21 months old

Time has flown and the girls are talking so much already. They are still nursed a lot but finally are sleeping a lot more at night. As of last month, we have all four children sharing one room for bedtime!

It's always monkey see, monkey do. And together they are a team of destruction. We have had to baby-proof in ways we had never imagined. Thanks to Dayton's martial arts skill, they cannot get into the kitchen drawers. Though last week, they figured out how to pull out the drawers anyway and climb up like a ladder. Sigh.




















Here are pics of the girls now at 21 months old. Shira is talking the most and a leader most of the time. She gets her revenge on all by being the hair-puller. Her favorite toy at the moment is a cheapo Barbie that now has no arms or legs. She is also the houdini of getting clothes off and helping her sister strip down as well.

Miriam is our little entertainer and more nurturing, at least as dolls go. She gets her revenge as the biter! We found her holding Shira down and biting her over and over again on her back. Shira then sat up and yanked out some of Miriam's hair. And of course one minute later they're hugging and singing and lifting up their shirts to tickle each other.

For just a 5 minute window, no one was crying, every one was dressed and clean, and it was Easter Sunday morning!

update pics and new shoes and haircuts

Here are some recent pictures from Christmas time.

The girls loved their new baby strollers! We are now at the stage where we have to have 2 of everything or they play tug of war and scream at each other over the one toy.

And here are all four children on Christmas morning.

Not a great picture, but they're sporting their new shoes. Shira's are blue and Miriam's are pink.

Grace cut their hair, and it looked awful. So I've given both of them boy haircuts... at least it will grow out thicker and more evenly! Sorry no pictures of that I'm willing to share.

Oh the biting!!!! And shoes x 4.

The girls have figured out biting to get their way. It started with Miriam biting Shira to get Shira to give back a toy or to get out of her way. Then Shira would bite back because she was upset. I usually comfort the bitee first with kisses. The biter gets a stern "NO BITE!!!" And the the biter usually bursts into tears, which ends up in comforting too. Last night Miriam bit Shira, Shira runs to daddy, Miriam comes over and points at Shira's leg to show him where she'd been bitten! I've been told that twins will continue biting for a while at this stage and the only thing I can do about it is try to prevent it.

When Isaiah was 1.5yr, our pediatrician mentioned he may need special shoes. At 2.5, we took him to a specialist and he was diagnosed with Hallux varus. A brief description from PodiatryNetwork.com: "Hallux varus is a condition in which the great toe is pointing away from the 2nd toe. This can be considered the opposite of a hallux valgus or bunion deformity. In contrast to a bunion, however, the 1st metatarsal remains in its anatomical position while the great toe is deviated towards the middle of the body.

Hallux varus most commonly occurs as a complication from bunion surgery. However other causes can lead to this condition. These include: congenital deformity, tight or short abductor hallucis tendon [Isaiah's problem], trauma, absence or surgical removal of the fibular sesamoid.

The presenting symptom is most commonly pain. This can occur from the toe rubbing against the side of the shoe. Occasionally, this deformity can also lead to problems with ingrown nails as the nail fold is pushed into the nail border by the shoe.

The diagnosis of hallux varus is fairly simple as the great toe can be seen to be deviated away from the 2nd toe [the specialist knew in 30sec what the issue was!]. A careful history will often assist in determining the cause of the hallux varus.

This is a condition that is not uncommon in children. A congenital deformity is most commonly the result of a tight or short abductor hallucis tendon. This tendon attaches to the side of the great toe. It opposes the pull of the adductor hallucis tendon that is on the opposite side of the great toe. By working together, these tendons assist in keeping the great toe straight. However, when the abductor tendon is tight, it will overpower the adductor tendon and pull the toe toward the midline of the body. The diagnosis can be made by attempting to reduce this deformity manually and feeling the tightness of the tendon.

The fibular sesamoid is key structure in the development of a hallux varus. Because the adductor hallucis tendon attaches to this structure, any disruption of the fibular sesamoid can lead to a hallux varus. This can result from a condition referred to as agenesis of the fibular sesamoid. In this condition, the fibular sesamoid fails to develop from birth. Therefore the normal attachment of the adductor tendon is absent, causing the abductor tendon to pull the toe medially.

Treatment of this condition is dependent on the cause. In children with a tight adductor tendon, treatment should be focused on stretching this tendon. This can be done with stretching exercises, splinting of the toe and straight or reversed last shoes. If conservative care fails to correct the deformity, surgery may be necessary. This is performed by selective sectioning of the tendon with a small incision on the side of the toe. The toe is then splinted in a neutral or straight position."

Isaiah just needed special shoes. Good thing we live where special made shoes are 1/4 the price of shoes in the USA! It was a difficult age to start shoes like this when we live where no one wears shoes in the house. Plus the shoes were hot, needed socks, etc, and the boy just loves to run around barefoot. We found a pair of sandals to compensate for rainy days. At his checkup with his regular pediatrician last week she said she thinks that once he outgrows his shoes that he won't need them any more.

