Thanksgiving came next

We were going to miss out on a traditional New England Thanksgiving this year, I was not ready to go back to the East coast so soon. And I was still scared about swine flu, influenzae and RSV. I essentially did not want them to leave the Rocksberg Step Down Unit and risk becoming infected. We will have plenty of years to come to enjoy that. Really, during this period, every patient I test for H1N1 in the clinic tested positive. They ranged in symptoms from the very mild to severe, but they all had swine flu. It was in New Mexico in epidemic proportions, as predicted. And I was going to make sure my babies were not infected. They did not leave the house for approximately the first year of life. Visitors had to be decontaminated. No one symptomatic was allowed in. We survived. 31 week premature infants facing this kind of threat...I was petrified, I was ready!


This year, Brian cooked an amazing turkey with all the fixin's. Nate was tasting it all and enjoying, Chloe was still very slow to follow suit on that idea, but she dabbled just a little.

There he is washing up to start his feast

Chloe is waiting patiently in her striped outfit for the occasion 

Nate is also decked out in his quilted car jacket

Cecila and Rob joined us for our first Thanksgiving together.


At around the same time, Nate, who has had his eye on Bailey since he came home from summer camp, was finally getting mobile enough to get to him

This is where we would find him- both happy as little clams!

Just kidding, he was propped in there, but when he starts crawling later, Bailey is his first target.

He also had his first big belly laugh while watching Bailey playing with one of his toys, darting across the room in delight.

The activity center was the newest entertainment. Since they are strong enough to keep their heads from flopping around and interested in "things" to grab, these two were awesome. They could press buttons, roll things, wobble suns, make music and turn themselves all the way around. Nate was happy. My entire living room was being taken over.

Halloween 2009

This was so exciting for me as a mom, I finally get to start enjoying the holidays through the eyes of my children. Something I have been looking forward to for a very long time.

First, we went to Mcall's Pumpkin patch here in New Mexico. For this they had matching first Halloween onsies. There were so many little kids in costumes, it was fun to see their expressions when they saw them.
       Nate and Chloe posing for the camera for the first time, I think!        Just so cute                                          

He couldn't sit by himself yet, pumpkins make great props!

Daddy and a bright-eyed Chloe

Mommy and Nate who is more interested in the food on the table!

Corn kernel "sand box" makes good prop also, except not so much after we noticed fistfuls being shoveled into Nate's mouth. We were so focused on getting a good shot with all of us looking at the camera  (you can tell how good that worked, and my face not even in it - I think Brian had more focus on my gigantic boobs popping out! )You can see Nate stealing a handful right there!

Chloe's Scarecrow's. She fits right in, almost lost her in there for a minute in her little white stretch pants.

The little blackbird scarecrow caught her eye immediately. She was perplexed and mesmerized. She was eagerly waiting for something to happen! I was laughing so hard, we couldn't get a good shot

So, I think we had to buy one for the house...Looks good on the front step






Next, we had little miss Chloe, the Mermaid and Mr Nate, the Goldfish.

Another self posing dog photo - he's just not going to be left out!

Again, just adorable. Later that evening, the other kids in our little cul-de-sac neighborhood were starting to gather to go trick or treating. My nanny, Sabrina and I took them out to be part of it all. Nate and Chloe looked in amazement and awe, thinking quietly to themselves that they couldn't wait until they were big enough to go Trick or Treating with the older kids! They giggled and smiled in their costumes while all the other kids and parents came to admire how cute they looked. What fun!! Twins are a spectacle.

It should be time to sleep again...

At 6 months of age, things were starting to get exciting, they were giggling, rolling, sitting up better in their bumbos and so we tried some rice cereal. This is the cutest thing they have ever done. They were seated side by side in matching pink and blue bumbos, Nate was ready. Curious and so excited about what was about to happen, he knew it was going to be good. He was trying to get it in his mouth and make it go in the right direction as fast as he could. We have it on video above. Chloe really wanted to have nothing to do with it, and after tasting it - I don't blame her, WOW. This is when I started making my own organic stage 1, pureed foods. And how, you ask, did I have time, or energy, when you know what I was doing?? You just do it because you have no other choice, as my chiropractor so eloquently put it.

So, now life gets a little scary...I was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on my face and subsequently underwent several surgeries for the removal and another for complications. I was devastated and probably don't want to elaborate at this point. My Dermatologist heard my history of sailing in the caribbean when I was growing up, and said, "well, at least you were having fun when you were developing it. Would you change anything you did knowing now how it turns out?" - probably not! I was judicious about sunscreen application, but being blonde and fair-skinned on a boat in the British Virgin Islands, it is difficult to avoid a sunburn.

In Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, start of the Olympics with categories such a dingy slalom, kayak races, knot tying,  spelling out words over handheld radio with the phonetic alphabet, beer chugging, search and rescue and galley duty

White Bay, Jost Van Dyke New Year's eve during the day

Peter Island, BVI, with our catamaran anchored in the background

Hiking to the top of a bluff on Peter Island to get some exercise and enjoy the views of  beautiful turquoise water and Tortola in the background 

Enjoying life... These were the best of times...  DEFINITELY wouldn't change it...

