5 months old

The twins are five-months old today and while for some people, that seemed to go fast, for me, it has not. I do not mean that in a bad way, but it does seem to go faster for other parents/babies. The same can be said for pregnancy as well. It does not help either that I expect the kids to do things (i.e. rollover, sit-up, crawl, etc.) way ahead of a normal schedule. I guess I am just in a hurry, while people say I should enjoy them at this age. I love them as babies, but am more excited to have them sit up, grab items, and interact a lot more. I am most excited for them to walk and talk, but that won't be for some time. For now, I will just have to be along for the ride.

Speaking of that ride, Everett made another milestone yesterday, rolling over for the first time. He went from his tummy to his back about 3 or 4 times. (He must have been excited about another Packers win!) Isabel rolled over first on October 19th, so the boy was just taking his time. He is very content with achieving such milestones while both kids are so happy and calm. We hosted our Wii bowling league ten days ago and the twins got a lot of compliments about their calm demeanor. Trust me, it is not always that way, but mom and I are extremely pleased about their attitudes. Both of them are trying to rollover from back to front and they get close once in a while, but that last push of their leg is still defeating them. Everett has really developed a close bond with his puppy, Junkyard Dog, while Isabel likes to snuggle with any one of her three dolls. It is very cool!

Their first Christmas is coming soon, which means I have to stay away from Toys R Us. Anytime I enter that building, I forget about budgets or account balances. However, it will definitely be an enjoyable first Christmas with kids in the house. As you can see above, they went to meet Santa Claus over the weekend with mom. She said they were on his lap a long time, meaning their lists our quite extensive.

Happy Holidays from the Johnsen's

New Foods

Since I last wrote, the kids have flown to Atlanta, starting eating solid foods, and they continue to grow rapidly, whether in size or development.

We all flew to Atlanta to visit my sister's family and my parents on Tuesday, November 24th. Sadie and I did have seats together on the plane, but apparently you cannot have four people in two seats, because only three oxygen masks are available, so I was moved to the row behind. I sat with Everett and Mom sat with Isabel. She slept all the way, while Everett only slept about 20 minutes. Thankfully, he was just calm and relaxed the rest of the time. Flight time was only 2 hours. It went much better than we could have expected. In comparison, there was another baby in the row next to me, that cried the whole way. Nice work twins!! The flight back was similar. Once again, I sat with Everett and he slept about half the time, while Isabel slept with Mom the whole flight. The great part about the trip was having direct flights from Milwaukee to Atlanta, avoiding any connections, gate changes, etc. That was a huge help. We had a great time in Atlanta with family. Thanks to Candice for cooking great food and entertaining us for six days. We miss you all!

Over Thanksgiving break, the kids started eating solid foods. They had a doctor's appointment the day before we left, and the doctor said we could start with some solid veggies and fruits. Carrots were the first choice, followed by sweet potatoes, and now bananas. At first, they were not sure what to do, but they picked it up quickly and it is now a regular part of their day. They seem to have the process down pretty good. I was a little apprehensive to start since I thought bottle-feeding would be much easier, but feeding them solid foods and watching them learn how to do it, has been very rewarding. The twins are starting to develop a schedule of eating, playing, and sleeping, which really helps me and mom. Now, if they could just sleep all night!

They have not reached any significant milestones since last time, however, they do continue to grow in development. They both are very good at holding their heads while sitting up, watching people and following them with their eyes and head, and picking on each other (already!). They with turn 5-months old in a week and they have already learned how to irritate each other. This morning Everett was pulling on Isabel's left ear, thus making her quite upset. Usually, he is the bully, but he is also the only one that cries at certain toys when they make noise. She will learn quickly to fight back.

Isabel and Everett wish you and yours a Happy Holiday season!

4 months old

So the twins turned 4-months old on Saturday, the 14th, and there are definite times where they are two totally different people, but also times where they are the same. It is fun to watch their progress in different stages, although, I wish Everett would catch his sister in the sleep area.

We weighed the twins yesterday and Everett is 14 lbs., 2 ounces, while Isabel is 12 lbs, 6 ounces. Everett wears 3-6 month clothes, while Isabel still is in 0-3 months items. We ran out of newborn diapers or she would be wearing them too. We just put them both in Size 1 and she will have to grow into them. Everett usually sleeps a lot in the morning and then Isabel sleeps in the afternoon. That, of course, means dad only gets about a 10-minute nap on the overlap, but I've learned to adjust. The biggest difference of the two are the sleeping patterns. Each kid is getting rice with their milk each night, which helps, but Everett is still waking anywhere from 2:30am - 4am, and he's hungry. Isabel is pretty consistent with her sleeping 7-8 hours each night. It could be worse, they could both wake up!! He will catch on soon enough.

