Rereading the blog I realized how much of the girls first year I had captured - so I've decided to start the blog up again.

It has been awhile since the last up date. The girls are now 17months, 33inches tall and approx. 24lbs (there is usually about a 4oz between them). They have been walking / running for a while. Gwen started walking first - she attacked walking by trial and error which resulted in a lot of falling and bruises over a 3month period. Gwendolyn has been solidly walking since she was 11months. Rowan studied walking around her first birthday - she watched her sister and then over a couple of week mastered walking. And once they mastered walking they immdediately started running everywhere.

In May, I went back to work full time. We've hired a nanny, Alice to come in and look after the girls. She has been fantastic with them. She arrives at 7:30am and I'm usually out the door by 7:45 to work. I am working back downtown - my commute is now a 1/2 on the streetcar. It took a couple of weeks for me to get back into the swing of things at work after taking the year off. The timing of returning to work at the beginning of Summer worked out really well as project slow down over the summer as people are taking there vacations and timelines stretch out. It allowed me to ramp up slowly and now that it's fall I'm ready for increase in work load.

I typically leave work at 4:30 and am home between 5 and 5:15. I arrive after the girls have finished dinner and Ed is arrives a short time later. We usually go to park for an hour and then it's time for bath, story and bed.

November

It's been a while since I've posted to the blog. Not because there hasn't been anything to post but because we have been so busy. There have been alot of baby firsts over the past couple of months - first teeth, first meal, first DaDa & MaMa, etc.,

Rowan had been drooling for a while now and we were expecting teeth at any time but while we had been watching Rowan, Gwen had a tooth break out without any fan fair. Ed was sitting with Gwen making her giggle when he noticed a flash of something white and there is was on the left side. And just last week at the girls 6month Pediatrician appointment, Ed was rubbing Rowan's gums when he felt something sharp - two front teeth.

Rowan has been talking up a storm -babbling constantly. She also loves to study her hands - rotating them, bending one finger in at a time. It's amazing how much they are both growing and developing. Gone are the newborn days for eating, sleeping, crying now their days are full of play time whether it's eating, playing it a toy, even nap time - everything is fun for them.

Pediatrician Appointment

Visited the pediatrician today - the girls are getting bigger. Gwendolyn is now 14lbs 12 oz and Rowan is 15lb 5oz. There is less than a 1lb difference between the two. They also received their 4month shots - neither took them very well. Lots of screaming. The Dr. commented that Rowan is rolling over rather early but we're not to worry that she now prefers to sleep with her face planted in the mattress. Gwendolyn is following her sister in the rolling over department - she is completely rolled over with the exception of her head. She gets very frustrated that she doesn't have the strength to lift her head to complete the roll over. They both love to practice their rollover in the crib at 5am - and when there done they scream to be turned onto their back. Where they promptly roll over again.

Labour Day Weekend

On the Saturday, we packed the girls up and headed off to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition). For those of you not from Toronto (or not familiar with the CNE) - its a fair - originally an agricultural fair but has now morphed to an amusement fair with rides, games, shows, etc. Its an 18 day fair taking place every August concluding on Labour Day weekend with a weekend long air show.

Since we only live about 1/2hr walk from the fair we headed out with the girls in their stroller walking along the lake. We arrived at the CNE just in time for Ed and I to grab some lunch from the food pavilion (a couple of Gyros) and sit outside in the shade to enjoy them before it was time to fed the girls. After lunch we walked around the fair for a bit and then headed back home along the lake while the air show was going on. Everything was fine when the planes were propeller but as we were approaching the house, they brought out the jets and the noise from them kept startling the girls and after a couple of planes having gone by Rowan and Gwen were in a crying frenzy.

