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.