Twins: 9 months old

Miles and Calvin are 9 months old!!!

Calvin:

Height: 29 inches (79th percentile)

Weight: 20 lbs 12 oz (70th percentile)

Head circum: 18.5 (95th percentile. Yay...first time it isn't 99%)

4 teeth

Size 3 diapers during the day; size 4 at night

Some 12 month clothes; some 18 month onesies

Miles:

Height: 30 inches (97th percentile)

Weight: 21.5 lbs (81st percentile)

Head circum: 18.25 (87th percentile)

2 bottom teeth

Size 3 diapers during the day; size 4 at night

Some 12 month clothes; some 18 month onesies

Here's what we've been up to (Oct. 20th-Nov. 20th):

We went to Charles City to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Guthart.

We also had lunch with Great Grandma and Grandpa Stewart (and lots of great aunts and uncles too!)

The boys celebrated their first Halloween!

Miles wearing cousin Lauren's costume

They were silly little monkeys!

We went trick-or-treating at Aunt Angie and Uncle Doug's, Grandpa Lyle's and a few of his neighbor's houses, and then to Uncle Jason's. We did ALL the work to get candy and mom and dad ate it all. Maybe next year we'll get a taste :)

We also went to storytime at the library in our costumes and attended our first Halloween party!

Miles in his monkey cage (FYI...this is a baby gate..not a cage!)

We are getting to be so much fun and interactive! Mom and dad love tickling us and making us laugh. We love playing peek-a-book and hiding under blankets. Here is a funny video of Miles cracking up!

We are getting really good at eating finger food. We've started eating more table food too. We love eating yogurt melts, puffs, cheerios, toast or anything that mom and dad are eating (especially when dad gives us some whipped cream....yum!). We don't really like chunks of fruit or whole veges yet (pureed is the only way we like to eat it!) 

Calvin with his cheerio face

Calvin is a fast, doubled handed, messy eater and always wants more! Miles is a really good eater, but doesn't get nearly as excited as Calvin. You would think with how much food Calvin eats he would be the bigger baby....but nope....Miles is still bigger!

Crazy Calvin won't sit still!

We've had a rough month with being sick :( And of course with twins.....when one gets it...the other will get it a few days later!

Tuesday, Oct. 30th:  The boys had to have hearing tests done because they were a little premature and Calvin was in the NICU. Calvin passed his hearing test....Miles failed in one ear. They said it could be because of an ear infection, but he didn't have any other symptoms so we didn't take him to the doctor.

Miles snuggling with daddy. So sweet!

Friday, November 2nd: The doctor called and saw the report that Miles failed his hearing test so they wanted him to come into the office to get checked out. Sure enough...ear infection in his right ear! Oops....bad parents! He hated his meds so we had to mix them in with his formula.  

Wednesday, November 7th: Calvin was super fussy all day and I thought it was just "him being him", but as I was going to put him down for another nap I decided to take his temp and sure enough...it was pretty high. Called the doctor and they said to bring him in. Sure enough....ear infection for him too (opposite ear of course....he can't be like his brother!). He refused to eat his bottle with meds mixed in so we had to hold him down and force it with the medicine syringe.  

We gave him his first dose of amoxicillin at 7pm and then the boys went to bed at 8. Around 10:30 I noticed on the video monitor (thank goodness for video monitors...seriously best invention EVER) that he was making a groaning noise and was really uncomfortable. I had Andrew check on him and a few minutes later Andrew brought him downstairs because Calvin was having trouble breathing. We thought he was having an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin (Andrew is very allergic) so we called the doc to ask if we should give him Benadryl. The nurse said she couldn't tell us to do that, but if our gut said to go to the hospital, then we needed to go. Of course I am in tears by this point. We woke up Miles and rushed to the hospital. Apparently it wasn't an allergic reaction though.....the trouble breathing, rapid heart rate, and wheezing were a side effect of his high fever (103 degrees). They gave him some drugs and then we had to wait a while for them to kick in.

Here is the BEFORE picture of a tired, miserable baby

                                       

Here is a picture AFTER the drugs kicked in. Different kid, huh? Once his fever dropped he thought being in the hospital was the best thing ever. He had mom, dad and brother in the same room, in the middle of the night (at 1AM to be exact)....that's called a party!!