Sunday, Kelly and Tracy had a drop in for friends and family to say goodbye before heading of to PEI. The house was full of people - and the girls attracted a lot of attention. Unfortunately, the girls were a bit grump as they had a bad night. Rowan has learned to rollover from back-to-tummy when ever she pleases - which is all the time whether it's day or night. After a while of being on her tummy she cries for someone to roll her back (as she can't do tummy-to-back on demand) - which is fine during the day - but at 2am isn't quite as cute. Of course she thinks it's a great game and full of giggles which make it hard to be mad. However, on Saturday night we tried the old "let them cry it out" - hoping she would find a comfortable position on her tummy and go back to sleep. It didn't work - she started crying hysterically which woke up her sister. So we don't be trying the "let them cry it out" theory again - unless we first separate them. Lessoned learned.

Rowan was back at Sick Kids for another check up on her hip - her brace has been off for two months now and everything still looks good. She'll have to go back for another visit at a year just to make sure that as she learns to crawl and toddle everything is growing correctly around her hip. It's alway upsetting going to Sick Kids as all the patients are children (hence the name of the hospital) and while we're in the waiting rooms we invariably get into conversions with other parents. And listening to their stories always grounds us (and stops us from getting frustrated with the waiting times.).

The end of August also meant the end of our night nurse, Hyacinth. The morning she left I had a mild panic attack as I realized there would be no guaranteed full night sleeps coming up. Even though for the month of August the girls had been sleeping pretty much through the night - knowing that Hyacinth as coming a couple of nights a week was a comfort. However, Ed reminded me that it wasn't going to be like it was before Hyacinth was here where the girls were getting up 3 times a night and we were getting little to no sleep - the girls were only 5weeks old when we first hired Hyacinth. The good thing is Hyacinth isn't leaving the country - if we need her back for a couple of nights if things start getting rough she is still around. She has also offered to baby sit if we want to go out for dinner and a movie. Which is a wonderful idea - it seems like such a long time ago that we use to go out all the time. Seeing movies right when they were released (now I'm not sure what's playing) and we ate out more than we ate in. So I'm anxiously working on date.

Daily Routine

A lot of people ask us what our day is like with the girls - because the girls are changing constantly our routines also change and need to be flexible but in order to get things done in between feedings we have to plan our day in advance because if we don't before you know it you look back on the day and realize nothing got done.

Right now our routine is:
5:30 - 7:00am Girls wake up for first feed. It's usually 5:30-6:30 but once they did sleep in to 7am so I included it as I hope they will do it again. Right after the first feeding Ed and I shower and have breakfast while the girls play together in one of their cribs. If it's a work day, we pack-up the girls and walk Ed up to the Subway and I grab my morning Latte at Starbucks.
10am Time for the girls second breakfast. It typically takes me about an hour to feed both girls - they each take about 1/2hr.
11am-12pm The girls get play mat time while I check my email. After I've check my email - I give the girls some tummy time.
12pm -1pm The girls usually fall asleep on the mat and I take the opportunity to grab some lunch.
1pm The girls have their lunch.
2pm-4pm This is my time to get something done whether it's taking the girls out on Roncesvalles, update the blog, etc. The girls usually nap in the stroller.
4pm The girls have their afternoon meal.
5pm-7pm This time is usually the busiest as Ed comes home from work, we prep dinner, bath the girls, some more tummy time, Ed runs (and the girls and I go for a walk).
7pm The girls get their dinner.
8pm The girls bed time.
8:30pm Ed and I have our dinner.

For the most part this has been our routine for the past month. The girls are sleeping well at night - we don't need to give them a night feed but they do tend to wake up at times between 2am-3am not hungry just to play - we just sooth them back to sleep. But occasionally we have had the whole night uninterrupted.

Nap time right now is problematic - I haven't really established napping times or napping locations. I typically let them fall asleep where ever they are at that moment. And sometimes they don't fall asleep at all - or just one does. I do like it when one is asleep and I get to have one-on-one time with just one baby without having to worry about the other one.

The house is also starting to fill up with baby stuff. We try to keep it to one area downstairs but as we acquire more stuff it spreads out. We've been able to keep the third floor study and den baby free so we can retreat there in the evening when they are asleep. But we are starting to realize the house might be a bit small once they start to crawl. There are also areas that need to be modified to make them baby friendly and things packed way for bit unless we want them chewed on or banged on. But I think we have a little while before this happens so we're not panicking yet.

