No news is good news.....

To all you faithful followers...we don't have much of an update. Everything in the Gomez household has been calm and low key for the past few days. The twins are on a great sleeping schedule. Nap time is becoming a bit of an issue with both of them, they seem to fight it, but we get in at least an hour or two in the afternoon. Evenings are becoming very easy. The twins are usually down around 10 pm. Liliana will wake at 4 am to nurse and then will go right back to sleep and then they are both up around 7-8 to eat again. I never realized how much sleep I wasn't getting until I started getting some good stretches. While I always tried to rest when they were sleeping, three hours here, two hours there doesn't compare with 6-7 straight. It's amazing.

Since not much is going on, I thought I would just sit the twins up for some pics...they sit really well in this oversize soft chair of ours. It was kind of damp out today, so before we went for a walk I threw their overalls on them. I tend not to put these on them a lot because 1) I think denim is not that comfortable of material for babies and 2) they are just a lot more cumbersome than other articles of clothing. But they looked cute...a nice twin moment. And who doesn't like pictures?! Isn't that why you all log on anyway? Ha ha!

Rag Time...

I am back into the quilting gig again and I decided that I wanted to make a quilt for each of the twins. I wanted to experiment with what is called a "rag quilt" They are very easy to make. The overall objective is to use super soft material -I am using flannel-and purposely sew the seams so they are showing (usually you want to hide them) Then you fringe the seams with clippers and wash and dry it and you get this ragged look. I used some leftover fabric from a previous project to try it out...this one is about the size of a dish rag and took me only about 45 minutes total to make (not counting washing and drying) The edges of the quilt are not finished properly, but again, I just wanted to get an idea of how it worked.




The backing is still flat and smooth..see how fast I was working, my blocks don't match up correctly.


A closer look at the frayed finish..

These are the fabrics I bought for the twins' quilts. I think it goes without saying which one is for which.

And finally, a fun video clip. Felix and I just bought EA Sports Active for our Wii Nintendo gaming system...it is quite a workout. Felix was working out the other night and Lucas was watching and he didn't like it...look how he grimaces every time Felix does a jumping squat! When you run, he seems to like it...but more times than not, he finds it too much to handle.

Bedtime woes...

Our goal has always, for the most part, been to have the twins sleeping in the nursery, in their own cribs, by the summer. In May, I received an email from Mothers of Multiples Classifieds, saying that someone was looking for a co-sleeper, which is what the twins were sleeping in in our room. I thought this would be a great way to force us into moving them out..since if I sold the co-sleeper, then we would have no choice but to move them. So last weekend, I broke down the crib, even though it is not promised to that other mother until June 15th. The twins had been napping in their cribs for about a week at that point and we decided that it was time. Now, don't get me wrong...I LOVE having them in the room with us. It puts my mind at ease, especially after Lucas stopped breathing and ended up in the hospital. But, I worried that they would be too dependent on me, or more so that I would find it harder and harder to put them in the nursery. I have always been a "tough love" type of person, (and I found out so is Felix..which is great..very helpful to be on the same page!)but I felt I needed the tough love more than the twins. Time to suck it up and let go a little bit for what will be the first of many times in my life when I will have to let them go just a little.

So, move them we did and while Lucas was happy as a clam, Liliana put up quite a fight! She would nap for up to four hours during the day in her crib but at night, the minute her foot hit the mattress, she would scream...and I mean scream. At first, we were sure something was wrong. We are lucky to have very "chill" babies. They really don't put up a fight or cry or anything unless they are hungry or in pain, or something. Really, they are very laid back and happy babies..everyone says that about them. So for Liliana to be screaming of all things really worried me...so of course, the first thing I did was pick her up...immediately the tears stopped and she looked up at me with a smile and laughed. I put her down, she screamed, I picked her up, she laughed. So clearly, she was playing me. She didn't like the crib and had found a way out.

Felix and I decided to try what is called the Ferber method. We researched this topic a lot online, and found that this was something we thought we could handle, and would be beneficial in the long run. It proved to be more difficult than I ever imagined. Basically, what it calls for is when the baby cries, you go in and soothe them for about a minute, reassuring them that everything is fine. And then you leave. If the baby starts crying again, you wait five minutes, then go in and soothe them again..keep in mind, never picking the baby up. Leave, if the baby cries, wait ten minutes, repeat, wait fifteen minutes, repeat. You never go longer than 15 minutes and you repeat until the baby falls asleep. Sounds good in theory..tough in practice. Five minutes of listening to your child cry is heart-wrenching if not mind splitting and I found it much more difficult than I thought it would ever be. And before you say anything, yes, I know there are many views and opinions about the Ferber method. Some think its horrible and unnecessary torture on the baby and some swear it is the best thing out there. But it did work for us. Both babies now sleep 6-8 hours through the night and while the first four nights were hell..and I mean hell...we are all a happier family because of it. Below is a video of them both sleeping like the little angels they are...sorry the videos are so dark, but it is dark in their nursery.