The things that they do the same are funny. They both like to suck on their fits, blankets, or stuffed toys. Sadie and I think it may be an early sign of teething, but drooling is the only other sign they have of teething. They are not refusing bottles and Isabel sleeps a lot, so we have not pursued that further. They both love to laugh a lot and smile. We are pretty lucky to have two calm, content, and laid-back babies. They continue to watch items around the room and focus on things, such as books, dad and mom's expressions, and even Molly.

All the Christmas items are displayed at the Johnsen's. Yesterday, I finished putting up the Packers Christmas tree downstairs and the outside garland while the twins played together. Next up is their first Thanksgiving and plane ride. We are spending Thanksgiving with my sister's family, Candice, her husband Marc, and their two kids, Jack and Addison. They live in Atlanta, so we are flying out of Milwaukee on Tuesday, directly to Atlanta, and returning Sunday. We are excited to see them again, as well as Nana and Papa. They are arriving Wednesday for lots of snuggle time and hopefully, midnight feedings help!! I hope the twins do well on the flight as it will help having direct flights (i.e. no switching planes, delays, etc.). We are really looking forward to some warmer weather, great company, and good food. Maybe the twins even sneak a piece of turkey.....

She rolls over

It is almost noon on Wednesday and while the twins did not sleep through the night, again, I was able to get a short snooze this morning from about 8:30am to 9:45am. Since I woke, I bathed and fed Isabel, vacuumed, took out the garbages, and ate a small breakfast. Everett has been tired and sleeping since about 9am and Isabel has been in and out of sleep. In fact, I am feeding her right now.

Isabel must have read my Monday blog about her and her brother not doing anything big in the last two weeks because she rolled over again yesterday, and this time I caught it on camera. You can see this video above. Not much else except smiles, giggles, and dirty diapers but I wanted get out the rolling over video. Enjoy.

Mom works 8am-4pm today and tomorrow and then it's a three-day weekend after that. I will get a break Thursday night to go play poker and then Sadie and I are going out with friends Saturday night. Our neighbor girls, Lily and Ruby, along with their mom, Joann, love to watch the twins, and will do so this weekend. We are very lucky to have them next door.

Happy Kids

It has been 12 days since my last posting, but don't worry, the kids have not grown up and left the house just yet. In fact, there have been few big moments for them since last time. They have slept through the night a couple of times, including last night, but are still waking up once around 3am or 4am. Isabel is much better at sleeping, but when Everett wakes in the middle of the night, he usually wakes his sister. They do sleep in separate cribs, but are only about 3-4 feet apart. It is good timing from myself or Sadie to get him out of the room before he wakes her. We even brought the bassinet back to our room in case we need to move him there to keep him from waking her and a few times, he has even slept with us. We would let him get himself back to sleep if he was alone, but most times, he makes enough noise to wake himself and Isabel, so we still get him up, even if only to move him to our room or settle him down with a small snack.

Our trip to Iowa went very well. We left here on Wednesday night around 9:15pm and drove to Platteville, Wisconsin for the night. We finally arrived in Des Moines on Thursday about 1:30pm and stayed until Sunday morning. I have been told that the kids were well behaved and slept pretty good. I say this because I think I only fed one baby one time the whole vacation. Uncle Dave and Auntie Jessie took care of them, along with Grandpa and Grandma James, who took the nighttime shifts for us. Three straight nights that Sadie and I were able to sleep was truly heaven! We had a good trip, which included games at home, the casino, and good food.

The only real new achievements for the kids is Everett is starting to smile a lot more and Isabel is making lots of laughing sounds. They are both really happy babies that never cry unless they really want something (i.e. food, tired, dad let Isabel face plant into the exersaucer that they are too small for yet...oops). Isabel seems to constantly have a smile on her face.

Halloween was fairly quiet at the Johnsen's. Mom had bought the twins their outfits a while back (two peas in a pod) but they outgrew them, so they just wore Halloween shirts. It was cool and windy here and we had a small amount of trick-or-treaters. Our neighbors, the Kaster's, brought over their 9-month old, Sully, to show off his costume and his advanced skills in standing and crawling. He will be walking in no time.

