I've been obsessing......I know!

So, yes I am a typical first time mom. And yes, I have been slightly freaking out about my children's first illness. I have always been a weirdo about sickness. I don't really get sick much, but when I do get sick  I tend to think I am probably dying. ;) 

Anyway, we introduced food to the chicas a couple weeks ago and they were loving it. Especially Nora. On Tuesday evening my mom was with the girls and she said that Nora hated her food. I thought it was wierd and then the next day, she didn't eat a bite. She then woke up around 1am and I was kinda bummed since her sleep had gotten SO great. I went in to pat her and could (pardon my grossness) hear the snot! It was out of control. And she was up ALL night because she couldn't breath. The next day it got worse and worse and man is it ever stressful to have sick twins! Nora needed so much attention, and pretty much needed me holding her at all times and couldn't sleep. However, my little 6 month old other baby girl isn't quite old enough for me to hand the remote in times like these and say "Go crazy" I need to take care of your sister. SO, I did my best. But Nora didn't sleep much at all and pretty much the only naps she took were in the car. I actually drove around for 2 hours one day to make sure she got a morning nap. Has anyone ever been to Needville? Ha! 

Next thing I know, and I know this will just be our life, but I hear the same sniffles and coughing on the monitor and Zoe is sick. And so far, Nora has been a much better patient! Zoe acts like we are trying to kill her every time we wipe her nose! Oh Zoester. But it was the same story, only Zoe got sick over the weekend so it was way less stressful! She is still in pretty bad shape, but hopefully she gets better soon so I don't have to do this all over again this week by myself. 

But that's all part of it right!? Lance has convinced me that they will infact live to see another day and I am just praying God heals their little bodies soon. I have racked my brain on where they picked this up. Call me crazy, but I think it's from chewing on the tables at Gringos. Hehe! I've tried really hard to protect them from illness, but I guess it was bound to happen. We hang out with friends and most have kids over 1. So I guess now they are building up their little immune systems. 

In other news I am no longer nursing. Lots of reasons why, but the point is I am done. It was hard at first and I cringed with every bottle of formula they drank. However, now I feel great. And in very very exciting news, we tried Nora on a sample of a prescription formula because her eczema was still awful and after 24 hours she was a new child!! I mean the girl has a new set if skin!! We have been rubbing her sweet little arms, legs and face all weekend in amazement!! She is so soft, and smooth and perfect! She was perfect when she was bumpy too...but she has got to feel better. I even put her in a onsie with not pants yesterday and no itching! This is huge...I usually have to cover her legs because she scratches until she bleeds. Based on this dramatic change, it can very likely be concluded that Nora is allergic to dairy & soy. Our insurance even pays for the formula which is huge because out of pocket it was going to cost us hundreds per month! I no longer cringe at the formula. I scoop that powder in her bottle with a smile on my face and cheerfully shake it up and smile as she gulps it down! I am just so happy she feels better! I suppose we will worry about what a dairy allergy means later. But for now we are celebrating this exciting change! She has also slept about 2 hours later each day since we started. Not sure if this is from less itching or her illness but I am just so happy we seem to have found the key to her comfort! 

Well, I suppose I should head to bed. It's only 10:30 and I've already had to rock Zoe back to sleep 3x and suction her nose. Plus, Nora seems to have liked getting picked up every time she wiggled for a week and I have a feeling she may have regressed a bit with sleep. Actually, I hear a munchkin now! I must say, this week has made me feel so honored that God chose me to be a mommy! I get to be the one to wipe noses, and give medicine and sing to sleep. I get to be the voice that calms and the person who wipes tears. I know I am a tad mushy when it comes to them, but I am just in awe of this gift God gave me and this role he is trusting me to fill! I love these babes SO much! I love to get to be the mommy! Although, I am the tired mommy lately that's for sure! 

Ok, off to pat some little bottoms! :) 

Nora sleeping in her car seat. This was the only way we could get her to fall asleep! 

Me and Zo Zo shopping for sisters medicine

Zoe "steaming" in the tub

Bottle time in the sauna :)

First trip to buy a weeks worth of baby food! 

Nora her first night...she was in bad shape :(

Sicky head baby girl 

Mommy trying her best to force a smile out of the little munchkin 

My new babysitter the Camry! This is a life saver when you have sick twins and can't put both to sleep! 