I was able to get a small video of Liliana and her "aquarium". It's a great toy that attaches to the side of the crib and plays music, bubbles rise and fish swim. Very soothing to babies. We call him "Senor Pez" (Mr. Fish).

And as a side note the twins went to the doctor today and Lucas weighed 13.5 pounds and Liliana 12.5 Last time they were in the 5th percentile and now they are almost in the 30th! They are catching up nicely and will start the introduction to solid foods next month. Indeed, they are growing up way too quickly. In the waiting room today, we saw a preemie that was born a week ago that weighed exactly what the twins weighed at birth (4lbs. 4oz) I couldn't believe that they were ever that small. We will blink and they will be walking!

4 months old!!!

Well, believe it or not, the twins turned four months old this weekend. Crazy! This evening I attempted to get a good shot of them...this was a pretty good one. But as any parent will tell you, for every good shot, there are many that don't make it..so I thought I would include our "bloopers" from this photo shoot. Notice how in each picture, Lucas hardly changes expression while Liliana is hamming it up for the camera.

Ok, picture time over, Liliana is falling over and Lucas has had enough...

And just because they're twins, doesn't mean they can never get their own photo. It's hard not to think of them as a unit, so here is to their individuality...their own photo each.

And this one takes the cake! Love it!

More Free Stuff!!!

Well, not really free stuff, I guess, but sure got a whole lot of coupons. Today we got a lot of repsonses from the baby companies that we wrote to regarding their multiple birth program (remember the post about Gerber a little while ago) Well today, we got coupons for Beechnut food, Huggies diapers, formula, and many other things, including free samples of rice cereal which the twins are on right now. We spread the coupons out amongst the twins to give you an idea of how many we got...

Lucas holding the $5 similac coupon...

Lilana holding a Huggies coupon in each hand!

Memorial Day

Today for Memorial Day, we went down to see the local parade. Lucas was all raring to go after his (second) breakfast.

Liliana was still on the napping plan...

But eventually, we got her up and into the stroller, even if she was half asleep.

The parade was low-key, but there were bagpipes so that was fun.

The parade route ended at our church and we helped pass out lemonade and iced tea to the people who marched/played in the parade. Our church has a tradition on Memorial Day. Since the wars in Iraq and Afganistan started, they plant a flag in the lawn for each soldier who has died. This is just one of a few sections of flags. People are also invited to stop by and plant a flag in memory of someone they know. It makes for a sobering picture...

And finally, Lucas has taken to chewing constantly on his fist. Before he eats, after he eats, it doesn't matter, I think it is soothing to him. Anyway, here is a peek...

Baby Crack...

As a little experiment this afternoon...we broke out one of the Baby Einstein videos. It's actually a Baby Monet DVD which talk about the seasons. And sure enough it had the "zombie" effect that tv definitely has on children. It's so scary that at such a young age they can be so consumed by that screen. Very, very dangerous...perhaps we will put that away and save it only in times of real emergency...

just a side note...we didn't realize that all the Baby Einstein videos were able to be played in Spanish...at least there is a perk!

For those of you regular followers, my apologies for not posting in a week. To tell you the truth, not much has been going on. I have been trying to get the twins on a new schedule. They used to be on the schedule of eating every three hours, but as they are getting bigger, they are eating more and most notably, sleeping through the night..there is a God! So I was kind of letting them just do what they wanted, eat when they wanted and sleep here and there. But I found that when I was home alone with them all day, I was getting nothing done. So this whole week I have been setting them to a strict schedule, and it actually worked! They are also napping in their bedroom now in separate cribs. No more sleeping in the living room or in our room...at least during the day. The next move will be to get them into the nursery for the nights. They are sleeping from 11-6 most nights, so their really is no reason. It's more of an issue on my end I think.

Anyway, we all went to the beach the other day. Lilana and I hung out on the swings...

We so hoped they would be big enough to go on the baby swings, but we forget how small they are...we placed them in, and if she leaned forward, she was fine, but 3/4 of the swing was empty...

So then we tried both of them, one each way...Lucas is still working on head control..poor guy, his head is so big it's hard for him!

The twins have really taken to their new play gym.

And the newest update to our adventures in the non-stop baby noises that these two make...they squeal and coo and yelp..it's quite funny. Here is Lucas on the play mat.

Just some fun pics from today as we were hanging around the house...enjoy.

Free Stuff!

