The kids started daycare on January 2, and as expected both kids are sick- respiratory. Eileen also has a skin rash and Ewan has an eye infection.
Daycare transition it going well. They cry at drop off, but as soon as Kyle leaves they stop crying. Ewan will cry at pick up if I stay too long in the room talking to the caregivers.
But, we have a major problem with Ewan biting Eileen. He bites her 3-4 times a day and her poor body is covered in bruises. This started back in October, but it was sporadic, the frequency has really increased over the last week.
Eileen had minor day surgery today at the Children’s Hospital for her left clogged tear duct. It was a big decision to go forward with the surgery as it involved anesthesia. When the nurses brought Eileen back to the waiting room they said she did really well and that she was tough. No surprise there, Eileen is very tough! She was fussy, but I was able to breastfeed her and she calmed down. The doctor told me it was good we went forward with the surgery because the clog was all the way down to her nose and there was no way it would’ve resolved itself. So, surgery and anesthesia were inevitable. Eileen is recovering very well, she had a big nap when we got home and we just got back from a walk.
Ewan went to day care today (the kids started day care on January 2, 2019), this was the first day they have spent apart. When Ewan came home, he ran over to Eileen and I! He’s so sweet!!
Today I wore the twin go carrier with both babies!! We walked around the yard briefly looking at the snow and trees. Next time I’ll put my jacket on first and suit the babies up so we can stay outside longer. I was thinking it would be fun to go snow shoeing with the babies in the twin-go. Stay tuned for our winter adventures!! Lol.
So, I finally gave in and bought a good jogging/biking/walking stroller. Even secondhand the stroller was a pretty penny. Today was our maiden voyage. Went for a run and then a walk with the dogs.
The stroller is supposed to be great in the snow and the cabin keeps the babies protected from the elements. I think we will use the stroller a lot over the next couple years.
Ewan and Eileen rocking theses October themed sleepers which were handed down from Grady Watt and Jill and Ben Shivas. We will pass them along to Heather and Brad’s future baby
As noted in a previous post, my parents stayed with us shortly after the twins were born in order to help us manage the first few weeks.
In addition to helping with the babies, they also helped out around the house including planting our garden for us.
For the fifth year in a row, we’ve had an excellent growing season, in fact, this year was the best I can remember with 5 weeks worth of heat warnings in Calgary, unheard of as far as I can remember.
Between the work my parents did planting the garden, the maintenance that we did throughout the year, and the excellent conditions we made out pretty well!
We have enjoyed lots of tomatoes, radishes, snow peas, beans, arugula, kale, lettuce and herbs throughout the summer.
We had an incredible abundance of basil and arugula so I have been steadily making and freezing pesto. At this point I’m sure we have enough to last us through the winter.
Calgary is also subject to pretty frequent serious hailstorms so I have been working on jerry-rigging a frame over which we can drape polyurethane in the event of hail, and it can also double as a greenhouse to buy us a few more weeks towards the end of the growing season, we also ended up using it to help support different climbing plants.
Click in images to enlarge.
Our 2017 Garden (after beet and radish harvest)
Our 2017 Garden with Polyurethane
Inside Our 2017 Greenhouse
The greenhouse worked really well and definitely bought us a couple of weeks to help vine ripen our tomatoes, and today it protected what’s left of our garden from a serious winter blizzard with 60-90km/hour winds and 15cm of snow. There is a low of -5C tonight so hopefully it will keep everything warm enough until it starts warming up again tomorrow.
Sean stopped by this afternoon to help me repair some places where the wind had pulled the seams apart, with a little luck it ought to hold for the rest of the season presuming this crazy wind dies down and I can refine the poly next year.
Our Herb Garden After Being Transferred Indoors
Roasted Garden Tomatoes for Tomato Basil Soup
Tomatoes, Carrots, Arugula and Pickled Beets
Not pictured is all the crab apple liqueur, jelly, juice, sauce and butter we made, the pesto, blanched beans, rhubarb, tomato basil pasta sauce, and tomato basil soup in the freezer. Even with all that we have harvested we still have lots of kale, arugula, and beans that should continue to produce presuming the garden survives the -5C tonight.
We had an appointment with the lactation doctor this morning as a follow up to an appointment at the end of August. The babies’ weight gain has slowed down considerably, but Dr Lamond said this is normal, and she isn’t concerned.
The Dr we meet in August was concerned and wanted me take supplements and start pumping again- this was disappointing news as I felt like things were going so well with feeding amounts and schedule. I didn’t follow her advice as it didn’t feel right. But, over the last week I have started pumping to keep my supply up while the babies and I were sick. This did not increase their weight gain though.
At the beginning of August the babes dropped a night feed and have been sleeping through the night (5 hours at a time) since then! Sleep is so beautiful, and we are getting some solid sleep again!!!
We will be introducing solid foods in 4-6 weeks as they are ready for it, we have a follow up appointment with Dr Lamond for October 20.
Today Eileen weighs 12 pounds and 7 ounces and Ewan weighs 12 pounds 2 ounces.
Ewan sat up on his own for 10 seconds today until he flopped over onto his side!
He is so strong! He stands with support for minutes. He loves looking around at everything in his environment.
He is sleeping so much better at night, but he doesn’t go back to sleep after the morning feed, so he is only getting about 9-10 hours sleep at night (with waking up for the night feed). He naps sporadically during the day for 30 mins at a time. I started reading a book about sleep training your twins- I am hoping this will help with Ewan’s day time napping. Sleep is sooo important!!!
Today while I was changing Eileen she fully laughed out loud. She’s had other moments of verbally expressed joy, but this was without a doubt a full on laugh! Haha! She is my daughter.
Eileen and Ewan are full of smiles, it’s so sweet.
On September 5 Eileen rolled from her back to her front, she has done it one other time since then.
She is still great at sleeping, with 2-3 solid naps a day and 12 hours at night (with 2 feedings).
Kyle showed Eileen how to blow spit bubbles and now she is obsessed with blowing spit bubbles, that and sucking her middle and ring finger.