4 months already

And the time to go back to work had finally come. I was out of work after I went to a scheduled prenatal visit with my high risk Perinatologist, on February 9, 2009 and was sent home on "house arrest,"  and did not return until September 8, 2009, 7 months later, Nate and Chloe were 4 months and a few weeks, and we were still full swing into colic with Chloe. The typical 6 week maternity leave had been replaced with 7 months. WOW, that's all I can say. My patients missed me and my partners couldn't wait for me to get back so that they could stop seeing all my patients and get to take a vacation themselves! It was a huge strain on my practice, but there wasn't a whole lot of choice in the matter. It was difficult leaving my babies. Luckily I work so close to home that I was able to come home at lunch time to breast feed and cuddle a little before I went back. I was also pumping at work every 2 hours on schedule until they were a year old. That was a feat in itself. Mainly because we were implementing a new Electronic Medical System which requires dictating all my notes. The system they chose had a headset for dictation. So, to get the full picture, imagine hooking up your double electric breast pump with tubing off to the right side of your computer, having your headset on with microphone piece in place and connecting cord that attaches to the left of center on the computer, and dictating patient notes, returning phone calls and communicating with my nurse during this time with  my office phone (attached cord will be #4). There was a lot of multitasking going on here. Luckily I invested in a "handsfree" pumping bra - another one of my lifesavers through this - never would have thought about that one, huh?!! It was only a problem if one of the pumps accidentally got loose - uh oh, there was milk spillage and tangled cords galore. It is a wonder I got anything actually done at work doing this every 2 hours for 15-20 minutes!

Poor little Chloe got colic starting in New York at Alamita at about 6 and 1/2 weeks old. Late one evening, she just started fussing and was unconsolable for several hours. Brian would help try to calm her down, but nothing we did helped. I would try breast feeding, changing her diaper, pacifier, swaddling, rocking, singing, walking around the apartment, laying her in her crib, putting her in bed with me, putting her in the swing with the white noise playing and a soft vibration. It was impossible to console her until she was so exhausted, that somewhere between 10pm to midnight she would finally fall asleep. There were several feedings and diaper changes for Nate during this time, and he would go right back to sleep, as well as a few 2 hour pumping sessions for me. The only thing I couldn't do was sleep, somehow I got colicky Chloe duty most of the time and Brian fed Nate.  All I could think, was "please don't start doing this too, please don't start doing this too, I can't do 2 colicky babies!!" It was misery for the poor little thing, and, yes, Chloe was not having too much fun either! One funny thing I remember during this time was I think she was mistaking my nose for a nipple. I would be holding her  while propped up in bed on pillows and she would be screaming. At one point she started army crawling herself up my body. Brian and I though she was trying to snuggle or attempt to soothe herself in some way by getting more comfortable. She would nestle in to my neck, still fussing away. One of these times, she actually got to my nose and looked like she was trying to latch on!! She did it to Brian too!! 

So, I was going back to work during THIS period, it hadn't yet resolved.

I remember one night like it was yesterday... Brian was going out to dinner with his friends and he left me sitting on my bed trying to feed and console a colicky Chloe at about 6 pm with Nate asleep in his bassinet at the bedside. Before leaving, he asked what my plans were for the evening. I was going to finish feeding her, feed Nate, try to make myself some dinner, pump, bathe them, get them ready for bed and try to get to sleep myself because I had to work in the morning. Well, he returned several hours (maybe 4 or 5) to us in the same spot and Nate in the bed beside us. She never stopped crying. And somehow I was still surviving, not really sure how. This is why mom's of twins say that the first year is really a blur - the severe sleep deprivation makes you loopy, so it really is a blur.

Brian's parents came to visit from Florida and brought beautiful handmade sweaters with matching hats and mittens! 

At 4 months, 2 months adjusted age for prematurity, they were not rolling yet, so they mostly spent their awake hours on the floor participating in different activities. The tunnel was such a great idea. It had a mesh top with lots of things to look at, little toys that could dangle and make noises, a crinkle bottom with different textures to explore when they got more mobile. They were really mesmerized by it all when they spent time in there.

"the tunnel"

Their favorite place to hang out, so much to do in there, it kept them quiet and occupied for "long stretches" -  10 minutes tops!!

Mommy washing Chloe's hair

Nate is finally smiling in a picture - this is a feat to capture.  I think it was just after his bath

But little miss is always ready with a smile for everyone!

Yeah!!

Our Nanny, Jill, hard at work - she was a baby whisperer!!

Nate looking very cozy!

Holding hands

They were finally old enough to sit up in a bumbo with their heads partially propped with blankets and the back of the bumbo. They still weren't rolling or have good head support. Life will never be the same now. It's a whole different perspective from up there. Their eyes were open a little wider, they could follow everyone around the room with their eyes, cooing right along with it.

Playing footsie in the bumbos

This was another one of their favorites. The cadillac of swings, this one swayed so smoothly, different speeds, had a vibration, toys to look at and play with, and many different choices for music and different sounds, including a sliding drawer with an ipod connection! One of my best investments, they would rock to sleep so nicely in there.

Grandma Pat and Grandpa Ray

Mama and Daddy out by the pool 

Bailey joining in the action, I think he actually posed himself - poor thing, getting no attention since he's been replaced as the center of mommy's attention

We are up on the roof deck, trying to capture some of that New Mexico sunset - great lighting at that time

And so, it was finally time for mommy to go back to work. We hired an amazing nanny, Jill, got her trained and ready. I felt very comfortable about that. But I really didn't want to leave them yet!