sleep and the olympics

We have been using our late night feeding times to enjoy the Olympic Games. In honour of all the gymnastics we have been watching Maya decided to roll over from here belly to her back for the first time. She did it four times yesterday! Max doesn't seem quite as interested because he is quite content laying on his belly. Maya on the other had really dislikes laying on her stomach and has decided to avoid her tummy time by rolling on to her back.

Max's big feat of the week is that he slept for almost 8 hours last night. (Maya has already had a couple of night's long sleep) I woke up several times uncomfortably wondering when they were going to wake up, but I was not going to wake them up.

We also had a weight check at the doctor's office yesterday. Both babies are over 11lbs.

Pretty amazing feats of strength for 3 month old babies born 5 weeks early at only 4 lbs.

I think they both deserve a gold medal.

What's in a name

Names are kind of interesting. Alisa and I had a fun experience of trying to think of two names at one time. Obviously, we were entertained by the thought of naming these kids enough to make a poll on our blog. (By the way, I was pretty surprised that Max was the most popular name on our poll. I knew Tyrone wouldn't win, but I didn't know that Max was so well liked. Even before doing the poll, we had pretty much decided that Max was the name we liked most. But I digress...)

I really like the names Alisa and I settled on for Maya and Max, even though both of their names are sourced from Alisa's life (at least I got to contribute the last name). The names Maya and Catarina come from Alisa's time living in Guatemala and falling in love with Mayan people and culture and, in particular, the Mayan community of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan.

Alisa claims that I originally suggested the name Max, although I don't recall doing so (I did suggest many names along the way that were thrown by the wayside). (By the way, Max is not short for any thing, like Maxwell, Maximus, Maximum, Maximilliano, Maxedout, Maxer, etc. In fact, I kind of think it's odd when someone plans to call their child a certain name but give them a different first name and use their middle name [no offense to L. Tom Perry or M. Russell Ballard] or use a shortened version of the given name [Richard when they plan to call him
Rick or Dick].) Max's middle name is Elliott and comes from Alisa's great-great grandmother's maiden name. She also has a relative on the same family line whose name is Max Elliott.

We almost always refer to them by their given name, but occasionally we (or at least I) have used a couple of nicknames for them. Maya's is Butterball and came about because she often rolls up into a little ball when you pick her up. The butter part of the nickname just goes well with ball, but she also has soft, buttery baby skin. Max's nickname is Lil' Brudder and comes from a skit on homestarrunner.com about a one-legged dog named Lil' Brudder. So far with our twins, Maya has more volume in her cry, and Max has more endurance in crying. Alisa doesn't like me to say it, but Max tends to whine a little more. Thus, he got the nickname of Lil' Brudder because he's Maya's little brother, he can make it on his own, "he's got the heart of a champion", and he probably could power a small city with his whining. Lately, Max has been growing out of his whining so the Lil' Brudder nickname may get tucked away, but it certainly helped us laugh when he was whining away. After all, he's going to be a quarterback when he grows up. :)

-Lonnie

big smiles

We were having a hard time getting Maya to smile while we had the camera out. Every time I would hold up the camera and Lonnie would try to make her smile she would give us a straight face. Then when we would stop trying to photograph her she would have a huge smile come across her face. Lonnie realized that she smiled when he was making noise at the basketball game. When Lonnie would cheer Maya would smile. So it looks like she is a basketball fan. :)

trying to catch a smile

The babies have started smiling pretty regularly. It is amazing how wonderful it makes us feel.

what happens when mom lets me fall asleep on the way home from church with a bow on my head......

Lonnie thinks it is torture that I like Maya to have bows on her head. The poor girl has a lot less hair than her brother and besides I usually think the bows look pretty cute. When we took the kids out of the car last Sunday this is how we found Maya. She didn't seem too bothered and slept right through the ordeal.

fussy time

The babies are pretty happy most of the time, but they do have their fussy time. Thankfully for me this is usually in the evening shortly after Lonnie gets home, so we can work together to hold, sooth and feed the babies. We think they are pretty cute when they get mad. Thankfully they don't often get too fussy at the same time when I am home by myself. It hurts my heart to hear them cry and I am still not very good at soothing them both at the same time.

new record....

For two nights in a row now the babies have gone a little over 5 hours between feedings. It has been amazing. I feel like a whole new woman.

After I have feed them I have been so excited that they slept for so long that I even had a hard time going back to sleep.

sleep time

My sweet sleeping babies. During nap time, if the babies aren't too fussy, we put them down in the crib or pack and play right next to each other. They tend to snuggle up close (just like their mom likes to snuggle)

Several times over the last couple of days I have come in to check on the babies when they are about ready to wake up and I have found them with their elbows inter-connetced. Maybe it is a show of solidarity , or they are practicing their square dance moves or most likely they are trying to keep the other one from hitting them in the face with their flailing arms, either way it is really cute. Thankfully the little tykes are pretty good about going to sleep most of the time.

Nighttime sleep time has gotten a little better the last week. The babies are now regularly going at least 4 hours between feedings and they are also eating much faster, they can finish a bottle and get back to bed in about 20-20 mins. I then spend about 20-30 mins pumping breast milk for the next feeding. So I am getting about 3 1/2 hours sleep at a time. This may not seem like a very long time but considering they used to eat every 2 1/2- 3 hours at night, with each feeding taking at least an hour, followed by 30 mins for me to pump breast milk for the next feeding (leaving me with only an hour to an hour and a half to sleep). Suddenly 3 straight hours of sleep feels down right decedent.

Thankfully I have a wonderful and supportive husband who has helped me out when, all too often, I am in over my head and too worn out to take the night shift by myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you Lonnie! You are amazing.

friends

Max, Zane and his mom Amber.  Max looks like he is small enough to be Zane's toy.

Max, Maya and Ian (Emily's son)

Two month appointment with the pediatrician ... and the popularity of the twins

This morning, the twins went to visit the pediatrician. Maya weighed in at 9 lbs 15 oz, and Max is now 9 lbs 4 oz (at birth Maya weighed 4lbs 4oz and Max weighed 4lbs 2 oz). As you can tell from the photos, Maya has grown some chubby little cheeks. Max isn't quite as chubby, but he's trying to keep pace with her on the weight gain. We are very happy that they have done so well after starting so small. It's amazing how the little bodies of babies somehow find their way through growth and development.

On another subject, we are proud to note that our twins should be running for president of the United States, as they are significantly more popular than Barack Obama. Lonnie's post about Obama did not get any comments while any post with photos of the twins (especially the naked ones) gets at least a few comments. It's a very interesting trend that we've noticed. :)