Starting to feel a tiny bit better

"Mom, for real stop with the pictures!"

6 months!

I am posting a few days early because both are napping at the same time and who knows when that will happen again!

But the girls are 6 months!! They are all of a sudden little people with personalities and are just so precious! They are the smiliest little things and are trying so hard to be "on the move". Both girls are sitting up unassisted for a few seconds at a time before toppling over. They have mastered the art of rolling both ways which is a lifesaver for us! We were going in and flipping them at night for weeks and weeks and I was about to go insane....for real! They love to grab at their toys and like to play on their tummies and try to crawl. Their little bodies have all the motions down but they can't quite get their tummies off the ground to actually crawl. It makes Nora very very angry! The second I put her down she flips to her tummy, and then sets her sight on a toy and tries to crawl over but can't. She then screams until I pick her up or put the toy in her hand! On that note, I'll update on Nora....then Zo can have a turn!

My little Nora. We love you so much. You get cuter and cuter every day and this month you seem to have transformed from our little Budda blob baby to a little girl! You can sit up like a champ and sometimes I can't believe how big you seem. You love to laugh and love to play with your toys. You have unfortunately gained a new nickname this month and that's "little HM" aka High maintenance! You are a touch cookie some days. You want to play on the floor, but are very annoyed that you can't crawl. You currently require being held or being in a toy that keeps you upright. Your short little fuse just can't handle your current developmental stage! I am looking forward to when you can see a toy and just go get it! We did "sleep training" with you this month and this was something I swore I'd never do! Not to label our parenting because who are we kidding we are just winging this day by day, but for lack of a better explanation we kind or do the whole attachment parenting thing with you guys. I kind of don't believe in sleep training, however I also don't believe in being a Zombie mommy who can't properly care for her children so sleep training it was. We did the Ferber method and you fought it hard. Like hard hard hard!! The first night we went in every 20 minutes to calm you down for almost 2.5 hours!!! It was misery. And contrary to what most people report it took you about 14 days to get it. However, now you are doing awesome!! You are sadly a night pooper so I still have to go in and change diapers nightly, but we have finally kicked the "mommy I am going to scream until you feed me 5 times a night habit!" Your teeth are also starting to show a bit through your gums and I can tell it is going to be any day that they pop through. This will be cause for celebration!! Nora you love people and really like to be in the middle of the conversation. You flash this adorable little closed mouth smirk at us about 100 times a day and it melts my heart! You love mommy and daddy but also love your family and friends too! You will happily play in someone else's arms as long as you can look over every now and then and see us. You adore your sister. It's too much! I snap about a million pictures a day of you smiling at her, crawling on her, and holding her hand!! Your are our little sweet pea and we couldn't love you more!

Zo Zo.....you continue to be the most laid back, chill little thing! You literally go most days without even a fuss. No exaggeration. You will wake up in the morning and smile for every waking second. It's amazing! I have truly never seen a happier baby!! You are very very tall. You are heavier and taller than most of your 11-12 month old friends. You don't look 6 months old! You love to play on the floor and like sister, wish you could crawl. You are close little munchkin, I can tell! You are teething and lately always have one little finger in your mouth that you chew on and the amount of drool you can produce is crazy! You have been our awesome sleeper from day one, but are now doing what your sister used to do and has since stopped. That's the hard thing about twins! We aren't excited to have to "sleep train" another baby girl! But you scream out for us multiple times a night lately and it's pretty hard to calm you down without waking up your sister! But you will get over the hump too I'm sure of it! Zoester, you continue to love mommy and daddy and have started to get pretty concerned when you can hear me but dont see me. Most times if I am in the house you have to have me in your sight. Usually I put Nora down first for naps and leave you in the living room playing in your exersaucer....lately I have to sneak out quietly and then you don't seem to mind. However, if you can hear me singing to Nora you scream from the other room! It's pretty sad and I haven't quite figured out how to do naps without always leaving one of you alone. I'm pretty sure there is no solution and you will just have to accept it sweet girl! You have been a smiler all your life, but this month we finally started to hear real laughs from you. We love it so much!! Zo you are perfect, and more and more fun every day! 