This week and the next three weeks are kind of calm. We have a babysitter for Saturday night to go out with friends and we are going to the Packers-Cowboys game on 11/15, but our big plan is flying to Atlanta with the twins for Thanksgiving. We are really looking forward to the trip to see my sister, Candice, and her family, along with my parents. Should be another nice vacation of good food, warmer weather, and yes...sleep.

Packing for Vacation

Last time I wrote that the twins had both slept through the night on Sunday and the news is not as good today. The last two nights they have been awake for a small feeding around 4am. I did not think it would be sleeping through the night every night, but hopefully we can get back on track for that.
Other things have happened however since Monday morning. On Monday, I was playing with Isabel on the floor, giving her some much needed tummy time and when I left the room to get some books for us, I returned to a surprise. She was on her back!! I could not believe she had rolled over...and I missed it. Just to be certain the dog didn't push her over, I put her on her tummy again and grabbed the camera. Sure enough, she rolled right onto her back and of course, I did not have the camera ready. Once I was finally ready with the camera, she has decided not to do it again...for two days. Sadie says I have no proof, therefore, is not sure of the validity of the story, but trust me, she did it! Everett still has not done it as he is pretty relaxed most of the time, just hanging out.
The other big news is that Everett has eaten some rice cereal. He has been eating large amounts of formula or breast milk, so we decided to get him started on rice cereal. Yesterday, mom made him a small amount to see if he knew what to do, and he does. She said he slowly figured out how to work it back into his mouth. I missed this milestone as I was with my 7th grade football team, preparing for our last game. We will continue to give him some cereal and I'm sure Isabel won't be far behind. The competition starts at an early age!
Today, I turned in my football coaching binder and keys. It was my first year coaching 7th graders and for most of them, it was their first year of tackle football. It was fun to see kids progress from Day One and know that you were a part of that progression. It was not fun, however, to go 0-5. I absolutely hate losing, but at this age, it is more about teaching the kids the correct way to play and to play hard. Did I mention I don't like to lose though? The family is heading to Des Moines, Iowa tonight after Sadie gets home from work. We are going to visit Sadie's brother, David, and his family, Jessie, Lucas, and Carter. It will be about a 7 hour drive, but we are going to break it up and stay somewhere tonight, getting to Des Moines tomorrow morning. It is a day-long, two-person event to pack for two 3-month old babies. All the items that two 12-pound humans require is amazing. I may not have a report until we return, but don't worry, the kids will be in good hands all weekend with aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas. Maybe a break for mom and dad???

Long Weekend Gone Well

It is Monday morning at 8:15am and I have already had waffles and sausage for breakfast, fed Everett, and checked my fantasy football score. Yes, I am winning 79-74.
Last night was the best night the twins have slept (one is still sleeping), but I will get to that later. Friday night was pretty good as Everett and I watched baseball while Isabel slept a lot. Once again, they woke in the middle of the night for a feeding around 1:30am and both mom and I got up. Sadie went to work at 7:30am Saturday morning, starting my almost 14 hours alone with the kids. It actually went quicker than I thought. The kids did get heavy doses of college football all day, which I know they liked, but they also got lots of playtime and I read them books all day. They are continually starting to be alert and follow items, such as books, lights, and movement. Isabel is quite the laugher, while Everett is rather stingy with his grins. He is all business, just asking for food when he needs it. I loaded the kids up for one small road trip Saturday to go see mom at work and that went really well. I think they like the new, soft blankets in their carseats, that we put in for the winter. Everett slept the whole time, while Isabel was happy to see mom...and I'm pretty sure mom was happy too. The kids went to bed pretty early Saturday night, which I did not like, and woke again at 2:30am. I took care of both of them at that time to let Sadie sleep, and Everett was up for good at 6am, while Isabel slept til 8am. Better, but not good enough yet.
Sunday morning was a good start. Sadie arranged for a friend, Tammy, to watch the kids from about 11am til 4:30pm so I could watch the Packers game in peace. They were good kids for me until I dropped them off at 11. This house was so quiet during the game. I kept thinking I was hearing babies squeek, cry, moan, etc., but nothing. It was just me, Molly, and a Packers 26-0 win. It was also rather boring. Kind of makes you wonder what you did before you had kids at home.
I picked up the kids around 4:30pm and as soon as we got home, I had two very crabby and very hungry kids. The most difficult time staying home with these kids is when they are hungry at the same time. It happens more times than I would like, but you just adjust. It is very difficult to let one or two just cry while you are making bottles, but it must be done. They both ate at 5pm and then relaxed on the floor, playing with each other, waiting four more hours for mom to get home. It happened again around 8pm that both kids were hungry and I fed two at a time again. This time, we all chilled on the couch, watching more football of course until mom got home, after the meal.
Isabel needed a bath, which Sadie gave her once she got home and Everett went straight to bed about 9:30pm. Once Isabel had her bath and some snuggle time with mom, she went to bed at 10pm. Here is the big news!...she is still asleep (8:30am) and he slept until 7am. It was the best night yet for sleeping and I hope it is a sign of things to come. The trick may be that we put them to bed awake, but calm, last night. Most nights, we always snuggle them to sleep and then put them in their crib and maybe they don't like the abandonment. We will, of course, try the same routine tonight, hoping for the same result.
Last day for the babysitter while I'm at football practice as our last game is tomorrow night. Starting tomorrow, no more daily breaks for dad...except the occasional 10-minute nap.

