Rollin'

Not one to be left behind, Ruby also rolled yesterday!

Josh was changing Ava's nappy in the bedroom and Terry, Alysha and I were hanging out in the lounge, with Ruby on her tummy.

She gave herself a push with her leg and arm and kind of hovered there while we all went "will she, wont she??", and then with a tilt of her head, she was over on her back. So frigging cute! Love love love these girls so much.  No tears from Ruby, but also no rolls since.

The dark horse

I popped both girls down on their tummies, turned around to grab my camera and then turned back to find a very surprised looking Ava on her back!

She promptly burst into tears and then refused to sit/lie on anything but me. So I don't think she'll be in a hurry to do it again.

But I find it really interesting that Ava does so many things first. Ruby has been so good at tummy time lately. Lifts her head really high and is happy to lie like that for ages, just chilling and looking around. Whereas Ava has been struggling to lift her head (we actually think she may have neck issues, seeing as she prefers one side when she sleeps, etc) and tends to grumble after a few short minutes on her tummy.  Or maybe she hates tummy time so much more, which is why she was so keen to get back onto her back.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I'm so proud of my little girl.

She's such a dark horse because she seems so quiet and she'll do something and then Ruby will eventually catch up and then seem to bypass her (Ava talked first but now Ruby chatters away while Ava is not much of a talker, Ava was better at tummy time, but now hates doing it whilst Ruby is so good at it). I wonder if she'll keep this up.

Growing up too fast

The girls have been sleeping in their own bassinets in our room but I've been very keen to get them into their own room asap (before they turn 5 months old).  I only want them to move out because I've been told that they become a bit more aware of their surroundings/sleep environment when they reach 4 months (which is 5 months for us cos of being premature).  However, Josh has been dragging his heels and has been very reluctant to let them move out.

He's working at a Blues game tonight....so I've put the girls in their own room! They are both fast asleep in one cot and so far, so good. It has been about an hour now.

But I'm feeling pretty anxious. Kind of wish Josh was here with me for this big milestone. Guess I'm not quite ready for them to move out either.

Oh the cuteness! Easter weekend photos.

Drew & Nathania's 1920's wedding

We had a lovely time in Russell, celebrating the marriage of Drew and Nathania.

We headed to Russell on the Friday after a very hectic morning (packing, picking up 1920's costumes in between feeding and changing babies).  The drive was quite nice and we just took it easy with a a few stops along the way so the girls could feed and have a bit of a stretch.  We arrived before 6pm and spent the night at the batch on Longbeach beach with Captain Jack.

We tried to go into the town centre for food around 6 or 7pm, but that was a bad idea as it was past the girls bedtime (my babies are funny wee things and insist on being in bed by 6 or 7). We were hoping they would sleep in the front packs but Ava screamed bloody murder when I put her in the pack and wouldn't stop even when I started walking. So we bought take away burgers and rushed back to the batch so we could put them to bed.

Saturday was a beautiful and slightly overcast day. We had to rug up a teeny bit when we popped across the road to have a chai/moccha and french crepe. What an awesome coffee spot :)

 

The wedding was that night and poor Josh was run off his feet quite a bit. First of all, we had to move from the bach to the hotel. Which is no simple task with babies, even if the places were only 5 mins apart by car.   Then he had to set up his music gear at the wedding venue, meet with Drew to go over his MC duties, get into costume, sing at wedding, MC, move all the gear back to the reception venue and then MC some more. And he still managed to pop into the room from time to time to check on my and the girls.

The day/night was a huge success and the bride and groom and bridal party looked gorgeous. I got ready with Siza, Tila and co in their lovely big room. Was a lot of fun getting into our 1920's gear and the girls were a dream the whole time - fed well and then slept for a while on Tila and Geoff's bed.

Unfortunately, the girls lost the plot around 6 or 7 again. So we took them upstairs to put them to bed. It took a while, I guess they were so worked up after the exciting day and all the noise and people wanting to have a look/cuddle with them. So I missed out on the arrival of the bride and groom, photos and first lot of speeches. But Josh and his dad took our orders and brought our entree's up to the room. LEGENDS!

Then  the in-laws offered to stay in the room with the girls whilst they slept so Josh and I could party. An offer we couldn't refuse. We partied away after that. Poor Josh was knackered by 10:30, which worked out well as the girls woke up for a feed and then he slept in the room with them whilst I went back downstairs for another hour of dancing/drinking tea with the bride. Yes, she was drinking tea by that stage haha.

The girls were amazing and slept right through the night till about 6:30. Then they woke up for a feed and went back to sleep for another 2 or 3 hours! Just what I needed!

We moved back to the bach after check out and spent another night before heading back to Auckland on Monday.  

A lovely weekend away with our little family!

4 months on

 Ava and I hanging out in Russell after Drew & Nathania's wedding (27 March 2013)


My baby girls are growing up way too fast!

I can't believe that they have been in our lives for just over 4 months, and yet, sometimes I can't remember what life without them was like.  We are more and more in love with them every day and feel so lucky to have such gorgeous little babies.

HANDS
Ava is fascinated by her hands. Used to be just her left hand, which we named Alfred, cos it's like a little friend for her. She could stare at that hand for hours (or so it seems). Although these days she seems to be sucking her hands more (and arms, her sisters hands, my shoulder, knuckles, anything she can get into her mouth).  She has also discovered her right hand (Boris) in recent days, but she still seems to favour her left hand more.

Ruby will also often gaze at her hands in wonder (more so her right hand) but definitely not as much as Ava. And she's not into slobbering all over them and still prefers the dummy.

SMILING/TALKING
Both girls smile and laugh ALOT. Love it! Especially at 4am when they spot us :) Makes the middle of the night wake ups so worth it.  They smile or laugh (silent laugh) when we smile at them, sing, pull faces, etc.

Ruby loves to chatter away and coos and makes mouth movements. Sometimes she'll do the mouth movements without sound which is so cute and funny. She loves to try and imitate us when we talk to her.  Her latest sound though sounds like a squeaky door and is not so cute.
Ava is a lot quieter but every now and then she'll try and talk as well (usually in the evenings or in the middle of the night when its very quiet and we have her one on one)

TUMMY TIME/MOVEMENT
They have both lost interest in tummy time, and if anything, Ava is better at lifting her head. Which is strange as Ruby used to be the one with the strong neck. But Ruby constantly tries to lean forward, as if she wants to sit up on her own. Seems to be frustrating her immensely.

FEEDING
I'm still exclusively breastfeeding. Quite rewarding to be able to look at their chubby thighs and tummies and know that I did that.
I haven't tandem fed in a while now as they are pretty good/quick at feeding and seem to get hungry one after the other. I really enjoy feeding one on one and does mean that I can do it on my own, which I often have to do as Josh has seemed to be quite busy in the last month or so, with lots of gigs and out of town gigs as well.

Ruby, Ava and I checking out the view. Having a mini break (and nappy change cos someone did a MASSIVE poo) at the Uretiti campsite rest stop on our way home from Russell.

 

Sidenote: I just re-read the post that I did at 10 weeks and it seems like the girls often switch (eg., Ava was the first to start talking but now she's pretty quiet and Ruby chatters away). Very interesting.