Hers what else you are up to:

Sleep: you guys have been fighting me on bed time bad! Well, not really fighting but all you want to do is go down around 5:30! No matter how late I put you down, you wake up at 5:30 and want to go back down at 5:30pm. So far all that "keeping you up" does is make for a fussy, hard next day! This has been very very hard to say the least. This has me doing morning time, all naps, all feedings, all baths and bedtime routine all by myself since Dad doesn't get home until 6! We are in the midst of trying to figure this out. But some tears have been shed on my part lately because I am very overwhelmed and exhausted doing everything by myself. It's hard, and a little bit lonely. The joy in the daily things you guys do, like baths, and first solid food and things like that are dampened a bit when you dont have anyone to share it with. It's been hard. You have fortunately started sleeping better, especially Nora and we have had a few nights with no wakings. We are still working towards "sleeping through the night" though! 

Eating: you are taking 5 bottles a day and have oatmeal sometimes. I haven't consistently started the twice a day food thing mainly because it's hard to add one more thing to the evenings right now since I'm trying to get everyone down by myself.

Size: we haven't been to you official appointment yet but I know you are both the bigger side! I'm excited to see the exact stats!

Life, continues to be so much fun with the girls! However, if I am being completely honest this month has probably been the hardest. Having two babies pretty much keeps you tied to the house. When I do decide to try to venture out, it can go great or end in disaster and that's hard to deal with alone in public hehe! I am hoping to find a friend soon that lives close by and can just go on walks with us or do quick, no fuss things! I have two sweet friends that come to my house every Thursday with their littles and it's means so much to me!! I know this is just a season and I don't want to wish it away, but it can be hard to spend so much time at home with babies and not really have an outlet to get out and have some fun sometimes. I had hoped to do ladies bible class but it just wasn't possible right now, and I try to do playgroup but it falls at nap time and it's just too hard to deal with melting down babies alone. I'm trying to stay positive and accept that this season is just one that is going to be spent at home, and I am going to try my best to soak in the time with my girls and not look at it as being lonely but look at it as time to spend uninterrupted with my two angels. I know I will blink and it will be over and I don't want to look back and feel like I wished away this phase of their little lives! I am enjoying every ounce of them and am so thankful I spend my days with my two little bundles! But I have been praying that God will send me a friend in a similar boat! I know he will! 

Other than that we are just trucking along, our new normal is pretty much constant business with short moments of calm. We are pretty much in "go" mode all the time and are used to it! We love it! We love our girls, and are so thankful for the 6 months we've had with them!! Can you even believe ANOTHER baby girl will be joining the Agan clan someday!? Ha! I kind of can't....but of course am ecstatic!! I told Lance once I was sleeping through the night for 2 straight months we could seriously start talking about our little JJ! So if these chicks want a sister they need to shape up soon!! :) 

That's all for now....off to bed at 9:15! :) 

Lately

So my girls have this weird thing that they do. It's really actually kind of a phenomenon. No exaggeration they have a wonderful, perfect day where all naps go well and they sleep well at night and no one fusses, every other day. It's like they are biologically wired to be perfect angels every other day. They aren't awful on the off day, but sleep is usually a bit of a struggle and we have night wakings and stuff. It's weird. Anyway, we are on a good day so I thought I would blog for a sec while they nap. 

Here's what is currently bouncing around in my head:

-I'm loving the reduced humidity. The girls and I have enjoyed swinging on the porch swing lately. It's like a miracle cure for fussing and is a huge sleep inducer for them. I'm glad that now we can enjoy the outdoors without melting and dodging wasps!

-I am chopping my hair off tomorrow. I woke up a couple days ago and literally couldn't stand another inch of nasty long hair hanging in my face. I am so over brushing spit up out of my hair and don't have time to blow dry and straighten it so it always looks disgusting! Not to mention, I am constantly pulling long strands of hair out of the girls hands. I have been growing my hair for a long time and thought I would love it once it got really long. However, all of a sudden I am done. I'm going back to short hair with bangs and will probably up the level of blonde. I also looked in the mirror yesterday and thought it was much to brown hehe! :) 

-Zoe is officially done nursing. She still takes breastmilk from a bottle, but won't nurse. It's my fault. I have been pumping a lot during the day but was always really good about nursing in the morning and before bed. Well, this past week, and I really don't even know why, I have been pumping in the mornings too while the girls played and I drank my coffee, and realized that I hadn't nursed the girls in a week. I think it's because they have been waking up so happy so I thought, why nurse. If I pump I can sit here and chill for 10 minutes and drink some coffee. Well, last night I tried to nurse her and she went ballistic! Like top 5 of all time in her life! I've since tried about 10x. Yep, we're done. 

