46 Weeks! Guest blog by Aunt Becky!

This week's blog is guest written by my sister, Becky! Thank you Aunt Becky!! :) xoxox

Hello!

Let me introduce myself! My name is Becky and I have the incredible privilege to be an Aunt to Alex and Josie. Earlier this week Roxanne asked if I would like to write a guest blog at the same time as I happened to be uploading pictures from this past year from my phone onto my computer. As I watched different photos import, I couldn't help but realize how special it has been to get to see the these little girls become their own individual selves week by week. I guess it never really crossed my mind that they would be born with some of their personality, but that they would also grow into some other facets of it. And I think that has been the most interesting part for me!

 I usually stop by at least once, if not a few times a week, to say hello, get a few cuddles, help with a bottle or two, and get in some play time. While who they really become as they grow older remains to be seen (and frankly, all our personalities are ever evolving, aren't they?) there are a few things I'd love to share about these girls:

Josie Jo is a ball of energy that needs to be on the GO! Since the moment she opened her big blue eyes it seemed to me that she had somewhere else to be. She's constantly looking out the window, and rushes to the door when people walk in. It's as if she needs to know where you've been and if you can take her there! She may be an adventurer at heart! She's also not shy (a blessing and a curse, maybe?) and endeared herself quickly to my Boyfriend Tom recently when she crawled up to him and demanded that he walk her around the room.

Alex (Lexie Loo) is a little more reserved than Josie, but no less curious. She is definitely a little more shy, but once she's comfortable, playtime with her is a wonderfully personal one-on-one experience. I love how she loves to look at and study objects you share with her, and how she reaches out to touch the faces close by (this is where she endeared herself to Tom by touching his beard.) There's something so deep in her eyes when she's studying your face. Helping her learn to clap is one of my fondest memories of these past few months, and watching her light up when you sing "if you're happy and you know it" is just heartwarming.

Editor's note: the talent was NOT in the mood this morning!

I'm not at all sure if these little personality traits are going to stick with them as they mature and grow, but I look forward to seeing who they become, and reflecting back to this special time when I got to share in so much of their lives!

Gymboree Contest!

Feel free to click on this link to enter Alex and Josie to win $750 in stuff from Gymboree!

http://virl.io/vRxQDQp

Twins and Cranial Orthosis

So the helmets are officially on! It has been a gradual transition the last few days. Today the girls have 8 hours on and 1 hour off until bed time, then they officially go to 23 hours per day.

I've been reading a lot about this now that it is our reality, and especially when things you never would have thought about become an issue, like - how do we put clothes on the girls now?? (answer: onesies with buttons at the neck and button up shirts).

I have also learned that this is incredibly more common with twins, as their movement in the womb is limited much earlier on than a single baby. Alexandra was tucked into my pelvis for the last few months and I am sure that contributed to this issue as hers was noticeable at birth. I've also learned that this issue is more common in "good sleepers" and yes our girls have been sleeping 12 hours a night since they were about 14 weeks old, and LOVE naps. (YES we know we are BLESSED!) We are treating brachycephaly, not the more common plagiocephaly, which is why the helmets have a small opening at the top, unlike some of the pagiocephaly helmets that have a large top opening.

Getting scanned!

They looked like little dolls with the socks on their heads!

So how are they doing? The girls seem totally unphased. These girls blow my mind over and over again with how awesome they are. I really need to start giving them way more credit. Josie immediately figured out that she could hit her head against the wall (sigh) and Alex is clacking her toys on the side of it to make a good noise.  They really dislike the helmet going on and off (and so do I, its so stiff and the narrow part down by the neck is really hard to pull over their little faces and ears comfortably). They slept with the helmets on last night and I didn't hear a peep from them. We've got this, mom!

And how are mom and dad doing? I was very very upset about the helmet idea but now that its happening, I am dealing with it in my usual positive can-do way. I've read a lot about the helmets and the super success stories where parents were proactive and kept the helmets on for the full 23 hours per day. Apparently too many breaks is very common and can lead to longer wearing or no results, so we will be avoiding falling into a habit of taking them off.

I am a bit sad to cuddle the girls and feel the helmet in the way, and not be able to shower them in kisses while I bottle feed them. Even worse, I've been in the way of some head butting that has been less than pleasant.

And the public? I thought the helmets would deter people from talking to us, but quite the opposite. The other day at the mall we got all of the typical "are they twins" questions (one lady asked me how far apart in age they are - what the heck lol lol) AND a ton of "what are the helmets for" questions. We got a lot of "AWWW SO CUTE!s" so that's good!

And do you have any cute pictures and videos of them in their helmets? Yup!! Here are a few pictures and videos!

Right after we put the helmet on
I think she knows she is even more invincible now.

Alex took a few minutes but then got used to hers, too.

I decided to throw a bow on there.
We have since added some stickers to both of their helmets.

Hanging out at the mall. Special guest: bug!!

I totally didn't realize that we were matching helmets and play toys to strollers.

'Sup

Yay!! :)

Invincible and happy.

Dinner time with helmets on.

45 weeks - time for a countdown?

7 weeks until the girls turn 1. James and I were talking about this last night, and yes it very much does feel like we've had two babies for almost a year now. Time is measured by our sore backs and shoulders and exhaustion. I'm as excited to climb into bed at 10 pm as Alex is to snuggle with her "guy" at nap and bedtime.

Alex's "lovey" gifted by my uncle Andre and aunt Diane

Their birthday isn't heavily looming over us, I feel like I came to terms with not having babies anymore weeks ago. Babies don't say hi while they wave at you, run around your kitchen, demand to be read specific books and sung certain songs. No.  Its the fact that within the next 7 weeks Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are going to happen. 

It has been very seasonably cool for Los Angeles this year, so it should feel a lot more like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Though it does not. Not at all. Last year, these holidays snailed by so slowly as we anticipated meeting the nuggets and hoping they didn't come too early. This year the holidays seem to be coming at us like a Mack truck. 

Speaking of not having babies anymore, I am now reading the next books on raising toddlers. Oh. My. God. I don't know if these books are purposefully overly warning us that it will be bad bad super bad so that we feel like "oh this is easy!!" or if they speak the truth. If everything reported is to be believed, I might crawl into a hole until January 2018.