First Swimming Experience

Sunday was the twins' first time swimming and here are a few pictures. Everett was first in the water and he didn't seem to mind it at first. They both really like baths, so it seemed as if they would like the pool as well, however, this water was pretty cold.

Everett sat in the pool while I held him up and his lip quivered for awhile. He was okay with things until some kid ran by and splashed cold water on him and that was the end of fun for him in the kiddy pool. After trying one more time with him, I decided he might like to float on an inter tube with me, so we did that for awhile. He was much more relaxed!

Isabel had no trouble with the pool. She did most of her swimming with mom, but I took her by the water spouts for awhile and she seemed to like splashing water around. She was in the pool for about 30-40 minutes, just hanging around. She mostly seemed indifferent about it, but wasn't bothered at all.

All in all, it was a pretty good first experience for them. They start swimming lessons at the YMCA the last week of February and I'm sure Everett hopes the water is warmer there! Enjoy the photos.

6 months and on the move

A lot has changed since the last update and with pressure from all 5 of my fans, here is a new entry.

Isabel first rolled over from front to back in October and Everett did it two months later. Isabel then rolled over from back to front on Christmas Eve and Everett only took a week longer to accomplish that, perfecting it on New Year's Eve. It has now become their favorite thing to do. Once you put them on the floor or in their crib, they immediately roll to their tummy. Isabel is now rolling across rooms, while Everett just stays in one spot. He always has been more laid back. They also do this at night, which worries their mom about SIDS, but I think they are strong enough to roll themselves over if they need to. We had to remove the bumpers from their cribs, which means they are now banging their heads against the crib. I guess they will learn to avoid that after a few collisions.

Sleep has been the major item of discussion around here lately, since no one seemed to get any, but that is slowly changing. We have adopted the Ferber method with the kids. Our doctor said there is no reason for them to feed at night anymore, thus the kids cry and mom and dad are close to tears as well. It hasn't been that bed really. Once the kids go to bed, around 7pm, we let them cry for 5 minutes, then check on them, then wait another 5 minutes, etc. The longest it has taken anyone to fall asleep so far is 45 minutes for Isabel. Isabel is great, sleeping almost 12 hours each night and Everett is getting longer each night. Last night, Isabel woke at 1am, cried for a while, but was back asleep within 20 minutes (seemed a lot longer though). Everett woke up at 3:45am, which is getting better. Soon, they will be out from 7pm-7am....wishful thinking, but hey, why not?

As for other activities, they really enjoy their farm exersaucer, playing with toys in their highchairs, and playing with Molly. Both kids are very close to sitting up on their own and they almost insist on holding their own bottles. Trust me, that is a very big help. They have begun to eat more solid foods. Foods like bananas, cheerios, yogurt, pudding, etc. are all approved munchies for them. They will get used to it, but we are introducing it slowly. They also like to eat Biter Biscuits. It teaches them to hold foods and place them in their mouths. We started them on juice in sippy cups this week too. Everett has a better grasp of that so far.

Their growth continues to be good. On Tuesday, they had a routine check-up and Everett is 17 lbs., 1 ounce and Isabel is 15 lbs., 13 ounces. Both of those numbers are in the 50th percentile, which is great. Everett out stands her by 1 1/4 inches, both standing at 27 1/4 and 26 inches, respectively. Those are in the upper percentiles, which makes dad happy that Everett is still tall! They were troopers with their four shots on Tuesday, including their first flu and H1N1 shots.

It has been so fun these past six months to see their development. They each have started to get real personalities and they both laugh a lot. I used to think they'd never roll over, sleep, or sit-up, but they do. I suppose they will crawl and walk soon. The babyproofing has already begun.

Their next adventures include starting swimming lessons in February, a week with Nana and Papa in February while dad and mom get a needed vacation to the Dominican Republic, and more new foods. I will be better about updates in the future. Enjoy.

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.