But over the next few days he kept spiking fevers :(  You can tell he doesn't feel good because this kid NEVER sits still. He was just laying on the floor watching TV. Poor boy.

Thursday, November 15th: Three days after Miles ends his antibiotic he spikes a fever again. We thought he still had his ear infection.

Friday, November 16th: Both boys go to the doctor for their 9 month checkup and to see if Miles has his ear infection still. No ear infection...yay! I think we are FINALLY on the mend! That was a LONG three weeks!

Look at those baby blues

This sweet boy had another first.....the first time pooping in the bath tub (he did it THREE TIMES in one week!!!) Luckily I wasn't on bath duty for any of those :)

Miles and Calvin had their first taste of McDonalds chicken nuggets

They're pretty proud!

Look out world....Calvin has his first set of wheels! We borrowed a walker from our friends and Calvin LOVES it! His favorite thing to do is walk holding people's hands, but when mom and dad get tired...the walker does the trick. He is getting into SO much trouble lately (just wait for my next blog post!)

He looks so innocent, right?? He stole the tray off his
highchair and is pretty proud of himself!

November 18th: Miles started officially crawling!  Uh oh...we are in so much trouble now! Luckily he isn't very fast yet and does a pretty good job listening when we tell him no (unlike his brother who just laughs when we say NO)

The boys are starting to interact with each other more. They laugh at each other and want to be right next to each other. I was in the kitchen and I heard Calvin make a funny noise (like the wind was getting knocked out of him)....when I looked in the living room I saw that Calvin rolled under the jumper and Miles was literally jumping on him. They both thought it was pretty funny though!

We transitioned to our big kid car seats. We were getting too heavy for our infant carriers. At first we didn't like them, but they are growing on us. Here's a picture of us in our new car seats enjoying a family trip to Menards. (oh yeah...and we celebrated mom and dads 6th wedding anniversary this day too!)

Thanks for checking in on us! Enjoy the holiday season!!

<3 Miles and Calvin

Twins: 8 months old

2/3 of a year old (8 months!)

Here is what we've been up to lately (9/20-10/20):

Chillin' with dad on the weekends watching Iowa lose football.

Watching Iowa State too! Go Cyclones!

We were sick at the end of September. Knocked us out for over an entire week! Mom loved the extra cuddles though. While we were sick we didn't sleep well at night, but took good naps during the day. Now we are back to our normal schedule. We sleep from 8pm-7am and then take two naps during the day. We go right to bed at nap and night time without any help from mom and dad. We are good sleepers!! 

We don't sit still much anymore. I guess mom and dad need to start buckling us in.

We don't quite crawl yet, but we roll everywhere we want to go. Miles is SO close to crawling, but Calvin might skip straight to walking. He loves to walk while holding our hands and has no interest in crawling....rolling is way faster...although he isn't always graceful with his big ol' noggin!

Mom gave Miles his first haircut on October 5th. It was getting a little wild and crazy and was almost in his eyes. Doesn't it look much better? After we cut it we discovered that Miles has blonder hair than we though!                                                                                                                                               

Calvin is going to be quite the soccer player (or just very destructive!) He loves to kick anything that is in his way....including his brother! We have caught him flipping his brother over with his legs. Calvin is very good at stealing Miles' toys too....one of these days Miles will learn how to fight back and then we are in trouble!!

We are gearing up for the cold weather ahead!  So far we don't mind our coats and hats, but mom and dad might have to install our "big boy" car seats soon because we barely fit in our infant carriers anymore!

We went to the pumpkin patch on our 8 month birthday. We always love getting out of the house to see new things. Mom and Dad say we are pretty good in public (no meltdowns yet), but that may change soon once we start getting mobile. 

