One Month

(Ellen on left, Sophie on right)

Ellen and Sophie were born one month ago! The time has gone incredibly fast...much faster than I remember with Corinne. I think because I'm enjoying the newborn stage so so much with these two. That is probably due to a couple of things: feeling tons more comfortable and confident this time around, having pretty "easy" babies, and getting lots more sleep than we did with Corinne at this point. Ellen and Sophie are awesome babies--it helps that they were born full term and with no complications. I call Sophie my peanut and Ellen my pumpkin:)

So what is life like these days? Well, it's kinda crazy at times. But it's fun and busy all at once!My mom is still staying here Monday-Friday, but she has returned to work so I have her help mostly just in the mornings. Brett's mom comes down a lot of afternoons to help with feedings and with Corinne. And as for sleep (one of the first questions everyone has), the overnight schedule has been very manageable. We've gotten into a good routine of a feeding around 10pm for the girls, followed by putting them in bed for the night. They wake us up around 3am to eat again, and then usually around 6 or 7am to start the day. Not bad at all!

A couple of observations about the girls:

*Ellen has more hair than Sophie

*Sophie has a pinker complexion; Ellen seems to be more olive skinned

*Sophie's cheeks are getting big and chubby; Ellen's head is extremely heavy!

*Both girls will probably keep their blue eyes--they seem pretty blue and keep getting lighter

all the time

*Both girls seem to take the same amount of milk at every feeding! It's kind of funny. But Ellen

is a much slower eater. Sophie is pretty strong and steady and usually finishes before Ellen.

*Sophie is still significantly smaller. While both girls are gaining weight, it appears that they

are doing so in proportion to their size. So it doesn't look like their weights will even out.

*Sophie can still wear newborn sizes, while Ellen has moved into 0-3 mos sizes. There for a

while we had 3 sizes of diapers going in our house...then I wised up and decided Sophie can

wear Ellen's size even if it's a little big!

*Ellen is calm, cool, and collected. She can sit or lay quite contentedly for some time just

looking around. Sophie is more of a wiggler. I call her my squirmy worm! Not surprisingly,

this is how they were when I carried them, too!

*Along those lines, when we find them for the middle of the night feeding Sophie has usually

wiggled around in the crib until she is upside down or sideways from her starting point! Ellen

is usually right where we left her.

*Both girls put themselves to sleep at night! It's amazing. We've never had to spend time

settling them down or holding them at bedtime or the middle of the night. They've got it

down!

*Ellen and Sophie sleep together in the same crib for now. One's crying doesn't wake the other,

nor do hands in the face or kicks from the other. Amazing!

*Both girls like to sleep on their tummies. I put them down this way for naps sometimes (I

know...don't tell my pediatrician!) and neither like their hands to be swaddled.

Our Girls

Still n0t sure who's who? That's Ellen on the left and Sophie on the right.

What a difference two and a half years makes! Hard to believe Little C was ever this small! Though the quality of this photo isn't great (I couldn't find our camera so I used my phone), you get the idea. Whoa! Corinne is a little girl now. She was sweet enough to put her arm around her baby sisters, or something like that.

Uncle Sam

There is a house at the top of our street that decorates for every holiday--I mean every single one--even Memorial Day. And over the weekend Corinne and I discovered Uncle Sam guarding this neighbor's gated yard. I took the opportunity to introduce Corinne to Uncle Sam and she was enamored with him, flag and all. But today when Little C returned from her walk with Brett's mom she informed me that "Sam" was not outside. It's always a bummer for Corinne when these neighbors take down their decorations. She still talks about the black cat that went away after Halloween and the turkey that is no more (from Thanksgiving). But perhaps Uncle Sam will come out again for the 4th of July?

Weekend of Fun

We had a fun filled weekend with the Schatz side of the family! Brett's brothers and their families were in town for Memorial Day, which meant Corinne got lots of time with her cousins (all of whom live out of town). She loved it and was completely exhausted every night. It also meant that Ellen and Sophie 1) went to Grandma and Grandpa Schatz's house for the first time and 2) made their debut with their aunts, uncles and cousins. Since there isn't a Schatz family vacation in Hilton Head this summer, we squeezed in as much fun as possible into a few short days and had a blast! So here we all are... And yes, that is a couch full of grandaughters you see!

Where's Shortcake?

