Cousin Blake is here!

Kaitlyn and Nicole have a new cousin. Blake William Pittman was born Saturday afternoon weighing in at 6lb 10oz. He's SO tiny. I can't believe Kaitlyn and Nicole were actually smaller than that when they were born. Crazy!!!!!!!!!!! Brad and Ceylese are, of course, excited. They have been at the hospital these past few days and are expecting to come home today.

I have holiday photos that I wanted to upload today, but I brought the wrong cable with me today. Sorry. I thought I grabbed the camera cable. Oh well. I'll try to get them up tomorrow.

6 Month Stats - Wow We're Big (at least one of us)

Kaitlyn and Nicole had their six month appointment on Wednesday. They definitely have grown and continue to delight us with more developmental milestones every day. :-)

Kaitlyn weighed 16lb 2oz, putting her in the 55th percentile. Her height was 24 1/2 inches and is the 50th percentile (I think...I can't remember exactly but I definitely know the percentile is correct).

Nicole weighed 18lb 15oz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the 95th percentile. We're cutting her formula intake back per the doctor's suggestion. I think she'll be just fine, and she's a baby. I know plenty of other babies with baby fat that are perfectly healthy and at a normal weight today, so it's fine for now. I think if we cut her back, that will help and maybe she'll go back down a few percentiles. I truly think that from what I've read, she was eating too much anyway. I should have cut the formula back myself, but at the 4 month appt (when she was 90th percentile), they said absolutely nothing to worry about. Oh well. She's also just a bigger baby in general, as her height was 25 1/2 inches, putting her in the 75th percentile.

I, of course, have tons of photos from Christmas. I'll get those posted soon.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Man, We've Come a LONG Way, Haven't We?

I was just going through my yahoo emails and came across some photos from the hospital that were emailed to us. I had seen them before, but it's been such a long time since I looked at them. I just had to put this picture up for comparison sake. Kaitlyn and Nicole look SO different now. They've literally trippled in size and the stork bites (that's what they call the redness above their eyes) have subsided. Wow, they look different!!!! Even more adorable today than they were then.

More Baptism Photos

Happy Thanksgiving From Our Children of God

Huh? Kaitlyn and Nicole were baptized this past Sunday. Here are some photos (and I have more to come of them in their precious white dresses) plus some from Thanksgiving and the days following.

Look What We Did This Weekend....HOW CUTE!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE BARBREES! HO, HO, HO!!!

Nicole is on the left in the green (yes, it's a hunter green dress...through the scanning process the color got a bit corrupted), and Kaitlyn is on the right in the red. Don't worry, we'll have a real holiday card that we send later.

One Year Ago Today!!!

One year ago, probably right about this time because I never used to get to work this early, I was taking a pregnancy test and learning that it was positive. Wow!!! So, it was one year ago that our whirlwind adventure began. And it took an interesting twist in December when we went for our first ultrasound as you all know. :-)

A Fun Weekend!

We tried rice cereal for the first time ever this weekend!!! Yippie!!! We had some on Saturday morning and then some on Sunday morning. The doctors told us that if we got even 1-3 spoonfuls that we were making progress, so we weren't aiming for any miracles this weekend. We fed each of them about 1-3 spoonfuls, but I wouldn't say that 1-3 spoonfuls actually made it in the mouth. :-) It was fun to try that with them though. A new step. They'll get better.

Then, due to the lovely blackout of the Falcons game, Mike couldn't watch it at home like he was supposed to. With the lack of fan support in this city, it wasn't hard for him to come by a ticket at the last minute. So, he went to the game after all. And we decided to make it a family outing. I took the girls and we went down and tailgated with him and his family/friends. It was fun. Not only was it our first tailgate, but it was our first Marta ride. Woo Hoo. Don't worry, mommy and daddy hand sanitized before touching us after getting off of the train. :-)

Enjoy the pictures from our weekend. Love, Kaitlyn and Nicole

Stats and Pictures

Well, no one ever put a bottle in front of Nicole that she couldn't finish, right? My little eater is in the 90th percentile for weight. Go figure. I think we were kind of expecting that. They aren't concerned yet though because she went up in all the percentiles, indicating that she's just growing. I'm certainly not going to be upping her formula intake anytime soon though. HA!!! She's 75th percentile for height. Awesome. I think that's great that she might be tall.