Weekend Update

(Picture: Rowan) Friday night we went to Aunt Kelly's for dinner - where we were joined by Ed's cousin Lyanne and her family. It's was a busy house. Kelly and family are moving to PEI in September so these family times will become fewer once they have moved. However, PEI is a beautiful island and I'm sure they are going to have a wonderful new life and of course we now have a new vacation spot to take the girls. I've only been to PEI once when I was about 10 - and all I wanted to visit was L M Montgomery's home where she wrote Anne of Green Gables. Now that I'm older it will be great to go back with the girls - this time I'll have a better appreciation for the all you can eat lobster dinners. (Picture: Aunt Kelly with Gwendolyn)

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping for the home - we needed new outdoor lighting. Afterward we dropped by Ed's work as he need to pick up some work for the weekend. (Picture: Rowan with Daddy)

(Picture: Daddy introducing Rowan to the Linux Penguin Tux)Sunday was Ed's Birthday - the girls took their Dad out for breakfast where they treated Mom and Dad to an uninterrupted meal. Our one challenge with going out for meals with the girls on Roncesvalles is the size of the restaurant are long and narrow which makes it difficult to maneuver the double stroller. However, because the girls get up early to feed (no more sleeping in on the weekends) we can go out for breakfast early before the brunch crowd arrives. In the afternoon Ed went for a long run and I walked with the girls. The heat wave has broken so it's nice and cool for taking the girls out. (Picture: Rowan and Gwendolyn all dressed up ready to take Daddy out for his birthday lunch)

Four Months

(Picture: Tummy time for Rowan and Gwendolyn)This girls are now almost 16weeks old. As I've mentioned in previous postings since their birth we have become mini celebrities. Everyone wants to stop and look at the girls and we get the same series of questions. The first question - or ice breaker is "Are they twins?" - sometimes I'm tempted to say NO to to see how they respond - but I realize they are just using this question to start the conversation. The second question is "Boys, girls or one of each" and then the third question, "Are they identical" and the fourth "How old"". Sometimes people go further and get a little more personal with "Cesarean or natural birth", "Breast or bottle".

The more recent question that people have been asking is "Do they have different personalities". The the answer is a resounding YES - and their personalities have been different since before they were born. Throughout my pregnancy Gwendolyn (or Beta as we called her prior to being born) was always flipping around - one week head down the next week head up. And she was constantly kicking. Near the end of my pregnancy when there wasn't enough room - it felt like she was curled up under my ribs constantly kicking and flipping around. Well she is the exact same now - constantly kicking and flinging her arms around. When we put her down on the activity mat, we have to keep an eye on her as she'll squiggle and wiggle all around the mat and sometimes off the mat or smashed against her sister. And she has this little impish look that tells us that once she figures out how to walk - she is going to be running everywhere (not walking because that will take to long).

Right now Rowan (previously known as Alpha prior to birth) is the talker of the two. She loves to babble and she uses her voice when she wants something - attention, food, etc. She is also the great thinker and very conservative when handing out smiles. However, when she does smile her whole face lights up and her mouth opens with this great toothless smile and squeals with delight.

The baby books talk about babies having different cries and that every parent will start to identify their cries and understand what they want. Well, I guess I'm not a very perceptive Mum - as all their cries sound the same to me which I translate to "Mum, I'm not happy so do something about it. Figure it out !!!" As an engineer, I'm very algorithmic about it.



If no to all the above questions then she must be tired - put her in the magic swing and send off to sleepy land. Unless magic swing is already occupied - then she must want to play with Daddy (because every great Engineer knows how to delegate). Ed has great techniques to sooth the girls that I can't seem to duplicate. He talks with them (he gets into great conversations with them where they both babble back and forth), dances with them (or to them) and when they are fighting going to sleep he strokes their head and slowly sends them off. (Picture: Gwendolyn in the magic swing)

However, these are their personalities right now but they are constantly growing and changing and it's fun guessing what they will grow up to be like.