-Nora wakes up every night, well morning I guess, at 1:30ish and 5:30ish. I know she is hungry at 1:30 but at 5 she will eat for like 2 seconds if nursing, or take an ounce of a bottle and then just chew on the nipple. That's all it seems to take to pacify her. However, if we try to sooth, or let her cry for a bit, or pat, or rock or ANYTHING else than offering food, she just escalates to hysterical. I'm at a loss for real! 

-I feel like when the girls are sleeping I am constantly cleaning, doing laundry and organizing and it never ever ever looks clean!! I guess it's just not meant to be right now!

-Lance is super dad. I mean for real. He works 10 hour days, and two nights a week pulls double duty since I work Monday and Tuesday evenings. I have yet to hear a complaint! He gets even less sleep than me if you can imagine that because nighttime feedings are a million times quicker if each of us just grab a baby and pop a bottle in by heir mouth. If I take the time to feed one, the other gets so upset and it's hard to calm them back down to sleep. I do both sometimes, and am SO ready for Lance to be off the hook for feeding duty.

- On a similar note, with Lance being gone 12 hours a day I am realizing how I absolutely could not do this without my family! They have been saints. My parents may just be the most selfless people I have ever met. Seriously! They offer me so much support in so many ways. My mom gets this twin life, and is truly so wonderful and helpful and just such a great friend! My sister is too!! Just today Betho called and asked how I was doing. I am seriously batteling a cold and was up all night with Nora and we have no food. No joke, 30 minutes later breakfast appeared on my porch. No need for me giving her my order or anything. It was exactly what I would have gotten myself. And THEN, without asking my dad dropped off a bag of food my mom had fixed up from their house for lunch! Same thing, my exact favorite lunch. I'm eating it now! 

-I am still just loving life. Most days are wonderful and some days, like today, are pretty hard. But I just love my girls, my husband, and my friends and family! We are blessed! 

 (Blog didn't get posted on the day I started...so we are on our hard day...hehe) 

5 months

Girlies you are 5 months old!! Such big girls!! 

So let's see, what have you been up to lately!? 

Zo Zo: You are a big girl. Not quit sure what you weigh but you seem to be chubbier and taller every time I look at you. Daddy went out of town for a week, and thought you looked bigger in just 5 days! You love to stand up and are very strong. You love to grab at anything within your reach and put everything in your mouth. You roll both ways, but would prefer to hang out on your side. I get it, I'm indecisive too! You can pull from laying down to standing straight up with very little help from us. It's actually kind of amazing how strong you are for a little 5 month old baby. Every time we have people over they watch you and say, "Man she is SO strong". I have a feeling your little will is going to be every bit as strong too. You like things on your terms! You love the exersaucer and have started hating the swing. Anything that makes you lay on your back annoys you right now. You want to sit up SO badly, but can't quite get it by yourself yet. You are such a happy girl. You love me and daddy and it makes me happy. You smile the second you hear us talk! You are very very content and really don't cry much at all. You pretty much spend most days playing and smiling and just looking around for me to talk to you. Zoester, you are the best and we love you so so much!! 