The other day we found Strawberry Shortcake sitting innocently on Ellen's lap in her car seat. Hmm. Who put her there? Her big sister, Corinne, of course! Little C was so generous to share her beloved Shortcake. And a few minutes later Corinne's Cinderella doll was found sitting on Sophie's lap. Sweet Corinne--we're so glad she's into sharing!

Double Duty

Yes, folks, it can be done! I have perfected feeding both girls a bottle simultaneously in the last few days. I figured I might as well get comfortable with it now because soon I will inevitably need to make this a daily occurence. Things I've learned: Ellen is heavier, so she gets the bouncy seat. Little Sophie can lay on the pillow...she's too small for a bouncy seat or a boppy right now. Also, using bibs instead of burp cloths are key--because they catch the drips so I don't have to (because I can't...unless I grow another hand or two). I've also learned that this method takes longer because I need to stop and change diapers as well as burp both girls. And, it's difficult (read: almost impossible) to keep the girls awake for the full feeding if they decide to doze. (Again, not enough hands.) But I'm so encouraged just knowing that I can accomplish a feeding for both girls if I need to. So we're figuring things out little by little. Though perhaps the hardest part is what to do with Corinne during this process...so far I've resorted to letting her watch a video. She gets one video (maximum) per day. I hope my blog readers don't think less of me now.

Fraternal* Twins

Sophie (L) Ellen (R) Sophie (L) Ellen (R)

The #1 question we've been asked about the twins is "Are they identical or fraternal?" Well, we don't officially know for sure*. The test to determine this is not done routinely, contrary to what most people assume. It is only done if there is a medical issue with one twin, otherwise it is an expensive out of pocket test that is deemed mostly unnecessary by the medical profession. But, we'll give you our best guess: Ellen and Sophie are fraternal twins! They look nothing alike in our opinion--Ellen looks like Corinne and Brett. Sophie looks like me. You would never confuse them by their looks, and definitely wouldn't due to their differing sizes. Sophie is our peanut, and Ellen...well, she's our pumpkin! However, we realize that there have not been a lot of pictures posted of them on the blog and many of you still don't know who's who. So here are some photos of the girls for you to practice your identification skills. Each is labelled with names, and hopefully you'll be an expert at telling them apart very soon! (And now I'm realizing that they are on the same side of the pac-n-play for each picture...it isn't always that way!)

Sophie (L) Ellen (R)

Just the 3 of us

The last two Saturdays Brett and I have made it a point to take Corinne on a "date" as just the three of us, and we are so thankful for the extra hands from family to make that happen. We've wanted to give her some time out of the house with just mommy and daddy--no baby sisters allowed--and it's been terrific. The first Saturday home from the hospital we took her to the zoo to see Curious George --except we didn't end up seeing him afterall. (And yes, I am probably crazy for doing that since I had a c-section the week before. But we all make decisions based on our priorities, right? And this was a priority to me, so it was worth the pain.) And the second Saturday we took Corinne to the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory, something that has actually turned into a tradition with her. After the Butterfly Show we went to Mt. Adams for lunch and had a great time playing with the money in my wallet while we waited for the restaurant to open! Both Saturdays we had gorgeous weather and special time with our Little C. She is a treasure! We pray that she feels treasured by us.

At the Zoo

Corinne rode the merry-go-round twice in a row, which goes "up and down and round and round" in her words...and if she tells you in person, you'll get the arm movements that go with that phrase! We also rode the train, of course. These were consolations since we missed out on Curious George.

Super Girl

That's our girl, Little C! Who is actually Big C now that we have babies to compare her to:) It's amazing how huge she looks to us now. She is one sweet girl, though, that is for sure. We've had a week of rain, rain and more rain here and yet Corinne still managed to make it to the park every day in between raindrops. She's been one very busy girl! And despite being super tired she has found a new wake-up time of 6:45am (way earlier than ever before in her young life)...and unfortunately coinciding most days with her sisters getting up and taking their first bottle of the day. Plus, every day we've had a grandma (or two) plus Aunt Marcey, and people dropping off dinner and visiting some of those days, as well. Yep, Corinne has been in the thick of all the activity. But she's taken it all in stride. She's our super girl!

multi-tasking

A pre-requisite to having kids--and definitely for having twins--is the art of multi-tasking! Well, the meaning of that has been taken to a whole new level in our house of late. Here are a few pictures to show you what we mean. Reading, bottle feeding, watching a video, holding a baby, cuddling with Corinne...it can all be done in combination we've learned.