Fun times

Today we went fishing. The boys have never been fishing before. They enjoyed looking at the water and the boats, and got very excited when they put their toes in the water!
Below is Ethan watching everyone fishing and chewing his toy.

Benny on the left in blue, and Ethan in Red, hanging out while we fished. Boys again while we fished. - By the way Tracie and Sal didn't catch anything but Tracie's cousin Nikky caught a fish and her daughter Bronti ate it for dinner - apparently it was very tasty..... but no-one knows what type of fish it was!

We finally took the boys for a swim in the play pool we bought them ages ago. They had a great time!! Benny kept turning round and round on his belly and Ethan was very curious about the whole thing and studied the pool with great interest. He loved kicking the water and splashing everyone.
Benny in front with the blue eyes.... Ethan in the rear.

Cheeky Benny in the pool

Benny again in the pool. Unfortunately Ethan didn't really look at the camera, he was too busy studying the pool to look up! So no good pics of Ethan.

Twins telling secrets in the pool.

Cheeky Crawler

Benny is getting very good at crawling, and now he doesn't care who or what is in the way of the toy he wants! Below is a video of Benny crawling over Ethan to get a toy!

ATTENTION GRAHAM

Graham (Tracie's brother) - we're trying to get in touch with you to arrange a web cam meeting so you can meet the boys. We don't have your phone number or email address for your new place. Please leave us a comment on this page telling us your email address and phone number so we can arrange a web cam meeting :)

N.B. - All comments come straight to my email before they appear on this page and it asks me if I'd like to publish it..... don't worry i wont publish your personal details.
Just to make sure it's really you leaving your details (and not some random fool trying to be clever), please also tell us your middle name!

Thanks, we hope to hear from you soon :)

Benny's new trick!

Benjamin has discovered how to crawl - sort of!

He can move himself forward on his belly, but doesn't yet lift his belly off the ground! He started doing it last night, and below is a video of him 'crawling' this morning. Each time he does it, he gets faster and more co-ordinated. We're going to be in trouble soon!

Mum Mum Mum

Benny gave us a christmas present of learning to say 'mum mum mum'. He started saying it christmas night and has been saying it for 2 days now. He's so proud of himself and laughs at us when we say it back to him.

Playing

The boys really love playing now. They are getting very very good at sitting, and we can now leave them to sit by themselves. The sometimes fall, but are now getting good at falling so they dont hurt themselves. They are becoming very animated and are very very happy. They babble, talk, smile and laugh a lot. They are so funny now!

Below is Ethan looking very happy. Boys playing with a ball.
Playing outside.

Benny playing with mummy and the ball.

Benny again with his ball.

Both boys love the balls they were given for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you had a great time. We sure did. Our boys were such good boys for their first Christmas. We went to Sal's mum's place (Nanna) on Christmas eve. Some family also came over and we had dinner then took the boys to Nanna's church for Christmas eve carols. The boys had been awake for 5 hours (3 hours is usually their maximum at home) and they stayed up 2 hours after their bed time. They were great!! Very happy at carols, and smiled at everyone and loved the music. We were pleasantly surprised and Nanna loved showing them off!!

On Christmas morning they opened their presents and as usual, had more fun with the wrapping paper and ribbon than the actual presents!

Ethan with his t-shirt from Aunty Linda..... thanks Aunty Linda!

Benny with his shirt.

Boys with their 'bear in a can' from Aunty Linda..... it's very tasty Aunty Linda!

Ethan contemplating his present from grandma..... it's bigger than he is!

Boys under the Chriistmas Tree

Boys under the Chriistmas Tree

Boys under the Chriistmas Tree

Benny under the Christmas Tree

Ethan under the Christmas Tree

Teeth!!

Ethan has two teeth!!! They started to appear on Tuesday. We could feel them before we could see them. Wednesday we could just bearly see them and now (Friday) we can easily see them. They are the two middle bottom ones. He had only one miserable day, and is doing well with his new teeth.

Benji (who's had his two teeth for 2 months now) is starting to get 2 top teeth. His gums are very white today, but we can not actually see or feel the teeth yet. Benji keeps waking up at night. We are hoping it's teething related and it will improve soon. He's only slept through the night once in about 2 weeks. We're all very tired, and are hoping he'll get his teeth and sleep better soon.
He is doing well having one arm out of his wraps. He still has some issues settling, but we expect that, and it's tolerable!!