Nor Nor: You are a big girl too, but much shorter than your sister. The difference in your size seems to be getting much more significant as far as height goes. Your little sister seems to be towering over you these days. Every night you seem to gain another pair of pjs that don't even start to fit her and fit you like a glove. It's funny...and unnerving to this mommy who likes you to match every day. Not loving that you are in 6 month jammies and she is in 9 month jammies! You are still struggling with eczema but don't seem to be itching now that we smother you in creams and aquaphor daily. You are a permanent slime ball!! You are rolling both ways too and won't stay laying on your back for more than 2 seconds when we put you down on the floor to play. I have never seen a baby flip so fast, and it's funny because for the longest time I was sure my tummy time efforts with you were a waste of time because you would not lift you head. Now that cute little head pops right up all cute and strong! You are a smiling machine and are a laugher!! You love to laugh and squeal, and cackle. It's is so easy to get you to laugh. I love it. You love to grab at toys too and love to be standing up! You are pretty much addicted to your crib and when you are tired you don't care too much for long rocking sessions with mommy. You prefer to be put in your sleep sack, given your lovie and paci and be left along. It's kind of sad, however your other half is NOT as easy to get down for naps so I am thankful you are always easy to put down. As easy as you are to put down in your crib....you are literally impossible to deal with when you are ready for a nap and we aren't at home. It is truly stressful. You would scream in the car for hours I think if we didn't get you home. It is shrill, and hysterical, and really one of the worst sounds ever. However, the second we get home and I put you in your crib you stop. Instantly. It's really crazy. Your particular nap time behavior is pretty much the only hard thing we deal with right now. You are perfection to us! Your sweet chubby face is just too much and I could kiss it 1,000 a day!! We love you little Nora Beth!!

Girls, you are also both getting better with sleep. You have been waking up at 12am to eat for months now and I finally got so tired of drifting off only to be woken up an hour later, that we now just feed you right before we go to bed. You usually then sleep (well go without eating) until morning. However, no joke Nora, you wake up every morning at between 2:30-4:30 screaming. All I have to do is replace the paci or let you eat for like 1 minute...but if I don't go in you will cry for an hour until you wake up your sister. We love you tons, but you have some high maintenance tendencies! Both of you have been going to bed around 7:30-8 and sleeping until 7:30-8 with the late night feeding and usually some middle of the night randomness. The middle of the night randomness is what I am hoping to nix here pretty soon. You take 5-6 bottles a day now. I am pretty much just pumping now. Since you and your sister wake up about 30 minutes off of each other the nursing was just getting to be too much and I wasn't willing to wake up the other sleeping baby. I am finally learning that as a mom whatever works for us is what's best. And for us, that has turned out to be pumping and giving the babies a little wiggle room to keep an independent schedule. 

You are both napping like champs and take 2 long (1.5-2 hour) naps, one in the morning and one early afternoon and then catch another hour or so nap in the evening. 

I am still dreaming if the day that we put you in your room and don't see you again until morning. Actually, I will even take the 10:30 feeding, if the night waking would stop! I know it's coming. We have had ONE glorious night where we put you down and you woke up 12 hours later. So now I know it's biologically possible! :) 

However, you are doing great and I probably can't expect much more at this point than a nine hour stretch. You are both big girls and I know it takes a lot to fill those tummies and I'm not a big fan of giving huge bottles....we have spitters for sure....so we will just spread out your feedings for now and hope you can handle bigger bottles in the near future so we can spend the DAY eating and the NIGHT SLEEPING!! 

Little nuggets, we truly love you more than you will ever know!! What a joyful, blessed, exhausting, fun, happy 5 months it's been!! 

Smiles

Just when I think it can't get any better it does! I remember when we were setting up the nursery and putting up the cribs I told Lance that I couldn't wait until one morning when I would walk into their pretty lavender room, look into the cribs, and see two smiling faces up at me!

Then the babies come and reality sets in! No one smiles for a while, and you are awaken out of a foggy 2 hour "nap" by screaming babies while you rush to try to get the life size nursing pillow set up while the screams get louder and louder. We lived that scenario for months and months.

But now, now my dream is happening and I am soaking up every last drop of it! In the mornings I usually see two little people perched up on their elbows just looking around talking. Then, when they see me the giant ear to ear smiles come! It.Is.The.Best.Feeling.In.The.Whole.World!

As exhausted as I still am, thanks to my little night owls, I cant help but smile every morning at 7:30 when my little Nora summons me, followed by her sister 15 minutes later. Now I take chipper little girls out of bed and they play on the floor while I pour my coffee and brush my teeth. We then leisurely get all set up for "breakfast" and it is just so wonderful!