Kaitlyn is 60th percentile for weight and 55th percentile for height. Those are both improvements from last time too. I was particularly pleased to see her height go up.

So, what does that mean? Well, Nicole weighs 15lbs 12oz - that's exactly a 10 pound gain in her lifetime. And she's 25 inches long. Kaitlyn weighs an even 14 pounds. That's not quite 10 pounds for her yet, but it's close (4-9 at birth). Boy, I can tell a difference when I hold them too. Kaitlyn is definitely lighter. Kaitlyn was 24 1/4 inches long. She's gaining on bigger little sis!!!

Here are some pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes that we took this weekend. Our neighborhood had a Halloween parade followed by pizza and drinks at the clubhouse. I organized it!!! Mom of the year, right, cause my kids really aren't even old enough to participate. :-) I enjoyed it. (I stole the idea from Brad and Ceylese's neighborhood, who also had their parade the following day, so the babies were actually in two parades this weekend.) We were elephants. How funny!!!

above: Kaitlyn - how adorable. And below: Nicole, also adorable. See how we're starting to figure out that we have hands. They're actually now starting to grab at things rather than have us put something in their hands to hold. Very good progress.

And just a few other random pictures. In order, Kaitlyn, then Nicole - this is their CNN outfit by the way. Not a great view, but you can get the idea well enough to possibly recognize them if you see it. There's another photo below with both of them wearing it.

Nice drool!!!!

Below: K on left, N on right, then opposite for next photo. Then, the last three are all K on left, and N on right.

4 Month Appt Today

Check back tomorrow for stats. I'm excited to find out how they're growing. It's obvious that they're both putting on weight, but I'm curious how much. I'm particularly interested in Nicole since she's my eating champ!!!!

FOUR Months Old!!! Whoo Hooo!!!

Nothing big to report. Just excited that my babies are 4 months old today. We have our doctor appointment next week. More shots. Boo hoo for mommy.

A Big Moment!!!! Take Two!!!!

Nicole rolled over tonight from her belly to her back. YEAH NICOLE!!!!!!!!! And Kaitlyn seems to be getting better at it. I hadn't seen her do it since the initial evening. Joanna (our nanny) said she saw it one time last week. Anyway, I saw her do it three times tonight. Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

How fun that we get to see all of this twice. Although this might be our only shot at all of this. We may not get to do it again like some of you in two or three more years. The jury is still out on that one....

Just Throwing This Out There

Two favors:

1) My brother has a friend looking for a job in IT. If anyone has a heads up on an opening, please let me know.

2) My nanny needs a car. We've been able to work stuff out for a while, as I knew she didn't have a car when I hired her. She said she thought it would take about a month to buy one. It's only been three weeks, but every lead they've followed up hasn't panned out. She doesn't have a lot to spend...probably $4,000 or less. If anyone knows of a friend trying to sell a car, please let me know. She would prefer 4 doors (and so would I since she'll probably take my twins out at some date way in the future).

CNN Film Stars!!!

I told everyone a while back to keep your eyes peeled on CNN for my girls but I never told you the story behind it. Here goes, because Michelle told me the other day that she was pretty sure she saw them on CNN. Their first formal TV debut. How Fun!!!

I have a friend,Trisha, who works at CNN. That's my "in" and why the girls were chosen. Basically, CNN was doing some story about infants, and they always keep stock footage of lots of things so that when stories come up, they just go to their film archives instead of having to go out and shoot film on short notice for emerging stories. Anyway, when they did this infant story a while back, the producers (or someone) was disappointed according to Trisha, as their infant stock footage was nearly 10 years old at this point. They felt like they needed a fresh film approach and more current stuff. So, the girl they asked to gather the footage sent out an email to several of her CNN friends (one of whom is Trisha), asking if they knew anyone with infants that could be filmed. Trisha called me and asked if I'd mind if they taped Kaitlyn and Nicole. Of course I didn't mind.

