Video of laughing…no more to say…

8 months old on November 10th

Zoe Ella and Jude Isabella turned 8 months old yesterday and just like that we are two-thirds of the way to a year.  EEK!!!!  I am just taking in every single second now as it is flying and my babies are becoming less baby…that just made me tear up a little.  Yes, it is easier now!  The benefits of having two is starting to become a reality.  They can go for short bursts playing together on the floor and I can supervise but also fold laundry or quickly vacuum or whatever – as long as they see me.  They babble to each other and crack each other up.  I wish I knew what they were saying.  When I have music playing Zoe is constantly letting out these long vocalizations.  I can’t help but think she is trying to sing…I am actually positive that is what she is doing.  Jude just became a little more vocal this week, babbling “da da” constantly.  Both have found a scream…heh heh.  You never know when it might come but it is loud…whew!  They are just too too cute for words and my one sadness is that no one gets to witness this with me every day. 

All Jude wants to do is find something to pull up on.  People always say she is going to walk soon but I am in no hurry and I really do think it will be a couple months yet.  She is all gusto with little balance.  She topples a bit but not hard – she has figured out how to hold those tummy muscles tight so that she kind of just folds down to the floor if she must.  She drags herself but will crawl a couple inches – I keep thinking she is going to pick up crawling at any second.  Jude no longer needs the boppy around her while sitting and that is awesome!  I can just sit her down and be done instead of lugging stuff around to cushion her.  I love it.  My Zoe dear still will topple a lot while sitting so I have to have that boppy around her at all times.  She just throws herself back when she is tired.  Zoe is making her move slowly but surely.  She is good at rolling to where she needs to get too.  This method of moving around is extremely entertaining and she is a silly girl, always smiling 24/7.  I have really come to appreciate her goofiness.  Both girls are fantastic eaters.  Although breastmilk is still main nutrition, we are getting ready to evolve to three solid meals a day.  They are BFing 7 times a day and eating solids every morning and at night and believe it or not, they still want to eat more.  That is thrilling of course…seeing babies eat is a very happy feeling.  

As for sleeping I am still up for 1 middle-night feed.  Zoe has had a few STTNs (sleep through the nights) but Jude seems to need to know that I am around just in case.  I think by 9 months I will instill night weaning.  I am just not ready to do it yet if they need it, or maybe I just need to see them in the middle of the night because I miss them.  Although I feel that all-night sleep is coming soon to our house and I couldn’t be more thrilled – the sacrifice has been worth it – it is only for a few months right?  I am starting to believe that babies that STTN are a rarity, even though people claim it happens, I think they are full of it!  I don’t think it is the norm.  Still no teeth yet, and no physical signs besides teething!  I feel no bumps at all…ugh!  I don’t care that much except they chew all day long…poor things.

I have my first twin request.  The girls are getting older now and many folks near and far have consistently referred to them as “the twins”, which has been cute.  But now, being a fiercely protective twin mom, and yes,  a type-A personality, I have a request.  In my vast reading of multiples this is a piece of advice I want to act upon now.  It is time for me to request they be referred to by their names when addressed or spoken of.  They do recognize their names now.  We are starting down the path of ensuring their individuality – something they will have to deal with their whole lives.  So, here we go. 

Anyway, I am positive I have more to say but Zoe and Jude are awake and are actually wanting to come down and play – imagine that!  I posted a few new pics on www.maletz.smugmug.com.  The girls were Mario and Luigi for Halloween – fun times.  Check out video below – my little sweethearts.  Warms my heart.

Hope you all are well – take care!

My world is about to change…see video below filmed today…

A little post and new pics…

Hi Everyone – I am always amazed at how fast a week and then some goes by.  Said goodbye to another weekend last night.  A beautiful one that reached the 80s yesterday.  I am sure the day will come that I won’t be as sad for Monday to come, for many reasons, but mostly because it is so different waking up with Josh here and waking up with him already gone for work while Zoe and Jude are screaming at me.  Yawn – Jude is still not sleeping through the night and I have to attribute it to things going on in that little brain.  I don’t have the heart for sleep training yet even though she does not eat much at night and I think she could go right back to sleep.  We are down to only 10-15 mins – the question is always…can I trick my mind/body into going back to sleep at 3:00 a.m.?  Last night I couldn’t…yawn…so I tossed and turned until 6 a.m. when they tried to wake up for the day.  I fed them and convinced them they could use sleeping until 8 a.m. since they went to bed later last night.  So at least I start my week now sitting here talking to you in silence and enjoying a slow cup of coffee…with Bo laying against me of course…LOL.  He treasures the silence when it comes too.