Calvin:  Our sweet, quiet Cal is no longer quiet (and sometimes not sweet!). He literally didn't cry for the first six months of his life (we were a little worried about him!), but now he is making up for lost time....he has an opinion lately and wants to be heard! Who knew an 8 month old could whine so well? His sassy attitude lately could be because he cut two teeth earlier this month. He still loves his babyfood and has graduated to puffs, crackers and some "big-kid" food. Whenever he sees us eating he smacks his lips and "begs" for food, but instead of trying to pick up food himself...he whines until you put a bite in his mouth (little stinker! how do we break that habit??) Calvin used to be our chill/snuggly baby, but lately he is very busy and doesn't sit still! He always wants to be held and has a very short attention span with toys. He likes to stand and walk holding our hands and wiggles constantly in our arms. He is very attached to mommy and daddy and gets nervous around strangers (actually...everyone!). He is definitely our night-owl and gets very hyper before bed and does NOT like to be woken up in the morning (he gets that from his mom)!

Miles:  Miles was the high-maintenance child for the first few months of his life, but now he has become very independent. He likes to play by himself and would jump in his jumper all day if we let him. Miles is a quick roller and can usually maneuver to any toy he wants and then studies it carefully. He barely has one tooth poking through, but is starting to enjoy more foods. He loves to feed himself and makes a sour face if we try to feed him (he thinks we are poisoning him....but if he does it, he loves it!)  He is very talkative and loves to scream/screech for joy (his cousin Zachary cries every time he screams....I think it hurts everyone's ears!) He is always quick to flash a smile at people and is a little more comfortable with strangers than his brother, but is still very cautious. He is very sensitive and will cry easily if we raise our voices or if he gets his feelings hurt :) He is super lovey though and will sit on our laps and "chill" forever! Mom is definitely soaking up the hugs, kisses and cuddles from Mr. Miles.


 Sorry this is so late! It's tough writing a blog post with two busy bodies and four curious hands trying to "help" out all the time. I should probably start writing their 9 month blog post NOW! Thanks for reading!!

Twins: 7 months old

 We are 7 months old!!!

We love to hold hands or arm wrestle....whatever you want to call it

We are going to be getting into so much trouble soon, can't you tell???

 

Miles sat so still for his picture this time

 

Calvin....not so much!



He is making all sorts of funny faces these days

He wouldn't sit still!

You silly monkey...I guess this will have to do :)

 

Here is what we've been up to lately:

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa Van Horn came to watch us all day one Saturday in August while mom had a class to attend and dad was away on guys weekend. We had a fun time being spoiled. Notice our shirts..."Grandpa's Favorite" and "Grandma says YES" :)

 

<note to our cousins: Grandma and Grandpa didn't buy us these shirts, mom did. Gma and Gpa told us they don't have a favorite :)>

 

We went to Omaha over Labor Day weekend to help Meg and Aaron celebrate their wedding. It was fun seeing all the pretty girls mom went to college with :) We did pretty well with our first hotel stay even though we both had our first colds. Mom and Dad realized that it is A LOT of work to travel anywhere with two babies. But we had fun!

 

We are getting pretty mobile now. Not crawling yet, but we are starting to roll all over the place. Miles can get from one side of the room to the other just by rolling.

 

And because of our new talent Miles has decided that he would rather practice his rolling instead of sleep through the night. We were so lucky that the boys started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks old, but now that Miles has figured out he can move.....he does it ALL NIGHT LONG! So, for the whole month of September we have gone back to waking up at night (sometimes 5 times/night because his limbs kept getting stuck in the bars) Mom finally caved and put the bumpers in his crib and it has helped a little bit. Otherwise, we're working on crying it out without replacing the paci (although some nights Miles wins).  

 

Telling secrets :)

Miles was almost a whole pound smaller than Calvin at birth, but now he is a whole pound bigger!!  Here are their stats from their 6 month checkup (9/6/12)

Calvin: 27 inches (52%); 17lbs. 15oz. (51%); 18.5 head size (99%)
Miles: 27.25 inches (63%); 18lbs. 12oz. (66%); 17.75 head size (87%)

The doctor was worried about Calvin's head size since it has grown quite a bit since his last checkup and it has always been off the chart in size. He was the baby with fluid on his brain in-utero so we've always been concerned about him. After birth he had a head ultrasound and it came back normal and then a few weeks ago we had another brain scan done and it came back normal too. The kid just has a big melon :)

We've had a physical therapist working with the boys since July because Calvin has a flat spot on one side of his head. Both boys were a little delayed on their rolling over, which leads to delays in pushing themselves up, sitting up and crawling. We're getting there....but a few weeks behind. I have to keep reminding myself that they were born three weeks early....so I just need to give them more time and they usually figure it out.