So, CNN came out to our house for about 45 minutes one afternoon while I was still on leave and taped them in their cribs, me changing their clothes, them doing tummy time on their boppy pillows, them in their stroller and them on their activity mat. I believe I was the only set of twins that they taped, and the girl said she was only taping about 5 families. So, there's a really good chance that if you ever see a story regarding infants on CNN that my girls will be a part of the film footage. And if you see twins, it's almost a shoe in that it's Kaitlyn and Nicole.

Just so you can be a little more sure, when they were in their cribs, they were just in PJs and filmed individually. I don't remember what the PJs looked like. So, that's anyones guess; however, our furniture is dark wood, and we've got the white bead board with green walls. And their bedding is yellow, green and pink. But after I changed them, all film was taken of them wearing a khaki jumper dress with pink embriodered flowers on it and a pink floral onesie under the jumper. I didn't get around to putting socks on them. Bad mommy. :-( So, if you see some barefoot twins with a khaki jumper on, that's them. Some of the shots, they zoomed in to just get one child at a time, so even if you don't see twins, it still could be one of them.

And I was wearing black pants and a black, white and red striped shirt. Michelle said that's how she figured out it was them (cause she saw the Georgia colored top and figured that was me). I assure you I didn't wear Georgia colors on purpose. I was still on maternity leave with some baby weight and black is a flattering color. :-)

Our stoller is black and white, our activity mat is yellow and has the design of a lion's head on it, and our boppy pillows are covered one in a hot pink print and the other in a purple print. Those should be some additional clues if you were curious.

Bye, and keep watching!!!!

A Big Moment!!!!

Kaitlyn rolled over tonight from her belly to her back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW! We were getting ready for bath time, and I figured, hey, why not some tummy time. So, I laid out a pillow and propped their arms and torso on the pillow with their hips and legs hanging off onto the mattress (just to give them a little height to see better). Kaitlyn looked like she might actually roll over, so I quickly grabbed Nicole (as she was in Kaitlyn's path). Sure enough, she rolled over. I yelled for Mike. He ran in and I thought, no way she'll do it again. She did! We tried a third time. Again!!! So, then I was thinking, is it the pillow? Does it give her momentum? So, I put her just on the mattress. She did it a 4th time. HOLY COW!!! She didn't do it a 5th time when we tried, but hey. This was a fantastic night.

We of course tried with Nicole many times thinking they might both roll over at the same time. Not quite yet. She'll get there though.

Here are some pumpkin patch pictures.

Our first ever hay ride. What fun!!!

This next one is my absolute favorite. We tried to prop them up against a pumpkin so we could have a photo of just them without us in it. Didn't go so well as you can see. I love it!!!

And Elizabeth, I'll be thinking about you tomorrow. If you need a friend, just call.

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

Dum, diddie, dum, diddie, dum, dum, dum. (That's an old kids' book that I had when I was little.)

Anyway, back to the point. We've definitely found our hands, fingers and thumbs in our house. Kaitlyn has turned into quite the thumb sucker. It's SO CUTE!!! She doesn't curl her fingers in a fist when she sucks, so her four fingers just kind of consume her whole face. I have a picture of her a while back in an older post. (Of course I have more pictures too that I can post soon.) However, back then, it was just kind of a random thing. Now it's all the time.

And as for Nicole, she doesn't thumb suck. She just sucks her whole fist. It's so funny. She opens up really wide and tries to shover her whole fist in her mouth. That obviously doesn't work, so she ends up sucking on what she can.

And they've both figured out saliva. Boy, the drool is crazy. So, when their hands, fingers, thumbs, whatever come out of their mouth, of course, they're soaked with spit. Ah, the joys of parenthood. Wouldn't trade it for the world.