Jude has moved to pulling up against things a couple of days ago to trying to move from one object to another, although she is clearly not ready for this.  I am trying to prevent a disaster.  My Zoe is just the sweetest little girl you would ever meet.  A dilemma is forming.  Perky little Jude is so demanding of exercising her new talents so I am working hard to manage my time between them so Zoe doesn’t feel left out.  But that girl does not seem to care at all about competing with Jude, which secretly makes me proud.  She just smiles and goes at her own pace and no one is going to push her.  I prefer not to have a “competitive” atmosphere although down the line it will probably be inevitable.  Luckily, they seem to like their swings again, so after some play time I am able to convince them to swing a while with a toy and watch Blue Clues.  They just laugh and babble – wow – let’s you know how tricky and powerful that T.V. is…even for 7 month olds.  It is a nice option in my arsenal but I definitely watch how much it is on – let me just say though I don’t quite understand some of these kids shows, but Blues Clues is quite an intelligent little show and I find it makes me feel comfortable as I sit and watch with them and play along…crazy.

We had a major splurge this weekend.  We bought a Bob Revolution Duallie.  For those of you that don’t know this is plush double-wide jogging stroller, most prevalent in the yuppie population as Jim Maletz would probably say….so, I guess we have reached that status…heh heh.  Seriously, I had been given a used jogging stroller and it has been a lifesaver (thank you Tavi!), but it isn’t very comfortable for them and is now kind of falling apart.  We have been walking very little in the park because it is a real pain.  Josh is still doing some extra work for his old company and REI was having a big sale…when Josh mentioned getting it for his girls to make our lives easier, I was giddy to say the least!!!!!  We don’t have a car during the day and walking in the park or to the local coffee shop is about all we see beyond the house.  We got it in orange and it is amazing…yay!

Halloween is swift approaching and we are throwing our annual big Halloween Party!  Super excited!  But, it is a daunting task this year with two little ones.  So we spent the weekend working out all decor details and cleaning up/decorating the outside of the house, etc.  Still much to do but we have a plan and hopefully we will not be doing much that day – we know that it is impossible to count on anything with the girls.  By the way, we will probably get in trouble for this, but Zoe and Jude are going to be Mario and Luigi from nintendo super mario games for halloween.  They will be asleep by the party but we at least needed to take pictures.   We thought they would make very cute little italian men from a very popular video game.  Josh will be Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas and he is wearing drywall stilts so he will be between 7-8 feet tall.  My husband doesn’t do anything simple and has begun to practice walking in them.  I will post pictures.  I am boring this year, going to pull out something old from our costume bin.  Probably a generic gypsy or pirate or something.  I love doing make up but I don’t really want to scare Jude and Zoe if I have to go up and tend to them.

Well, Jude is letting me know she will not, in fact, be sleeping in today, so off I go.  Be sure to check out new pics posted yesterday on www.maletz.smugmug.com.  The best of both worlds – NY Yankees outfits from Josh’s dad and two VERY cute dresses to celebrate end of summer.  Hope you all are well – love to you!  – Betsy

Yay - one more warm day to wear our cute dresses!!!

…and 24 hours later…

…runaway train never coming back…(if anyone knows this Rod Stewart song)

This little one makes me nervous.  Obviously I am right beside her when she is “free” but she has no fear.  She will just let go of whatever she is holding onto and either reach toward me or just try to stand there like she is daring herself.  It is funny and spooky all at once.  She isn’t sleeping well – I think she is working this out in her mind ALL the time.

