The Frei'sThe Journey of Parents with Twins

Well Samantha and Alexis are 5 months old today. What a ride it has been. I feel it is time for a quick recap of how the first 5 months went. So here it goes.

When I first saw the girls I was in love. With a combined weight of only 10 lbs., they came packaged very healthy and full of life. Barely fitting into their car seat and preemie clothes, we brought them home 3 days after they were born. The adjustment to life at home with twins was very tough. The doctor wanted us to feed them every 3 hours (from the beginning of the feeding), where the feedings tool 2 hours. For a good month, within a 24 hour period, we would get 8 total hours of sleep, in 30 to 40 min blocks. Month 1 was a blur but it was packed full of good time showing the girls off to family and friends.

Eventually the doc gave us the green light to allow them to sleep as long as they wanted. This was where things got easier. They started sleeping 3+ hours almost instantly and by the end of 2 months they were giving us 6+ continuous hours of sleep. Their 2 month checkup was all stars and the doc said we were raising two very healthy, beautiful girls.

I then left my job as a Network Administrator at Tweddle Group to stay at home with the girls. It was something we had been planning on doing for several months and we made all necessary accommodations to allow this to happen. For only the first couple weeks after Jackie went back to work did they not sleep through the night. By 10 weeks, they were sleeping through nearly the entire night. From about 9pm to 5 am. Regularity was being restored to the household.

The girls continued to grow and progress. We practice standing up, rolling over, sitting up, ABC’s and my favorite, all 50 states in alphabetical order. Since 12 weeks old, I wake them up in the morning. Our day begins at 8am. This allows for some regularity in my day, as well, gives us enough time in the day to go through enough feedings to give them the nutrients they need to grow. 

They start to grow so quickly at this point. Things happen out of nowhere. I remember telling one of my friends at about 15 or so weeks that we expect in another 4 or 5 weeks that we would see them roll over, well sure enough, the very next day, Samantha rolled to her side, and the very next day after that, she rolled all the way over. Before you knew it they started mimicking the sounds you make and pretend to talk to you. They can hold their head up while on their belly’s, holding their hands and pretending to have them walk. They both roll over both ways (Alexis is still working on back to belly but is sooooo close to finishing it though). The other day we brought them over to Grandma’s house and Alexis out of nowhere started spewing off AEIOU’s laaa’s and looo’s. Samantha has 2 front lower teeth already and Alexis can’t be too far behind with the amount of drool she is producing.

Today marks 5 complete months of existence of twins in our life. Things have moved from chaotic, to relatively structured. We have become proactive instead of reactive on things. We are sleeping through the night, taking the girls for walks regularly and reading the girls bedtime stories every single night. It is amazing how much joy children can bring into your life.  I thank God every day for the gift he has given us. I love the family time we have with the girls and all the memories we have shared already and look forward to the memories of the future.

5 Months Old VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today the girls and I went on a little adventure to George George Park in Mt. Clemens this evening. Mom and Dad went to Sonic Drive-in and ordered some carry-out and brought it to the park. Both Samantha and Alexis were supposed to have gone to sleep on the way over there but decided not to, they still ended up being in good spirits and we were able to get a couple pictures of them in front of some flowers. It will be nice when they can sit up on their own, that way these pictures don’t need to include the car seats but they are cute non the less.

		Trip to George George Park 8/27/2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today and yesterday we were visited by my cousin Janelle, her husband Preston and their little boys Logan, Nathan and Owen. They were going on a tour of Michigan visiting as many family members as they could. One of their stops was my house, where they crashed on our basement for the night. We had a lot of people over. Rick, Sarah, Evelyn and Olivia, my mother, Lee Ann and Mike, and Uncle Bruce and Aunt Julie. It was quite a full house. We grilled up some chicken and corn on the cob, the kids played around in the back yard and we passed the little ones from person to person. It was fun to finally meet Nathan and Owen after reading so much about them. They both seem like such happy babies, they were almost always smiling. Logan and I had a fun time exploring the garage. He was telling me how many “gooks” I have in my door and I was showing him how a garage door worked. It was so cute to see how fascinated he was with it all. It was a great time and it was good to see everyone again.

Hite Family Visit VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This weekend we took the girls on the longest trip yet. Cass City, MI. It was for the annual Windy Family reunion. The girls were just delightful on the way up there, sleeping the entire way. We made it there just in time for the meal which the girls also slept through. Once eating was done, the girls woke up and wanted a little meal of their own. Everybody was oohhh’ing and Ahhh’ing over them of course. It was a little warm and very humid but there was a really nice breeze going across the farm which kept us cool enough. The girls got to spend some time with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Windy, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Pabst.

The way home was a little bit different. The girls had fallen asleep, so we decided to make a quick dash to the car for the ride home. Well that worked for about a half an hour, when they woke up wanting more food. We stopped off in Marlette and fed them in the grocery store parking lot. All in all, seemed to go well.