Last thing, we went to a pumpkin patch this weekend with my whole family. It was toward North Georgia. In hind sight, we should have made it a weekend up at the lake as well because we were probably more than half way there, but oh well. Anyway, I have lots of cute photos from that. I'll post them tonight or tomorrow when I get home.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I celebrated my birthday this weekend. I'm getting up there. Kaitlyn and Nicole got me a very cute picture collage (one for each of them) to put on my desk AT WORK...boo hoo on that. I love them. They're so cute: the girls and the pictures. :-)

I'm adjusting at work. I haven't cried since the first day. I do go home at lunch though. I'm planning to cut back this week and maybe only go home 3 or 4 times. Then next week, I'll try to cut back to 2 or 3 times and so on. I do plan to go home one day every week though on a regular basis. Why not do it if you're lucky enough to live close to work, right?

Drama Queen

OK, so this morning's post was dismal. Sorry. I cried a few times in the morning...mostly every time someone said, "Welcome Back." I think crying was the natural reaction because their comments only reminded me that I was, in fact, back. I didn't boo hoo or anything, but tears would well up in my eyes. Anyway, my boss is out at a conference Monday and Tuesday which also made my transition a bit easier. I came home for lunch and also left about 1/2 hour early. I'll probably do that again tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, it was really tough, but their heads didn't fall off or anything, so I think the day was an overall success.



How about some pictures?

We went swimming for the first time ever on Sunday. What fun. (They actually didn't react to the water at all...no crying nor any smiles. Oh well. Pretty uneventful. Probably just like a bath.

This is how we watch TV. What cool media chairs. OK, so their high chairs, but they recline to make feeding easier once you begin using a spoon but before they can sit up. And these are some new outfits mommy bought us when she found out a CNN camera crew was coming to film us. Now, we ended up wearing something different, but we love these cute outfits anyway. (I'll have to fill you all in about CNN in another post. I completely forgot to update you on that; however, if you're watching a story about babies on CNN and you think those kids might look familiar, they just might be Kaitlyn and Nicole.)

Worst Day of My Life?

I'm back at work this morning and already missing my girls terribly. I've done a lot of crying over the past few days as I prepared to come back to work. I have a feeling the crying will only continue today and probably this entire week. For those of you who have friends, family, or even a spouse to look after your little ones all day, stop and take a moment today and realize how lucky you are.

On a related note, if anyone knows of someone who's looking for a job (nanny), please let me know. We obviously hired someone, but I'd much rather use someone that one of my friends personally knows.

Poor Girls

Mike has decided to turn the girls into Falcons fans. He was appologizing to them as he put them into their new Falcons onesies...

5 Nights, 2 Infants, Guess How Many Trips...

Well, the girls have done AWESOME!!! I mean AWESOME!!! In the past 5 nights, I think I've made 7 trips total down to the nursery. And here's the strange thing...they've ALL been for Kaitlyn. I haven't had to go down for Nicole once. I think Nicole must have spent all of her nights trying to wriggle out of the swaddle, and now that we've taken her out, she can finally just relax and chill. :-) And Kaitlyn is still doing fantastic. Who would have thought only 7 trips? It was only one trip the first night, and that was at 9:45. I hadn't even gone to bed yet, so that was hardly inconvenient. This is great. Let's hope they keep it up.

Now, on the other hand, naps are suffering. It started one week ago, which was before we eliminated the swaddle, so I don't think that's it. I just think they might be getting to the age where they can be up for a bit longer and nap a little bit less. We're going to try a more relaxed napping schedule starting today and see how it goes.

Go Dawgs! Nice win against a no-name team yesterday. Go Bama!!! They had a nice win. And hopefully today...Go Falcons!!!

