Little Miss Allergy & Her scratch Proof Suit

Well it's official Cassidy has allergies. She was tested for food allergies today and the doctor discovered she was allergic to cow's milk, eggs, & nuts (peanut & tree nuts). Our little scratcher has a reason to itch! Until everything gets worked out of her system and her eczema clears up I have devised a plan to try and keep her from scarring herself any further. Little houdini figured out how to take her mits off her hands, undo the buttons on the legs of her sleeper and scratch, scratch, scratch. Her whole body is covered in scratches and the scabs just make her itch more! To try and outsmart my five month old I found a sleeper (100% organic cotton of course) that zips all the way up the front and then I stitched the mits to the ends of the hand holes. Needless to say she is quite upset at me and I am very proud of my handiwork. Hopefully she'll get through this without any permanent scars!

Mema & Papa withdrawals

When the twins were born I suddenly became a stay at home mother lacking in pretty much every domestic skill imaginable-I couldn't cook (this is still a work in progress), I wasn't exactly a cleaner, and while I had experience with children I certainly never had a child full time let alone two to raise. To say the least I felt slightly unqualified and extremely unprepared for my latest and most important "career".

My mother in law happens to be a domestic goddess and Steve and Payton are used to having things done the way that Mema does them. Judy quickly became (and still is) my go to expert for everything domestic. Payton asked me the other day what I was going to do when Mema and Papa were out of town. "What do you mean," I asked. "Well who is going to answer all of your questions?" he said. I almost started to cry.

Judy must be a saint. I call her at least a few times a day.........why won't my rolls rise?(apparently they need to be covered), what kind of peas do you use? (canned, the boys won't eat the frozen ones). How do you cook a roast? (I've yet to make a successful roast although I keep trying) and the list of mundane questions goes on and on. She never gets annoyed with me and always answers my questions without making me feel like an idiot (I mean who doesn't know that yeast likes to be warm!). Needless to say it's going to be a challenge to survive the next few months without my lifeline.

Today we were officially out of food.........no milk, no lunch meat, nothing edible that would constitute a meal. Every Monday since the twins were born they have gone to Mema and Papa's while I go to the grocery store and run errands. This was our first Monday with Mema and Papa gone, what was I going to do? Lucky for me Payton is a lifesaver. He pushed the twins around the store in the stroller as I went around with the cart and loaded up on food.
It is so special to see the interaction between the twins. They seem to find each other's hands wherever they are. This is the first picture of them both sitting!
Once again Patrick is helping Payton with his homework. He's going to ace the fourth grade!
Patrick ate an entire container of carrots tonight! This was his first big meal. So far he has made distasteful faces when trying bananas, pears, peas, applesauce, and well everything else.

My Ear hurts!

Cassidy has been extremely fussy lately. Considering she has been battling a case of extremely bad baby eczema we tend to cut her a little more slack in the crying department. Since the end of November she has been to the pediatrician twice, a dermatologist a few times, and this month we have been lucky enough to add allergist to our list of doctors. Unfortunately the cause of the breakout is still unknown and while we have added Benadryl and occasionally Zyrtec to our bedtime ritual Cassidy still claws at any part of her body she can reach. She has socks that cover her hands nearly all the time and has become quite adept at taking them off. It isn't unusual for me to find her in the morning smiling in her crib with one sock off her chubby hand and scratches all over her peach fuzzed head and face. This afternoon was different. She had been especially fussy all day yesterday, she was fussy all morning, and she woke up from her afternoon nap screaming with scratches all over her face and blood coming out of her ear. Well that certainly scared me into action and I immediately rushed her to the doctor where I was informed that my poor baby girls eardrum had ruptured! My daughter had been trying to tell me for days that she was in pain and I just chalked it up to irritating skin. What kind of mother am I? So now in addition to her buffet of prescription creams and ointments we get to add antibiotics and ear drops to her daily routine. Hopefully Cassidy will be feeling better soon and in the mean time she's getting picked up and cuddled at the littlest peep.

Just a few pictures...

I never knew eating was so difficult, Patrick tries to eat but he hasn't quite mastered the art. Somewhere I heard it takes fifteen tries to convince a baby to eat.........I'm starting to wonder if this pertains to each food. Rice, bananas, and pears don't seem to be favorites yet; hopefully one day soon Patrick will discover that there is food other than milk.

Payton and Patrick have a special bond. When they are both home they are usually together. I'm hoping Payton's spelling skills will rub off on his two younger siblings.

The babies still fit in their swing together! Although it doesn't move with their combined weight...........

We're 5 Months Old!!!!!

How quickly time has flown by. The twins are officially five months old! They have grown quite a bit in the past few months.........Patrick has gone from 5lbs 9oz to approximately 16lbs and Cassidy has gone from 5lbs 13oz to 13lbs 8oz. It is amazing to think that Patrick was ever smaller than his sister! Sitting is something that we are still working on and Patrick has the upper hand so far sitting for up to two minutes at a time. Cassidy is still more interested in arching her back and is better at attempting to roll over. Neither of them has quite figured out how to roll over but they try! I have high hopes that in the coming months they will become quite efficient at both............then again do I really want to encourage the precursors to mobilization?

New Years Resolutions 2008

The twins will be five months old on the 11th and with the best of intentions I have yet to start their baby book.......in all actuality it technically doesn't exist. And lets face it, when am I ever going to have time to buy the books let alone fill them out! Also Steve's parents, affectionately called Mema and Papa, will be leaving for the next three months and will miss out on quite a few firsts for the babies as well as Payton's birthday and the rest of his hockey season. So in creating this blog I'm hoping to record the events that will eventually go into the infamous baby book as well as keep Mema and Papa in the loop on what their grandkids are up to.