It was good preparation for one of our next trips to Peoria, IL within a couple months. As many of you may already know, my sister Aletha and brother in law Craig gave birth to Norah Catherine Johnson on August 5, 2010 at 8:50pm. She is 7 lb and 19 inches and totally adorable.

Windy Family Reunion VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today was a very special day for our family. Samantha and Alexis were baptized. I wanted to thank all the friends and family that came out to share this very special day with us. It really mean a lot to us that we have such a great group of family and friends that want to be a part of our children’s life. Thank you.

Alexis was the first one to be baptized. The Godmother was Jackie’s sister Julie Gutmann and the Godfather was our brother-in-law Lenny Gutmann. Alexis appeared to enjoy the water being poured over her head. No funny stuff to report there.

Samantha was second to be baptized. The Godmother was Sarah Frei and the Godfather was my brother Richard Frei. Samantha, aside from what we thought was going to happen, appeared to enjoy the water as well. Again, no funny stuff here either.

Afterwards we invited everyone over to our house for some food, cake and some fun. We ordered the subs from my new favorite place, Lazybones Smokehouse. The subs went quick. I had to run in and snatch a slice of the pulled pork sub before it was all gone. Everyone appeared to have a lot of fun as I know us and the girls did as well.

Samantha and Alexis’s Baptism VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

On Friday Jackie and I took the girls to go see the pediatrician for their 4 month well-check. Doc says everything looks normal and that we are raising 2 very healthy little girls. He was shocked to hear that Samantha is already rolling over. He told us to not get discouraged if it took Alexis a little longer to start doing that, that Samantha was ahead of the game. He also did a test to see if they would grab onto things in front of them. They both grabbed the stick, then made mention that at the next visit (6 months) they should be swapping the stick between their hands. Well sure enough, after we got home, the girls were playing with their rattles and Samantha grabbed the rattle with one hand and swapped it to the other. She tried to go back but didn’t make it. There is one thing Alexis is doing faster than Samantha in though. Head growth. Alexis might be the littler one but her head is a half an inch bigger than Samantha’s head. Their official stats are as follows

Samantha
Length: 24 inches
Weight: 14 lbs.  0 oz.
Head Circumference: 16 inches

Alexis
Length: 22.5 inches
Weight: 11 lbs.  12 oz.
Head Circumference: 16.5 inches

As far as other development, they both love standing up, with help of course, they both love sitting up. Samantha, whenever angled back, always try’s to sit-up, but can’t quite do it yet. They are also mimicking us a little bit. We will make a noise and they will make one back. Alexis especially, if you make the spitting sound, she will spit salvia all over her face and will continue to do so as long as you are making the noise back.

That’s it for this post. We have been getting the house ready all week for their baptism this Sunday. I will obviously post pictures of that once they are taken of course.  

Well I decided to bring out the camera and try a little photo shoot with the girls. I found that I was taking lots of videos of the girls and sending them to Jackie that we kind of stopped taking pictures of them. Well.. no more!! Here’s our pajama pictures..

16 Weeks VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Well I am just getting to it today but Samantha is rolling over now. She rolled over 3 times yesterday, twice so far today. Safe to say it wasn’t a one time thing. Here is the video from roll over number 3.

Just thought I would update on their 3rd month of existence. They are both doing real well. We just took them to JCPenney’s to get their pictures taken this weekend as well as took them to a Birthday Party for one of our friend’s daughters. Most recent accomplishments include, sleeping 10+ hours every night for the last 2 weeks. Samantha is constantly trying to sit up. She cannot make it on her own, we still have to help, but if she is leaning back at all, she is trying to sit up. I swear both of them are trying to repeat after me. It started with them repeating “ooo’s” and “ahhh’s” and they are now saying “hello”. Well trying to. I’ll see if I can get some video of it.. totally cute. Samantha loves to sit up and stand up, with assistance of course and Alexis loves to lay on the floor and kick her feet. Her cries are totally cute too.. She yells.. not cries. Looks like I have to get some videos up here. In the mean time, here’s some photos.

3 Months Old VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Well the girls are almost 3 months old now and boy are they getting big. I have a little time right now while the girls are sleeping, I figured I would make a quick post and share some pictures. The girls have been very good to daddy so far in his first week as a stay at home dad. We spend a lot of time on the play mat and under the play gym. We go for walks around the subdivision all the time and the girls really enjoy it. The girls are also sleeping very well, easily we get 5.5 – 6 hours continuous sleep per night. We have also been surprised with a couple 7, 8, and 9 hours sleeps. We have decided to not care for them both at the same time at night. Meaning, when one wakes up, we let the other one sleep if she is still sleeping. We will not wake her up just for a feeding. Opposite schedules during the night.. actually works a little bit better. Well, enough with the boring stuff, here are the photos.

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