Jude…well, you will just have to check out this video…she is a tiny girl on a mission

7 months

I feel like I JUST wrote about being 6 months old and now Zoe and Jude are 7 months as of yesterday.  So amazing.  Much is happening daily in this household.  Jude should be on a quick path to crawling considering her activity in the last month, however,  now she would rather try to pull up and stand against things.  It is her mission all day (and night) long it seems – but if you put her on her tummy she gets on all fours and screams – have you had the pleasure of experiencing her vocal chords?  This girl is something else!  Still trying to encourage her to crawl first – need to do a lot of practicing this week – I am sure I will not be her favorite.  Zoe must be getting tired of being completely glued to the ground because now she loves to play the game where she is pulled to a standing position.  Where we couldn’t get her to put any weight on her legs a week ago, presto, she beams as if to say…”look, I can do it too!”  These girls are great eaters!  Makes a momma proud.  Current favorite is apples with oatmeal…yummy, it is my favorite too, however, sweet potatoes are darn good.  We have started “practicing” with tiny finger food chunks but most everything is still mashed or pureed, and will be for a while - paranoid mom not taking any chances.  And they don’t really understand to take the food off the tray and put it in their mouths…they mostly just squish it around.  And STILL NO TEETH!!!!  Ugh- I wouldn’t be so anxious if they were not teething so badly – something HAS to be coming in soon.  Poor girls!

As far as sleep, Zoe seems to have sleeping through the night down pat.  She has averaged 10-12 hours straight for a few days now.  Can you say 6:30 pm to 7:20 am this morning????  YEAH!!!!  ……then, well, there’s Jude… up 3 times.  Aiy yi yi!!!!!!!  Naps are improving though.  The girls instantly transitioned from three shorter naps to two longer naps this past week.  I was worried I would miss the signs – I don’t know why I worry anymore though because they make it very clear what they want to do.  Looks like we are going to evolve into 2 naps - 90 mins to 2 hours each.  Around 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.  Works for me – way better than 45 mins!

We are on a pretty great schedule now for those who are interested.  Give or take a few minutes, it is amazing how fairly exact this is.  I started out setting a schedule in the first few weeks because I had read that was the best thing to do with twins.  Then I just threw that out the window because I found they were happier, even that young, dictating the routine.  Now we are back to more of a “schedule” and they like the normalcy of it.  I know this because they are very happy babies who rarely put of a fight to take a nap and NEVER put up a fight going to bed.  It feels really good.  Right now I am that mommy that plans around naps and we don’t ever go out past bedtime, however, I can see by about 9 or 10 mos we will feel more comfortable doing things occasionally out of schedule without messing them up too bad.  It is a small sacrifice that I never understood UNTIL I became a mom.:

7:00-7:30 a.m.  Wake-up for the day, change, nurse, and play

8:00 a.m.  Breakfast solid meal (fruit/oatmeal), then more play

9:00 a.m.  Nurse and down for nap #1

11:00 a.m.  Wake, get dressed and play

12:00 p.m.  Nurse and play or take a walk

1:00 p.m.  Down for nap #2

3:00 p.m.  Wake and play

4:00 p.m.  Nurse, then back to playing

5:00 p.m.  Solid meal #2 (veggie/oatmeal or cereal)

5:30 p.m.  Bath-time

6:00 p.m.  Nurse or bottle

6:30 p.m.  Asleep for night

I did something else this week I have been wanting to do for months.  I joined a twins organization in Denver and I joined an online mom site for connecting with playgroups, activities, mom’s nights out, etc.  I also took up scrapbooking more seriously as I REALLY need a creative outlet.  So, I am out in the world and it feels SOOOO good.  I already have more mommy friends and we will be visiting the Children’s Museum this week as well as the Zoo.  The girls might be slightly young, but hey, right now it is more for me than anyone, and Josh and I really need to make more friends here in Denver.  I will have to post a few scrapbook pages when I get them finished, since I have such a supportive audience here.  Well, think I will go – will be updating this a little more frequently now that there is much more action happening with Zoe and Jude.  Time to really start using the video camera.  Hope you all are well and keeping warm.  Love to you, Betsy

Favorite moment of the days right now…”when Josh comes home from work, the girls get the BIGGEST smiles on their faces and kick and wiggle.  Then whoever gets picked up first tries to eat his face with kisses while the other one whines to be picked up.  He has to be quick on his feet.  He loves this moment.  Then after a few seconds mommy is important to them again…wink wink.”

Picture updates on www.maletz.smugmug.com as of October 10th

Video, pics, and a brag…

A few new pics on www.maletz.smugmug.com.  Video below.  Now for the brag.  I was waiting a few days to make sure this was real, but it is such a feat for me that I have to document it.  I HAVE LOST 60 LBS. OFFICIALLY SINCE GIVING BIRTH>>>>>>>>AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  Hope you are well.

New pics added to www.maletz.smugmug.com as of Sept 28