Spring Has Sprung! -3/22/14

The girls donned some colorful outfits for their 11 month pictures in honor of spring.  The weather here, quite literally, continues to be either snow or 70 degrees, alternating almost daily.  Soon enough it should be consistently nice enough to go for more walks!

Speaking of walking, we're not quite there but Brooklyn is just about standing up on her own and shouldn't be far away from walking.  She regularly gets to the second step on the stairway and Madison is quite good at the same despite not being able to even crawl yet.  As stated before, not crawling is not synonymous with immobile as she gets around very well by scooting, stretching, and pushing. 

Madison wasn't able to wear her "11 month" sticker as she continued her 10 month trend of trying to eat it. 

Following doctor's orders, we had avoided swimming a lot longer than we would have liked too but we finally did this week.  Considering how exciting bath time is, we knew swimming would be a hit...and it was!  Their friend in Atlanta was nice enough to send swimsuits for them to use. 

As usual, Madison took just a little longer to warm up to the idea but ended up loving it.  Both girls took a shot at some dunking too and never complained.  Madison even started to get the hang of closing her eyes and holding her breath, at least it seemed like it.  :)

Story time continues to be a hit, and often takes place before bed or naps.  Mommy's graduate-level education in literacy reflects in the girls unlimited supply of books.  A long-time favorite is the "Smile" book which has no more than about a dozen words with pictures of smiling babies.  It can turn this cranky babies into amazingly happy ones in a heartbeat.

Meals continue to take up about half the day, which is no problem if you ask the girls.  They will eat anything!  Dad might have to find another job to keep Brooklyn fed.  

In this picture, Madison was excited to recently try on some clothing from when Mommy was a baby.  I think this was a "selfie."

The non-toys are still at least as exciting as the real toys.  As long as dad is driving, cardboard boxes definitely fall into this category.  Any vehicle to cruise around in is fine by them.  They especially love the pink shopping carts the Gigi bought.  Shopping cart drag-racing is a regular occurrence when Dad gets home from work. 

On the move! -03/04/14

The weather here has been 60 degrees or 16 degrees lately but when it's nice the girls head right back to the park.  As has been seen before, Brooklyn particularly likes taking flight while Madison patiently awaits the next activity.  

Brooklyn is on the move!!  After a solid 4 weeks of getting onto "all fours" and practicing many yoga-like moves, she has finally put it all together and cruises the house.  What began as a frog-like flop is now a coordinated and speedy crawl.  Immediately she also began transitioning from sitting to stomach, and then back again.  She also appears to be very close to trying to pull herself up.  The cribs have now been lowered a notch as a result!

Meanwhile, Madison is practicing life as a baby princess, day-dreaming about her prince and practicing her "princess wave." 

Even though Madison isn't crawling just yet, she often has Mom and Dad wondering how she got from A to B when they turn their backs.  She also transitions from sitting-to-stomach but not yet back again.  She continues to roll her way across a room to get something she wants or will just stretch an amazing distance to reach for something that hardly appears to actually be within reach. 

Why crawl when Dad can push you 5x faster in a pink shopping cart though?  I guess we'll continue to ride in the cart until we figure out how to push it. 

Babies at a bar?....yup.  Mom and Dad need an occasional break too so during a nice 3-week long stretch of time off that Dad had recently, they made a few outings including scoping out the newest neighborhood brewery.  The girls were very easy-going but repeatedly yelled "Hey, we're babies at a bar!" many times in search of attention.  Fortunately, no one seemed to mind.

Fun and games - 2/09/14

The girls are thrilled, Mommy called her boss and told him she's not coming back to work next year either!  This means the three girls can keep playing all throughout the days.  The time has come though where the family room floor is less exciting than it once was so Mommy has to get creative to keep things interesting.

If Mommy doesn't act fast enough, the girls take matters into their own hands.  While neither are formally crawling yet, they have no problem traversing an entire room in a minute or so when Mom and Dad's backs are turned.  Each has their own preferred mode of transportation...Brooklyn spins in circles or pushes herself backwards, and Madison rolls and rolls until she reaches her destination.  

(Madison on left, Brooklyn on right)

This was the first combined bath time.  In fact, the pink tub here has since been retired and replaced with a laundry basket that accommodates two babies much more efficiently.  Bathtime is still a household favorite.  Just stepping into the bathroom is a cause of great excitement. 

As of Feb 7th, ten months had passed since the girls first rolled into the NICU with a dozen tubes and wires attached.  While oxygen is still a fact of life around here for nap and bedtime, we try to spend most of the day detached. 

Madison is happy to show off a favorite item of hers, Mr. Frog.  Mr. Frog typically never gets to leave the crib so this is an exciting moment picture during the "10 month" photo shoot.

It's been a long-time coming but Madison has finally figured out how to hold her own bottle.  Boy how the little things make a difference by freeing up extra hands for Mom and Dad. 

Gigi (Lindsay's mom) has spent plenty of time watching the girls lately and, admittedly, didn't now what to do when both girls crashed at the same time.  Instant respect for mom and all her hard work and multi-tasking at moments like this!

Last week during extremely cold conditions here in Colorado, our furnace couldn't keep up.  In the 2 days it took to get a new one installed, we spent plenty of time at Gigi and Grandpa's house warming up.  While the girls always adapt well to different environments, they weren't feeling especially well at that time, and Brooklyn was quite convincing this time that she'd feel better if Mom and Dad allowed her to sleep with them for just a few hours. 