Wish Me Luck...I'll Need It

Tonight marks a big event in the twins' lives. We're going to bed un-swaddled!!!!!! Ta-Da! Nicole has managed for the past several nights to wiggle out of her swaddle, and she's actually ended up in some pretty interesting positions. This morning, though, wasn't so interesting but instead scary. She had the swaddle blanket almost near her neck, and she had scooted all the way down her 'incline to sleep' thing and turned a 90 degree angle, meaning she was the whole different direction from where I placed her down last night. So, that was the end of the swaddle. After the bedtime bottle tonight, we put both Kaitlyn and Nicole in a sleep sack. We'll see how it goes. I've heard bad things about these first few nights. I should expect to go down and calm them several times over the next few nights until they get used to it. And I say wish me luck because, who are we kidding, Mike's going to work and I'm still on maternity leave. So, it's only fair that I get the crappy nights sleep. I just hope it's only a few nights. And it will be worth it to do it now so that we don't have to deal with this as two working parents. :-)

Goooooooo DAWGS!!!! Sic 'em, woof, woof, woof

It just worked out that they both happened to have their mouth open, but you couldn't ask for a better picture as a Georgia fan. :-)
These pictures are from last week's game. Their first Georgia game ever...we had to get all dressed up in our Georgia onesies and start practicing how to bark. Go Dawgs!!! Hey, maybe those will be our first words?

I Think We're There

They had been sleeping about 10 to 10 1/2 hours a night. This week, it's been closer to 11 hours. Woo Hoo!!! Tuesday and Wednesday morning were the start. We've been getting them to bed around 9:00pm, and they slept until 8:00am. And on Tuesday, we even had to wake them at 8:15 actually, but they were taking Tylenol from the shots. So, I didn't know if that had anything to do with it. Well, we stopped the Tylenol mid to late afternoon on Wednesday, and they still slept until 8am on Thursday morning and this morning. In fact, today I woke them up at 8 to eat so that Mike could see them just before he left for work.

We might be able to get them to sleep even longer than 11 hours, but I'm good with this for now. I like our schedule. If they were to sleep longer, it would mean pushing bedtime up, which would mean Mike wouldn't get to see them as much when he gets home from work. So, I'm happy with this.

And several posts ago, I mentioned trying to get down to 5 bottles. I've done that too. I think we're on week two of that. I just forgot to let you all know, and I know you were dying to find out!!! HA!!! I'm sure most of this isn't interesting anymore. I'll try to keep the pictures coming then so you don't die of boredom when you check the blog. :-)

Doctor Stats and More Pictures

Kaitlyn is now 21 1/2 inches which puts her in the 20th percentile. Her weight was 10-3 which is 45th percentile, so she's catching up on weight. I'd like to see her get a bit taller too though.

Nicole is 22 1/2 inches (1 inch taller than sister) which puts her in the 60th percentile. Go Nicole!!! Her weight is 10-12 and is the 50th percentile. For the longest time, she was about exactly a pound bigger than Kaitlyn, but not anymore.

And we cried when we got our shots, and mommy shed a few tiny tears. Nothing major. We've taken our Tylenol and done just fine over the past two days. No major melt downs, no major fevers, no interruptions in our night time sleeping patterns. (I've been giving them Tylenol every 4-6 hours, even at night I've crept in there and shot some in their mouth, so I don't know if that's why or if they just didn't have bad reactions??? It hasn't been bad at all though. That still doesn't mean that I'm going to be OK for the 4 and 6 month appts when they do this all over again, but maybe my rationale mind will remember this experience and realize it's not that bad.)

Above: Kaitlyn found her thumb. :-)
Below: Nicole

Below: Nicole on left, Kaitlyn on right

Above: Kaitlyn chillin' in the tub.

Below: Nicole looking rather worried in the bath. How strange because both sister and I LOVE bath time. We calm down and relax.

Finally Some Pictures

Haven't downloaded the camera in a while. Apologies. Here are some photos from the month of August. I'll publish some more tomorrow too. I think the blogger only lets you do 5 at a time, and I have plenty more for another post. So, check back tomorrow too.

L to R: Nicole, Mike, Kaitlyn
L to R: Kaitlyn, Alyson (hey, I'm on maternity leave, give my hair a break!), Nicole

L to R: Nicole and Kaitlyn

Minnie and Kaitlyn on the boat!!! Yes, we went boating at only 2 months old. It was so much fun.

Nicole and Daisy, also on the boat. Boy we had a good time.