But then the twins. They've got it too. And MUCH WORSE. Shira's is not as bad because she's been walking longer. One foot is turning in more than the other. Miriam's is really bad. I've been doing the foot stretches like I did with Isaiah. The pediatrician feels that no amount of stretching and regular walking will correct something so extreme, so we will go back to the specialist and have both girls put in corrective shoes. Obviously this is a genetic thing and we suspected early on that this would be a repeat condition like Isaiah. At least at this age (now 15mo), they love shoes! I bought them their first shoes (sandals) for outside play a couple days ago and they wanted to wear them all day. Shira insisted on going to sleep with them on!

When Isaiah's shoes were made, the shoemaker said the blue color was out of stock, so he could make them "pink & white" or "red & white". Obviously, red and white.... and they looked like clown shoes when they were done. Thankfully the girls will have a pink option!

The Twins are One!

Well, they turned one on July 18th that is. We were in the United States for our every other year trip. It was such a wonderful time getting to see our families and friends.

The babies are not such babies anymore. Shira is walking, has 4 teeth, hugs her baby doll, and gives smooches to everyone. Miriam is trying to decide if she wants to walk, has 5 teeth, has a shoe obsession, and is quite vocal.

Here are some pictures from their birthday.

Their personalities are so different. Miriam is usually the entertainer and Shira is usually the cuddler. In these pics Shira is in green and Miriam in yellow.


Shira is a great eater. She'll try anything and dig right in.

Miriam took a little longer but finally got in on the action. Both were a mess to clean up.

We took them to the park and they loved sharing the baby swing. It took a while to get this shot but I love it!


The next day I found that big sis had put them up on the piano bench to try out a piano trio!

We're famous!

I post regularly on Mothering.com and a few months ago, one of the mothers had a great idea to do a video montage to educate women about twin births and how twins CAN be birthed naturally. We are birth #3 in the video. Some big twins in there too!

Natural Childbirth of Twins and Triplets!

7 months old update

Where has the time gone!?!?! Those little babies are now little 7 month old bundles of energy! When it's not trouble x2 in opposite directions, it's trouble X2 attacking and destroying together. Their daddy (a Star Wars fan) calls it "Attack of the Clones" (this picture is Miram on left and Shira on right.... Shira was trying to pull Miriam off of the sofa)

By 6mo old, the babies were crawling. Real crawling, not that army scootch thing. Over a month ago, they also started pulling up onto things to see the new view. As of last week, they don't get stuck in a standing position and can get down to explore other areas. So these babies are fast and it's too early for me! Baby proofing is back! They also like to cruise along the furniture, and if you sit down, they're pulling up onto you. Miriam does a growling sound and when you hear that, watch out because she's honing in on your hair to try to pull it out!

They love bath time. I've started getting into the bath with the older two children and take the babies in one at a time to kick and splash while be shampooed and washed.

I'm still breastfeeding them exclusively. No solid foods at all and I probably won't for as long as I can. It's so much easier to completely skip that cereal and mashed foods stage. They would love to shove our dinners into their mouths, just as they already love to try to eat paper, toys, etc. they find on the floor. Miriam has had her first solids though.... I found blud playdoh in her diaper last week. Isaiah loves to make little tiny playdoh balls and line them up on the table to make snakes. I guess one rolled off the table! Isaiah also loves to torture the babies. At breakfast Isaiah was eating his yogurt. Miraim cruises over to his chair to say hello. Next thing I know, Isaiah is plastering her head with yogurt! That's life here!

Personality-wise, they are quite different. Shira offers up smiles and is quite sociable. While Miraim is sociable, she's also more reserved. She's the explorer though... very interested in what's under my bed at the moment! They do realize that each other exists, but they don't exactly care if the other is there. They'll smile at each other when they happen to make eye contact. Sleeping together isn't working so well because whoever is asleep is at the mercy of whoever is awake. They love to crawl on top of each other and pull hair! Last night was so funny. Miriam was trying to crawl away, but Shira kept grabbing the back of her shirt to play with it so Miriam was frustrated and fussy because she couldn't escape.

Here are some recent pictures:

Shira and Miriam are constantly trying to get into the bathroom when the older two are doing their baths. We've had to put up the baby gate. It wouldn't matter so much if we gave a full bath every day, but we don't because babies really don't get that dirty. BUT if one happens to get into the bathroom, Grace and Isaiah like to dump buckets of water over them! (Shira on left, Miram on right)

Shira was investigating the camera. She's got those lovely ears and check out the eyes which are NOT brown!

I bought a new laundry basket and the kids were playing with it. I went to put Shira down for a nap and when I came back out, Grace had put a blanket and pillow into the basket. Then she proceeded to hoist Miriam into the basket to be baby Moses! She was surprisingly tollerant of the whole thing!

4 months old

Our beautiful babies are now four months old! They're doing "baby pushups" and rolling from front to back, and they're scooting around by pushing with their toes. They coo and screech... so funny. When they nurse together, they hold hands, poke each other in the eyes, grab hair, or just grin at each other. My favorite thing to do is put them on their tummies facing each other and watching them interact.