Super Bowl Bound! 1/27/14

Our blog first...a video! Our girls have their own language now as you can see and hear below...

It's hard to tell it's January with the 60 degree weather we've had.  Before we plopped down with friends for the AFC Championship game we went for a stroll through the neighborhood with our little Broncos Cheerleaders.

In between the nice weather, the house still needs to be kept up so the girls pitch in and help with laundry among other tasks. 

After the chores are done, it's back to playing.  We've spent many days walking through the park, but only recently did the girls stop to enjoy the playground.  Madison wasn't quite sure the purpose of such a strange device but Brooklyn was scheming to go higher and faster from the second she got in.  

All this work and play makes for some hungry babies!  They thoroughly enjoy hanging at the table for meals and trying the wide variety of pureed foods that mom prepares.  Of the many foods they've sampled, strangely hummus has been the only item drawing a classic baby eating reaction.  Mom and Dad have learned to hide the puffs (an easily dissolving cereal kind of food) and "Mum Mums" (a rice biscuit) until the main course is nearly complete. 

The girls are saving their energy now for the big game this weekend.  Until then....GO BRONCOS!!

New Year Resolutions & 9 Months- 1/08/14

The holidays have come and gone but not without some lasting memories.  Santa made his first visit to the Abrams twins and, after some close evaluation, was not deemed a serious threat by the girls.  Honestly, they seemed to enjoy him.

Naturally, the gifts were a hit, but the wrapping paper may have been the bigger attraction.  It must taste delicious. 

Brooklyn caught a tummy bug on Christmas eve and we only began to realize what a champ she had been after ALL of us, friends and family, caught the same thing and felt AWFUL!  You almost wouldn't have known it from her!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  The girls rang in the new year in style (on London time) before heading up for their usual 12 hour snooze.  It was a great cap to a wild year.  One that introduced the girls to the world, albeit with nearly 1 in 3 days spent in a doctor's office or hospital over the entire year!  The down times pale in comparison to all that we were blessed with this year.

BUT....The girls still came up with some new year resolutions:

Madison:

"I resolve to ditch my oxygen for good, acquire a taste for formula (or persevere over my soy and dairy allergies instead), GAIN weight, skip my 11pm feeding, stop stealing pacifiers from my sister, watch where I roll so that I don't get stuck against furniture, speak instead of screech, and wash my feet before feeding them to Brooklyn."

Brooklyn:

"I resolve to ditch my oxygen for good as well, to brush all 7 of my new teeth, learn to flip BACK onto my back once I rollover so that I don't try to sleep on my face, add "dada" to my existing sounds of "mama" and "baba," to try and let my sister get a word in once and a while, to crawl forwards rather than just spin around or push myself backwards, and to play with the toys in front of me instead of the ones already in my sister's mouth or hands." 

Nine months have passed so the girls suited up as usual and lined up for their mugshots against a beautiful growth chart they received as a gift from family.

Madison took a shot at standing on her own against the wall and did great...

...Brooklyn was less excited about this exercise. 

Again, Happy New Year to all!!

8 months later, Little Turkeys and Christmas cheer - 12/24

The girls are more than eight months old now and their days wrapped in tubes and cables in an incubator are a distant memory!  The holidays are in full swing and the girls have continued to polish up their social skills through the many festivities.  

(Madison on left, Brooklyn on right)

(Madison)

(Thanksgiving family photo)

Mommy enjoys keeping a fresh new wardrobe on hand for our growing girls.  These are just a few of the many Christmas outfits they will be wearing. 

(Brooklyn)

(Brooklyn on left, Madison on right)

(Storytime by the tree)

(Madison doing her part to decorate the tree)

  

(Madison)

 The girls are far more aware of each others presence and interact quite a bit.  Sometimes that interaction means, "borrowing" toys from one another.  No fist fights have broken out thanks to the abundance of toy options but we expect future battles to brew over this topic.

After the first few months of trial and error with her diet, Mom figured out how to make Madison as happy as her sister by eliminating soy and dairy.  It's pretty hard to catch them on a bad day.  Despite the continued oxygen, everyone can pretty much be considered healthy.  The oxygen now stays on pretty much at night and during naps only. 

A wide variety of organic fruits and vegetables are prepared daily at the Abrams house.  Madison anxiously awaits her next meal below.  No one is going hungry as Brooklyn now weighs 14 1/2 lbs and Madi weighs about 12 1/2 lbs. 

Brooklyn has emerged as the family adrenaline junkie.  She is not very content staying in one spot for very long.  She can rapidly kick her legs while on her stomach, but since she hasn't quite figured out how to gain traction while doing this, she depends on others to scratch the adrenaline itch.  You can find her frequently "flying" throughout the house with a giant smile on her face.  Madison happily observes from a more grounded position. 

In fact, Madison has hobbies of her own.  She loves books and music, so it's no coincidence that she has such a big grin while hanging in her "rockstar" outfit. 

Papa J (Dad's dad) visited just before Thanksgiving and showed "Brookie" and "Madi" their first airplane museum.  Again, Brooklyn illustrates her desire to fly while Madison shows a more serious side. 

Apparently skydiving isn't Madison's thing either. 

Merry Christmas everyone!!