I love love love love it!! I love love love being a mommy. I love rocking my babies to sleep. I love dressing them each day. I love ALL of it! I even find myself smiling as I am washing bottles thinking, "Man, I never thought I would be here....washing bottles for MY two perfect baby girls!" It is still SO hard because I am SO tired and I am beyond ready for them to get into a more predictable nap pattern so we can start to venture past our front porch without the fear of public humiliation. But I will be patient. I will soak in the long naps with my girls in my arms, I will soak up all the smiles, and I will try to freeze time so I never forget our long, quiet days together.

So, when I get stressed that my living room looks like a day care, or that it's 2:30pm and all I have eaten is a spoonful of peanut butter...I will try my best to stop and thank God for the life I am currently living. I have been praying for this life for years, and I will take all of it. Even the bad and annoying and tiring parts!

Thank you God for making me "Mommy"!

Lately

Man...people aren't lying when they say "it goes by so fast". I feel like just when my girls hit one "phase" they are going into the next. They are exploding with personality, laughing, smiling and are just such a joy to be around. They are doing so much better with naps and right now I can count on at least two 1.5-2 hour naps a day and a 45 minute or so nap in the evening. It really makes ALL the difference in parenting when you can count on a few predictable moments of rest in the day. The girls seriously KILLED it with "sleep training!" We bought sound machines and started separating them at naps. I kind of cancelled life for a few days and just waited for the girls to look sleepy, rocked them one at a time until they were drowsy and then put them down for their naps. Nora probably cried a total of 5 minutes the whole week. She was born loving her bed. Zo Zo did awesome too but we did have a few naps where we had to "cry it out" for a few minutes. However, I timed the screams and the longest she ever cried was 12 minutes! Before this new structured nap time I was rocking the girls at the same time until they fell asleep and then I was either stuck in the glider for 2 hours, or woke them upon transfer to their beds and then had to deal with fussy, woken up babies. This newfound ability to place a baby into bed after 5 minutes of rocking is changing my life!! I never want to give up rocking the girls, but I am happy that on days where I just need to get things done, I can quickly get them down for naps and move on with my day. I think the sleeping with the girls in the glider habit started when I was so sleep deprived I slept every time they did and then the girls just got used to it and it was a hard habit to break. But I am happy to report they have both been extremely predictable with their little daily routines. Lately like clockwork (this is for me to look back on...feel free to skip) they have been: -Wake at 8am -eat/play -napping from 8:45-10:45 -eat/play -napping from 12:30-2:30 -eat/play -napping from 430-5:30 (this is a struggle of a nap for Zo Zo...not sure why...I think she may just be super tired) -no nap -bed at 7:45 Of course there is a variance of about 15 minutes since they are different people and all....but it's pretty close to right on the money these days! They also slept straight from 7:45-8:15 last night without a peep!! It was a strange feeling. Lances alarm went off at 5:45 and we both woke up confused. Lance just assumed I got up an fed them and I literally thought I must have just forgotten I got up and then actually got a little worried and went in to check that everyone was breathing! Yep, everyone was alive. So we officially had out first "sleeping through the night" at 4.5 months! They have done long stretches here and there and often go about 8 hours. But we have never come close to a 12 hour stretch! I'm a realistic person and honestly we keep expectations pretty low around her so I am fully prepared that this may have just been a lucky night...but I'm thankful to know its biologically possible for them to survive that long without eating hehe!! (Ok...I have to add that while writing this one cried at 12:30 and then the other at 1:15 so we still aren't that consistent yet I guess!). On another note, I had my first day of work today. I am working 9 hours a week with 5 hours being on Monday and 4 on Tuesday. My Mom is coming to my house Tueadays and we have a sweet nanny coming coming Mondays. I'm working 2-7 & 2-6 so Lance is with them for a couple hours before I get home. I was kinda depressed to leave today and my mom was amazing and followed my pages of directions to a T!! It was great knowing she was with them. She is amazing and literally does exactly what I ask and even calls to clarify tiny things like kinds of lotions to use and exact details about things to make absolute sure she is doing it exactly like I would. She gets how important keeping a schedule is with twins and I am so appreciative! Lance did great too!! When I got home both girls were happily playing in their Jammie's ready for bed. Nora was all lotioned up an itch free too! I am blessed!! :) So that's about all that's up with us! Ill be posting a 5 month before too long....crazy!!!

4 months!