Well baby clinic check-up - 7 months

We took the boys for their routine 6-8month checkup. They are now a little over 7 months.
They are perfect. - But we knew that anyway!!

Our little Benjamin is still little, but his growth is consistent, so they are not worried about him at all. He is doing well with solids. He is having rice cereal, pear and now potato. He still thinks we're trying to kill him when we give him potato. Yesterday we bought some rusks. He didn't do anything with it, just dropped it! We'll try again soon.
Benny continues to have his hypoallergenic formula Elecare. He is doing really well. He does not seem to react to his environment as much anymore. We are now letting the boys play with the same toys, and he's done well with it. Unfortunatly the naughty little child thinks everything is his, and wants everything Ethan has. Ethan is the same, and pinches all his toys too. They are so funny fighting over toys already! I don't think it'll be funny in a few months. Little terrors!
We are going back to the allergy clinic in Feb09. He is still obviously allergic to things, because he always has red patches somewhere on his little body. He doesn't seem too bothered by the ones on his body, but regulary scratches his forehead and ears. We try to apply various moisturisers throughout the day to help the itch.
Benny still sleeps wrapped. We are in the process of trying to wean the wraps. He has started to roll over wrapped yesterday and today, and can't roll back. We need to stop wrapping him, but he needs the wraps to sleep. Last night when Tracie was putting him to bed he kept whinging. She had to go in 3 times, and each time he was stuck on his belly. She re-wrapped him with his right arm free, and he went straight to sleep. He slept well throughout the night and only had us get up to him once to re-wrap and give him a dummy. He went straight back to sleep..... yay.
The 2 nights before he woke at 2-3am and talked and cooed for an HOUR!!! No crying.... just talking cos he was awake! Little terror! We are pleased he slept last night. He woke up at 6am with the wraps around his ankles. He's doing well being partially wrapped. We've put him down for 2 naps with one arm free and he's slept pretty well. He now sleeps on his side. So far so good!

Our big boy Ethan continues to grow like a champ. He is still not interested in solids. He loves his breastmilk. Poor Tracie will be pumping for him for years at this rate! She is now pumping only 3 times a day for 30mins each time, and gets just the right amount of milk for him. The allergy clinic reccommended that we give the boys the same solids, as we think Ethan has a sensitive tummy, and it makes life easier to give twins the same things. We have given Ethan rice cereal, pears and potato. He eats a small amount of each, but requires a lot of encouragement and usually just smiles and talks through a mouth full of food! We gave him a rusk yesterday and he sucked on it for ages until only a small nub was left. I'm not sure how much he ate and how much he wore, but he had a nice time with it! We were advised we might like to try soft finger foods with Ethan and let him play with his food and discover the textures to make him more interested in food. This morning we let him play with some mashed potato. He ate some.... and pull some funny faces. We'll see how he goes.
Ethan is sleeping well. He likes to sleep facing the wall on his left side. So cute. Last night Tracie found him asleep on his belly.

BEN:

Naked weight - 7.7kg (17lbs)

Length - 68cm (26.7 inches)

Head Circumfrence - 45cm (17.7 inches)

ETHAN
Naked weight - 8.65kg (19lb 1oz)
Length - 69cm (27 inches)
Head Circumfrence - 46cm (18 inches)

Family Christmas Party

Today we had our family christmas party with the cousins and aunts and uncles that we only see a few times a year. Some of them had never met the boys. It was fun to show off our handsome little darlings. They both have stranger anxiety, and dont like entering a room with lots of people. They were unhappy at the start of the day, but eventually calmed down. Ethan had a lovely time with his christmas presents. It seems that wrapping paper tastes great :)

Ethan with another present - I wonder what it is?

Wow - a ball!!!
"Hmmmm, Benny's green ball is very tasty"
Benji got some great presents too. Thank you too our family. Benny was a little cranky at present time, so no pics.

Benny came good a little later and Sal took him in Nana's pool for his first swim. He did really well. It was a little cold, but he didn't complain. He kicked and splashed and even put his head under the water!

First getting ready to go in...

Benny and Sal in the pool.

Ethan didn't go in the pool as he was having cuddles with Aunty Shell and was too tired.