3 Month Birthday!

Freya and Signe have officially graduated from newborns to infants!

I know people say time passes so quickly, and it does, and they often say that with some sadness. To be honest, I'm so happy they have finally graduated from the newborn stage. Cute, cuddly, yes. Tons and tons of exhausting work, also yes. Being on a schedule now has done wonders for my mood and productivity at work and home. And, most important by far, I can truly appreciate my amazing girls and feel the deep deep love I have for them. In a haze of sleep-deprivation and "I can't believe they want to nurse again" you can take that for granted. But every morning now I get to wake up and bake and clean and work and etc., then get the girls up and love love love them. It's great!

Also helpful: not being sick anymore. And THIS time I'm not going to go to the gym as soon as I'm vaguely well and sprint. Yeah that was a mistake. There will be time for strenuous exercise when I'm truly all the way better.

As for the girls: lots of cuteness as usual! We signed them up for swim lessons at the Y for summer session, which conveniently starts about two weeks after they turn 6 months, the minimum age. I cannot express how excited I am to do this. They'll be in Shrimp level. Sooo cute. Ok I need to stop gushing and get to the photos, I know I know. And there are lots this week because, you know, three months!

Wanting to look like your ridiculous mommy Signe?

Naptime in our usual explosion of colors

Trying so hard to crawl! (Sorry Freya it'll still be awhile) (I hope) (Kurt wants it ASAP)

Holding/flailing practice

Aw mom, we wanna go play, not pose for pictures

Such a good stander!

Who is that??

Daddy-built Boppy fort

Something about this I just love

Sometimes hard to post cute pictures because of the mess in the background...but have made my peace with it

Just had to stick in a picture of the Cranberry Pecan Frangipane Tart I made. So proud :-) And it got good reviews, yay!

Bradley reunion! Signe and Freya got to meet the lovely babies Ava and Cora. All that catching up tired Signe out

Sleeping sisters

More sleeping sisters. Kurt loves to pull their pants up as high as they'll go.

And a sleeping picture of half the family

I often get the urge to hold and cuddle both babies at once. This is of course the only semi-safe way to do it.

12 Weeks

Sick. Again/still. At least Kurt and the babies don't seem to be getting it. It was karma - I said to some friends about a month ago that I "didn't remember the last time I was sick." Then, sick a couple days later all the way til now. Bear in mind one of these people is a kindergarden teacher, and you can see why karma was gunning for me.

Signe rolled over too from her tummy to her back. Freya is getting to be an expert at it. We had our first visit to a farm - we went to see Cousin Hennie and Aunt Marie and Uncle Danny. We had lots o fun! (this was in a brief interlude where I was only a little sniffly instead of full-blown sick)

And picture time:

Hennie really wanted to touch/eat the babies

Freya found her thumb

Baby pile

Having fun in baby pile

Going outside on a cold-ish day

Freya did not love this

11 Weeks

Almost to that three month mark (15 days away) and these girls are definitely on their way to being infants instead of newborn "fourth trimester" babies. They just now went 5 hours between feedings, meaning they slept close to 4.5 hours. Happy Valentine's Day to us! Sleeping 5 hours is considered "sleeping through the night" (ok) so, here we almost are.

And we had lots of accomplishments this week, after getting over our colds. Freya's big one was rolling over from her tummy to her back during tummy time. She did it for the first time when we were at Happy Bambino for a parent-infant group. What a little performer. Freya also has been smiling in response to our smiles regularly, and has started babbling conversations. Signe's accomplishments: well, she's such a smiley baby now. She smiles all the time and it's wonderful. Even at the midnight and 4 am feedings - smile smile smile. It's impossible to not smile back, and all we can do to not get all excited and laughing and talking when it's supposed to be bed time. She even smiles at the mirror that is in the infant swing. Ahh they're so cute!

I think probably everyone who reads this blog saw this on Facebook, but Kurt's big news this week is that he got into the UW-Madison Medical Physics grad program. He's so excited, and I'm so excited for him. He's doing a bunch of visits and socials and etc over the next month to figure out his professor and focus and get to know the program.

We're gotten to everyone's favorite part (if you even made it through the above :-)), pictures!

Caught a Freya-smile!