Tuesday Morning

As some of you know, we got our first snow yesterday here in Northeast Wisconsin. It was kind of pretty to watch the huge flakes fall from the sky so slowly. I tried to show the kids, but they seemed rather disinterested. Might be the fact that they cannot see that far....not sure. Football practice was rather wet and cold for the kids and it was mildly disappointing that the snow stopped during practice. Who doesn't love to play football in the snow?
Last night, the twins slept pretty good. Everett did not wake up once from 10pm until 6am, while Isabel was awake at 2:30am and again at 6am. I purchased a new cd over the weekend that is supposed to make them sleeper longer and sounder. Guess what? It works!! It is a 60-minute cd with various sounds that we put on 'repeat' each night. Our electric bill may go up a little, but that is a small price to pay for some sleep at this point.
Isabel is napping in her glider chair and Everett is in the swing thinking about waking up, with some grunts and squawks. Isabel was just fed and is dressed for the day. It's hard dressing them in winter clothes, but it had to come sometime. Once again, I ate Lucky Charms in quiet and it seemed as if Isabel knew that. Once I was done, she was hungry and she let me know it. She also has developed an annoying habit while eating. She likes to stick both of her fists and her bib in her mouth while I am trying to get a bottle in there. Makes for a lot of fun trying to pin her arms down just to feed her. Everett on the other hand, is relaxed as can be during feedings. As long you have food ready, ALL DAY, he is okay. He seems to eat continuously, really.
Sadie is sleeping and I will get a nap once she wakes up. Football practice this afternoon again and the sun is shining this morning. Looks like a great day in Titletown.

Monday Morning

So far this week as started off pretty good. Sadie is in her fourth straight day off from work, which has allowed us to get a lot of things done around the house this weekend, before winter comes. Everett is relaxing in the new swing we purchased on Friday, while Isabel is sleeping in the original swing. My new bestfriend since staying at home as been the Fisher-Price Cradle-N-Swing, but we only had one. Since swinging is their favorite thing to do, and dad's biggest help, we got another one. Everett is in the blue swing and Isabel in the white one.

I let Sadie sleep in this morning and I took advantage of the relaxed kids. There is a third load of laundry going currently and the dishes have been cleaned. The kids are all dressed and fed, and I didn't have to shovel my food in like it was my last meal this morning. I could actually enjoy my Lucky Charms in peace. I did see a few flurries of snow while eating, which means the kids days outside are pretty numbered at this point.

Football practice this afternoon at 3pm and then another relaxing night at home with the family.

A new week

This is the first posting to my new blog. As the description of the blog says, I will be posting about being a stay-at-home dad with newborn twins. The twins, Everett and Isabel, were born July 14, 2009, thus making my last day of "work", July 13th. I did not go solo at home until September 21st, since Sadie (my wife) was off from work until then. We thought that time would allow us to get the kids into a schedule to make things easier once I was on my own. Needless to say, that did not happen.
An obvious quick recap of the past three weeks would be that some days are better than others, but I will say that each day is a blessing that I get to spend with the kids. They keep me busy with feedings, diapers, and playtime. I have also been coaching a local 7th grade middle school football team since late August in the afternoons, which gives me a nice break in the day, but that ends October 20th.
From now on, I will chronicle the daily activities and growth of Isabel and Everett, along with some photos and videos. I will also detail my day as a dad with two infants at home. I hope you enjoy the site.