some newborn cloth diapers. I am excited for them to arrive in the mail. I got prefolds, flats and small sized fitteds and some different styles of covers (including a recycled wool one). I am not sure what else I will really need. I did give away some of Anna's smallest clothes to a friend who had a smaller baby than expected, so I might need a few more newborn and 0-3 month sized outfits. And every baby needs to have a few things that aren't hand me downs anyways...

Team PINK

Earlier this week we went in for the 20 week ultrasound (actually 21 weeks 1 day). I always find ultrasounds nerve wracking. I think it is because the first time I ever had one it was the day we learned our first baby didn't have a heartbeat and that I was going to miscarry. So, since then, I tend to get a little worried.

Everything went wonderfully. They managed (after much poking and prodding to get baby into the positions needed) to take all the measurements, check all the limbs, organs etc. The Dr said everything looked great, that baby was around 1 pound and was measuring around the 60th percentile. Big sigh of relief!

The Dr also knew what the sex was and asked if we wanted to know. We are having a GIRL!

The 2nd part of the ultrasound was done transvaginally to check my cervical length. With the twins at this ultrasound (done earlier at 19 weeks) my cervix had gotten really short (13mm) and I was admitted for a cerclage surgery and spent a week in the hospital on bedrest, before being sent home on bedrest. This time there was much better news. My cervix is staying long (around 50mm) and showed no signs of funneling. Again, big sigh of relief!

Trip to the hospital

I am home again. Went for my OB visit on Thursday and had my BP checked with the cranky nurse (who has gotten really high BP readings for me before when pregnant with the twins), it was really high. Then my OB went to do the doppler and couldn't find the heart beat (she said she thought that she could hear the baby moving, but basically gave up on finding the heartbeat) Well that freaked me right out. So because of those two things, and the state I was in, she decided I should go to the hospital to be checked out/monitored for 24 hours. Because I was now an "inpatient" I got to jump the line and have an immediate ultrasound (all was fine. Baby was just super active, refusing to stay still for more than a few seconds which is why it was hard to doppler the heartbeat.) Got to hear a nice heartbeat and see baby moving, so felt better after that. They kept checking my BP during my stay and never once did it go super high again like in her office. It is up a bit, but nothing to be super concerned about. So there are 2 scenarios. 1) The nurse/equipment at the OB's office sucks and it was a false reading 2) After driving, waiting in the waiting room, seeing the cranky nurse, etc. I was worked up and that shot my BP up , which means that at other times when I am stressed I am probably having really high BP moments as well although that is the only place I have ever had such a scary high reading. So if it is #1 or #2 we really don't know. My OB wants to err on the side of caution and for me to take life super easy at home right now. I am not on strict bed rest, just bedrest when ever possible/limited activities. Pretty scary that at 18-19 weeks I am already having BP issues though. I really hope that I can find help so that I have less to do, and that I can keep myself from being so stressed. With Ian being away, kids sick with colds, renovations, pregnancy, Ian being super worked up/busy at work I have been finding it hard to relax and get good night sleeps etc. I also very rarely have any time away from the kids, if any. Being in the hospital for 24 hours I realized I need to take more time for me, to just relax and to not constantly be on the alert of what the kids are up to.

Soon to be a family of 5

I realized I haven't updated my blogs for ages. I have some rather big news to share though. I am 18 weeks pregnant, due in September! I feel badly that I haven't document this pregnancy so far like I did when I was pregnant with the twins. Hopefully I will find a few moments to do so in the future.

Alex's haircut

BEFORE




AFTER




Alex had his first haircut in the NICU, where they shaved his little blond fluff off to put in IVs. I was so sad as it totally changed how my baby looked. Since then his hair has been growing up a storm though, and it was reaching almost to his shoulders. Time had come to cut his blond locks. This haircut was much less traumatic for me. He looks like such a cute little boy with his ends trimmed off and I am no longer constantly brushing his hair out of his eyes for him. Thanks to Cathy for performing the task and literally chasing him around the room with her comb and scissors to find a rare moment of stillness.

Playing in the snow

Christmas fun

A Year and Half

Happy 1/2 birthday to Anna and Alex today. They are 18 months now, only 6 months before we hit the "terrible twos :)

It is hard to believe that my little 3lb12 oz and 4 lb 1 oz babies are now well over 20 lb toddlers. (Alex, who is lighter than Anna, was 22 lbs a month or 2 ago when he went to the Dr.) They are growing up and turning into little people so fast.

I haven't updated for a while, but there hasn't been too many changes. Alex has all his teeth (16, he still has his 2 year old molars to get) Anna has 12 teeth. We are still waiting for her 4 canine teeth to break through, and of course her 2 year old molars as well. Both are walking, running, climbing, jumping, rocking, dancing, hopping and falling like crazy. They are very active kids (compared to the 4 or 5 other kids of the same age I know well) and are always into stuff. I tell myself that their curiosity about the things around them means they are intelligent, not that they are out of control... I hope I am right:)

Both are making all kinds of new sounds and are trying to use words to communicate. Alex has more words that we understand than Anna. Some of his favorites include "tickle tickle", "all gone", "apple", "orange" and "cat". They both seem to understand a lot of the words that we say and are good at following simple directions (when it pleases them).

They really enjoyed Christmas. This year, for the first time ever, we stayed at home. It was a lovely day. Grammy Olga came to visit and to share our Christmas dinner. We spent most of the day opening up new toys and taking the time to play with everything. It was a totally relaxing day.