Milestones

Zoey and Stella are both 1 month old today.  Its so crazy.  They’ve been home for 2 1/2 weeks now and are noticeably bigger, chubbier and becoming more alert.  Zoey is hovering around 6 lbs. and gained almost a pound in a week!  Stella is gaining a little slower and is about 5.5 lbs.  They are also sleeping together nicely and have started to look at each other which is so cool.  Sometimes they even try to nurse on each others hands or foreheads!   We have had 5 nights in a row now where they have fed 2 times at night and gone pretty much right back to sleep.  I think we might have a system that works down!  I am hoping to post some new pictures of them on flickr soon.

Not only is it easy to tell them apart, their personalities are also emerging different.  Stella definitely likes to be held more and likes to look around a lot.  She is also generally more patient when waiting to be fed, but is not as good at eating.  Zoey really only demands your attention when she’s hungry, but she loves her pacifier big time.  Zoey sleeps soundly and Stella does a lot of moving and noise-making while sleeping.  So far, they are very different, which is what I expected.  Its so inevitable, but so hard not to compare them.  This will be life for them right?  We are trying so hard to get to know them individually and not do the “dress them alike” constantly routine.  Its incredible to think of how life would be different for them if they were simply born at different times instead of how it happened, by luck, to be created at the same time, albeit from different DNA. Read the rest of this entry »

The twins have arrived!

Zoey resting in the NICU

Stella exhausted after a long day

Zoey Isabelle Dettbarn arrived at 3:23pm today, weighing 4lbs 13oz. Stella Elizabeth Dettbarn arrived 3:35pm, weighing 4lbs 11oz. Amazingly exciting, happy and terrifying all at once. I’ll fill in more detail later, since it is kind of late and I am beat… but it was a long day. If you are interested in the story in 140 character increments, check out my Twitter page for the updates!

More coming soon. The real adventure begins now!

Thanks for all the well wishes and notes. We really appreciate the thoughts and support from all of our friends and family. It really means a lot to both of us!

(And Melisa is resting and doing well. I’m sure she’ll sleep good tonight!)

Hey, how’s Lucy doing?  Lots of people have been asking so I thought I would update you on her latest accomplishments (which as her parents of course simply amaze us!)

• Sniffing the toes on pictures of baby feet in books just like Daddy does after her bath!  She is also building talent in the area of lifting her toes to your nose so you can sniff them.  I don’t know how many other kids have this, but our kid’s toes actually smell bad!
• Eating all kinds of foods now that are not related to the general “noodle” category with her newly mastered pincher grasp.  Yay- no baby food!
• We knew she already had many dance moves up her sleeves usually arranged in random 2 second stints and repeated, but now she has added a spin around.  She loves spinning around in a circle while adding various dance moves!
• Putting feet on the table while eating and trying to grab food with her toes.  That one is hard to keep a straight face for when saying no.
• Screaming in delight when Daddy opens the cabinet to get snacks for her causing Daddy to break things because of being startled.
• Dramatically banging her body against baby gates that block her from going outside when the doors are open.  That kid just can’t get enough fresh air.
• Learning to run in random directions and generally delighting in her own independence (which is so wonderful to watch).  She is also remembering things she sees one time and doing them again- which is amazing.  Sponge!

I could go on and on…..what a ham!

How great is this! One of our faves from the North, Feist does Sesame Street!

Very exciting- our little picky eater ate a whole bunch of spaghetti elbows tonight!  Whoo hoo!  Progress!  Maybe she’ll give up her goldfish addiction a little and start to eat other kinds of “real” food.  Imagine.. veggies!

In other news, today was the 2nd non stress test and bio physical profile on the twins at the hospital.  Things look fine and the baby on my right side, who will most likely be born first- “Baby A”, is 3lbs. and 11 oz. and the baby on my left, “baby B”, is 3 lbs., 13 oz.  They are pushing 4 lbs.!  That’s over 7 lbs. of baby.  They are already bigger together than Lucy was at 5 lbs. and 8 oz.  31 weeks- 32 here I come!  Also, the Dr. said after 34 weeks, if I go into labor, they won’t stop me, but they won’t probably let me go past 38 weeks or around Aug. 9th.

If you are close to us and have spent time with Lucy, you know that she is a constant talker (she is my child after all!).  The Dr. calls her a little ahead in language (now if she could just change her own diaper!).  She started with Da-da, then Ma-ma, then cat (loves the cat), now up, dog, ball, that (constantly asking “whats that?” and pointing) and the list is growing.  She is also becoming more and more expressive, like screeching when she’s excited or to announce her presence when one of us don’t notice her behind us, inflecting her voice when she points like she is asking a question and can follow some simple commands.  She also laughs at stuff we do and she does.  Its so fun and her personality is starting to come out a lot more day by day.  She seems to have a lot to say about everything and when she is not talking she is usually crawling, climbing, taking things apart, opening things and generally being super busy all the time (often while talking at the same time!).  Even when I come in to get her in the morning in the crib, she is walking around and around her crib waving around her bear blanket.  The kid never stops!

So, I was doing some research on the interweb about language development and its interesting how young people develop their language (especially as a teacher).  By 12 months, most kids use about 1-5 words and by 18 months, this grows to about 7-20.  They also start using inflection by about 18 months too and will show emotion with body language.  Lucy now lays on the floor face down when she is tired- a little subtle huh?  They will also start using consonant sounds and lead to a spurt in vocabulary around 18 months.  By 19 months, they can understand up to 200 words and will pick up 10+ words a day!  Some can add a new word every 90 minutes!  Yikes!  They also start to combine words in sentences by the end of the second year and will express needs, wants, likes/dislikes and emotion.  Wow, that’s fast and simply amazing.  Its incredible to imagine how things will change when she can tell us what she wants and not.  Now its just trial and error!

Any stories about early language that you’d like to share?