Our little angels are 4 months old!! We just got home from their official 4 month visit and they are both doing great. We made a plan to treat Nora's eczema and I have decided to continue to nurse for now and hope we can get a hold of the problem with some more diet modifications and medication. However, if nothing works we will go to formula. 

Nora is in the 75% in height, weight, and head circumference. She weighs 14.5 lbs, is 25 inches long and her head measurement was 16.5 inches. 

Zoe is in the 95% in height and 75% for her weight and head. She weighs 4.11 lbs, is 26 1/4 inches long and her head measured 16.5 inches.

So, the girls are about the same weight and have the same head size but Zoe is a lot taller! Which explains why Nora weighs less but looks much chunkier than little Zoester! 

Both girls are starting to babble a lot. Zoe must be the most social little creature to ever live. She never stops talking. She babbles herself to sleep, she babbles in her car seat, she babbles in her swing and babbles at her reflection. She gets SO excited when she makes eye contact with someone and realizes they want to talk to her. It.Is.So.Cute!! She is the kind of child who will skim right over a nap if anything is going on. She has to be in her bed in the dark to sleep. She just loves people.

Nora is not as much of a "people person". Nora loves one on one time with mommy singing or reading. She loves to smile at Zoe and has started cackling the cutest little squeaky laugh! However, Nora loves her sleep and unlike Zoe we have to make sure our little Nora gets her nap ON TIME or life is no bueno for anybody!! Nora's little smile and soft voice will melt your heart. It is just so sweet, but she is definitely our more serious child! 

It's interesting having twins because you can see two such different little personalities emerge. We originally thought Nora was really laid back compared to Zoe, but now I'm not sure. They both have their moments of freaking out and both have their sweet moments. Zoe has definitely evolved into a baby who can roll with the punches a bit better. She can handle a late nap, or hunger pretty well. Nora used to be that way but they seem to have switched personas this month! I guess we'll see if they switch back again. 

As far as their motor skills and things go they are both rolling some. Interestingly, Nora rolls from her tummy to her back and Zoe rolls from her back to her tummy. However, neither baby cares to do it much at all. Nora sleeps on her tummy and has been rolling to her back in the night and is none to happy about it! However, yesterday I went to get her up and she was on her back smiling at me! Progress!! 

Zoe pretty much always wants to be "standing" and looking around. When on her back she is always trying to sit up and is pretty annoyed I think that she can't sit up. She is trying so hard. Shes done it for a few seconds before falling so far. Yesterday, she even supported her weight on her legs and held onto the ottoman for a out 15 seconds! At 4 months! She's really a strong little thing! 

Nora is finally supporting her weight on her legs. She had earned the nickname "little blob" because every time we tried to get her to put weight on her legs she would just crumble into a blob. But now she's every bit as good as sister! 

Both girls are doing great with tummy time. No joke, when I realized I needed to be putting them on their tummies each day I put Zoe down and she popped up on both elbows and stuck her head straight up and smiled. She cracks me up. It took our little sweet blob a few weeks to master tummy time but now she can almost keep up with her sister. 

Nora loves to lay in her activity mat and swat at her toys. She loves all things yellow. She truly favors anything yellow. Its funny. Zoe likes to grab the toys and try to pull them down to put in her mouth. Just today she rolled to her side, picked up her empty bottle and started drinking from it. Looks like its time to make sure Zoe doesn't get her hands on things she can choke on! 

I'm learning that Nora is 100% on track developmentally, but Zoe is pretty ahead of he game in lots of ways. But for a while I worried that Nora was delayed. But shes not...she is just not as strong and motivated as Zoe in lots of ways. And that's ok! They are different people. 

I really can't wait to see if they continue to stay so different. Because right now I feel like they are pretty much opposites! I think Nora would like to spend the day in the sling with me cuddled up singing songs and talking and I think Zoe would like me to push her stroller into the middle of a crowded room and just let her "talk" to everyone! I can't imagine which child is like Lance and which is like me!? ;) 

Anyway, we are seriously enjoying these girls. It's gets better and better each day! We are blessed!!

My big girl at the doctor...poor thing didn't know what was coming :(

My little"er" angel at the doctor...sweet thing! 

Both girls one morning....but this day was rough! Two little fussy girls for some reason this day! 

Zo Zo with Mimi 

The girls playing with the Bradford girls one day!

Nora angel one morning!