It turns out that many companies have what they call "Multiple Birth" programs, where they give free stuff and extra coupons to mothers of twins, triplets, etc. You need to write to them, provide copies of the birth certificates to prove you have mutliples and then they are supposed to send you stuff..or so I heard. Well, we got our first mini care package from the Gerber company the other day...it had two Gerber onesies, a loofa and sponge/bath brush kit (not too sure that is for the babies..might be for me), a free little photo album, some disney thank you notes (even Gerber knows that I need to seriously get a start on those!) and some coupons for free formula and baby food. I don't use their formula..the twins are supplemented with special formula for preemies, but the baby food coupon is good until New Year's Eve 2010...so we will probably use that. Who knows what other packages we are to receive!

Papi has been reading a lot to the twins these days..they say you can never start too early!

And finally, I found this pic from the first week in the NICU. It is so hard to imagine that they were ever that small...with the picture following this one, you can really see the change. It's amazing...and a miracle! They don't even look like the same babies!

Back to School

Here are some of the pics from our visit to Staples yesterday...



This is my office door...when I left, they put a picture of the twins on the door...look how small they look!



This is Ann..she is my office mate. And of course, Lucas is always looking up at the lights.



This is my boss, the math department chair, Frank. He doesn't like babies too much but he wanted to try out the stroller and he got Liliana to smile...




A shot from the volleyball game...

And finally, here is a video that I took. Nothing big, just wanted to try it out. I took it with my digital camera..it has a video feature that I have never used. Just wanted to see if it would work. If you can't play it, sorry...

Some thoughts on motherhood..

No pics today...sorry. I promise to have some tomorrow.
I thought I would write about an interesting thing I have noticed so far as a mother. In some ways I think it is a fault of mine, but then I start to rethink this. Recently, I have noticed that I don't think things through as thoroughly as I should when it comes to being a mother. Two excellent examples came two days in a row this week. Yesterday it was beautiful out and so, as I often do, I loaded the twins into the new double stroller and thought of where I wanted to go. I decided to walk to the beach. It's a bit of a lengthy walk..about 6 miles round trip, but it was gorgeous out and, let's be honest, the workout wouldn't hurt. I get down to the beach, just about 3 miles into our walk, and I notice storm clouds approaching. Instinctively I panicked. What was I going to do? What if it started to thunder and lightning? I didn't have a car. I had my phone, but Felix was still en route from Manhattan. I quickly turned the stroller around and walked at a extremely fast pace to make it back before the rain. It turns out I beat the rain by a few good hours, the looming clouds I saw did just that...loom. But I thought...how could I have gone out with two infants with no access to a car or other form of protection from the elements? Why didn't I check the weather before I left? I often used to go running, and sometimes I did get caught in the rain (although never in a thunderstorm), but with two young babies it is quite different.
The other example came today. I went to visit my job today. It was great to see my colleagues and my students. The twins were a great hit! At school I mentor a boy whose name is Charles. Charles is from Brooklyn and is in our A Better Chance program at school where inner city youth come to Wesport to live and attend Staples High School. As a black student in a predominantly white school, Charles made the transition quite well and after four years at our school was recently accepted at Cornell with an amazing scholarship. Charles is also the captain of our volleyball team-a team that has gone undefeated and won the state title like 6 years in a row now. Today was the last home game (before the playoffs), so Felix and the twins and I went to see Charles play. He is phenomenal on the court, and I enjoy the games quite a bit. In the middle of the match, one of the Westport players spiked the ball, it bounced off the ground and hit the side of the stroller-more like the handle bar. The twins slept through the whole thing...but I sat there as we laughed it off and thought "Why on earth did I think it was a good idea to bring them here with balls that could possibly fly into the bleachers?"

I guess what I am getting at is that I think I need to think things through a bit better sometimes. I often thought that there would be a "mommy switch" that would just go off once they were born and I would know what is wise and unwise...but I don't seem to have that switch. Either that or mine has malfunctioned. Perhaps it comes down to the fact that I have always been more of an academic than a common sense person. Oh goodness Lucas and Liliana...how did you get stuck with me? :-)

Back on Track...

For those of you who check in regularly for pics, I apologize. We lost internet service for about a week (imagine that! however did we survive!) It's been a busy few days so let's get right down to it...





This weekend we went to see Pete and Christie in Boston. It was their daughter Caeley's fourth birthday party and also a chance for us to say goodbye to them before they leave for TN next week...we will miss you guys!





Caeley with her Uncle Rob

Connie and Wendy enjoying the trampoline...

Caeley and her cake...

Elaine (Christie's mom), Elijah (Caeley's brother) and Connie

For mother's day, Felix's family stopped over. Lucas didn't seem to into this pic with Tia and Abuela! Oh well!