Mmmm daddy's finger

Volumized hair after a bath

This was when Freya was still sick - poor little girl

Compare this to the above and you can see how much more bunchy Signe still is

Nona Carol time!

Great-grandma Emma

Great-grandpa Al getting a smile from Signe

10 Weeks

We all ended up getting sick with a bad cold, but I think we're all finally getting over it. Taking care of two sick kids while sick yourself is some kind of parenting hazing I think. 

Both girls are smiling more and more, even while still a bit sick. We're also starting to have little babbling "conversations". So fun!

And time for a few pics. Not too many to pick from for these two weeks with poor sick babies.

Would be more artsy if I had a better camera :-)

Some play time

Freya is so strong!

Crazy-eyes smile!

Sleeping Signe

Sleeping Freya. When she sleeps she sleeps

9 Weeks

Quick news and no pics because I just posted. More next week I promise!

Firsts: poor Signe has her first cold :-( She's just congested mostly, but still sad to see. Not sure if Freya got it and it was just milder (she's been just a teeny bit congested), or if it's yet to come.

And I used my pastry cutter for the first time this morning for many many months. I made a yummy raspberry-apple coffee cake. Also I made plans for a cranberry pecan frangipane tart. I'll make it in it's component parts over the next 4 weeks. Our Bradley class reunion is going to be legend, wait for it, dary. Ok maybe we've been watching a little bit too much How I Met Your Mother at night...

2 Months!

The girls are two months old on Sunday, and they are just growing like little weeds. That we love. Like dandelions, to non-homeowners.

Their two-month doctor's appointment went well: perfectly healthy and BIG. In fact, Signe grew so well that she passed Freya in weight! She is 10 lbs 3 oz and Freya is 10 lbs 2.5 oz. Still Freya's head is bigger, by a centimeter. All their measurements jumped up in percentiles, from the 1-5% range up to the 25-50% range. Yes!

The hard part of course were the immunizations. They got three shots and an oral vaccine, with 5 total immunizations. I cried, definitely. But they just had maybe a little fever that night, and were picky about which positions they wanted to be in. Not inconsolable by any means - just couldn't move them once we found the right way to hold them. Much better than it could have been!

We joined the YMCA this week and it's just great. Their child care is wonderful, with nice, competent people (who love to cuddle babies). And being able to work out without worrying about the girls is so nice for me and Kurt. A little me time for each of us. Once the girls are a bit older there are so many great programs. I'm especially excited to start them swimming, which we can do at 6 months.

Related to the YMCA, I'm still really wanting to train for the sprint triathlon June 10, and now I'm thinking about adding the Madison Mini-Marathon (half-marathon) August 18. Might be a bit too ambitious, I haven't decided. But I'd just love to do them both. We'll see.

And last bit of news, we went on our first date this week! We went to La Brioche for their Restaurant Week menu. The food was great and spending a bit of time just the two of us was really great, and a little disorienting even. What, we don't need to be paying attention to the girls?? Papa Jack and Nona Carol were so nice and did a great job babysitting. The girls took bottles from them, thanks for being so helpful you little babies!

Ok, picture time. There are so many good ones this week, I just couldn't narrow it down much. But people I've talked to about the blog don't seem to think there's such a thing as too many pictures :-)

Relaxing after tummy time

Practicing standing with Daddy

(Nearly) matching outfits. 

Had to post both pictures because so many great expressions!

Signe's close-up. Smiley girl!

And Freya thinking it through

Moby wrap, sooo comfy

And Freya a little hesitant about the Moby but still enjoying it

Attempt at a family Moby picture. I like how Freya is looking skeptically at Mommy's ridiculous expression

A peek at their sleeping arrangement. Little cute beans in their Miracle Blankets. 

Signe falling asleep during tummy time (she likes being on her tummy unlike Freya) and Lily keeping watch at a distance

Freya in the process of spitting out her paci

Date night!

Papa Jack trying to contain Freya's super-strong legs

Nona Carol giving Signe a bottle. Such an intent eater that one.

Family date night picture

Flying Freya (I meant to fix my hair better but...yeah)

Freya being comforted by daddy after her shots (she's on her back, it's a little hard to tell)