 

Speaking of delays....Calvin has been eating food since the beginning of August and Miles JUST figured it out about mid September. The doctor referred us to an occupational therapist to help Miles figure out the whole eating thing....but a couple of days after our doctor's appointment...he figured it out on his own! I guess every kid IS different :)

 

Calvin LOVES food......unless it is green :)

We are getting so big that we hardly fit in our 6-9 month clothes. We are wearing some 12 month clothes already!

 

 

Miles HATES getting his face washed!

 

We watched our first Iowa/Iowa State game. I guess we were wearing the wrong colors though :(

 

We LOVE when Daddy comes home from work!  Calvin is definitely a daddy's boy. His whole body shakes with excitement when he sees Andrew.

 

Miles is our "chill" baby now.....and Calvin is a little more high maintenance :)

 

We love to wrestle (Okay....so maybe Calvin just really likes to pull Miles' hair)

But then we kiss and make up :)

 

That's what we've been up to!

Come visit us soon 'cause we are growing up quickly!

<3 Miles and Calvin

 

Twins: 6 months old

Brother, let me tell you a secret...

We're a half year old!!!

Well....the boys turned 6 months old on August 20th. I think I have been putting off this post because I am in denial. My babies are a half year old! Where has the time gone?  I haven't cried yet, but I have been close!  I want time to slow down! 

The boys were REALLY easy for the first 3 months and now over the past three months they have become a bit more challenging. They have figured us out....they know what they can do to get our attention.  Calvin was once our quiet, sweet baby and now he has turned into a LOUD (sometimes whiny) baby. I guess he was sick of Miles getting all of our attention when he cried so he has figured out he can make this ridiculous cough/whine noise to get our attention.

We never thought we would say it, but over the past month Miles has been the easier baby (Miles was always a bit more high maintenance). Maybe they just wanted to balance things out for the second half of the year :)  

Either way....we have it pretty easy! Overall the boys are really good and we can't complain! Even during the toughest/fussiest/whiniest/sleepless/tiring/frustrating moments....I wouldn't trade those moments for ANYTHING! My life is pretty perfect!

Here is what we have been up to lately.....

Mommy bought us sippy cups, but we don't really know how to use them yet. 

Notice all the scratches on my head? We have really bad eczema and we scratch ourselves until we bleed. We have tried every soap and lotion out there and nothing helps :( Makes mommy sad when she comes in our room and there is blood all over the sheets....but we don't seem to mind. It makes us look tough!

Uncle Jason babysat us for the first time in July so Mom and Dad could go out to dinner for Mom's birthday. We had lots of fun!

We've started rolling over so we gave up our swaddles on July 27th (a little over 5 months old). Mom and Dad were dreading it, but it wasn't too bad. We figured out the whole "sleeping through the night without our swaddles" thing in just one weekend!

We went to Charles City for our Great Uncle's birthday party on July 29th. We had fun visiting our Great-Grandparents too (Gutharts and Stewarts)!

We are getting pretty big!! We love to stand up and we are working on sitting up on our own. Calvin rolls from his tummy to his back and Miles rolls from his back to his tummy (of course we are opposite :)

We went to Jester Park with Grandpa Brad and two of the daycare kiddos. We loved watching them play in the water. 

We started eating baby food. Calvin loves it! Miles hates it! (opposites again!) Calvin gets mad in between every bite because you can't shovel it in fast enough. We are lucky to get even one bite in Miles. 

We got our first (and last) pet! Dad bought us an ant hill. Okay...so it was really for the daycare kids, but we enjoyed it too (sorta).

We love to play together and have started picking on each other too. Calvin loves pulling Miles' hair--probably because he doesn't have any himself. Miles doesn't seem to mind and has only cried once from the abuse. We think it is really funny when we see our brother. We are going to be such great friends!

We helped our cousin Zachary celebrate his baptism. We did pretty well in church for the first time. 

Mommy and Daddy took us to the park for the first time. We loved the swing!  

That's what we've been up to lately! Hope you enjoyed it!