5 to 8 Months!

I actually started this post when Allie and Luke turned 5 months and then I never finished it. So when the babies were 5 months old, Luke weighed about 15 lbs and Allie was around 14 lbs. They were both rolling over back to front and sleeping til about 6am, finally! Allie was grabbing everything and was about to start sitting. Luke is not too far behind. I can't fly by the seat of my pants so I have them on a schedule so the day goes pretty smoothly.

Now for present day........Allie sat up soon after 5 months and started crawling and pulling up at 7 months. She is everywhere. I have to close doors and watch her all the time. This is my first experience with stuff like that because Cale didn't even crawl or scoot until almost 11 months so she is putting me to work! She is really happy and just content crawling around investigating everything. She loves to follow Cale around and be where he is. Luke also sat up at around 5 months and just started crawling about 3 weeks after Allie. He doesn't move around too much and only crawls when he really wants something. Luke is pretty laid back and doesn't have too many expressions except for crying when he isn't happy. He is very stoic. He also loves to watch Cale and laugh at him. I can't believe they slept until 6am. Right after 5 months, Luke started waking up every two hours wanting his paci. He did that for a couple of weeks until I let him cry it out. That worked well for about a week, then he got sick and it has been downhill ever since. They were all sick over Christmas and all three ended up with tubes and Cale with his adnoids out at the begining of January.

Sleeping all night is still something I dream about!! Luke has started to sleep until almost 4am and then I feed him and he then sleeps til about 6:30am. Not great. But, last night I loaded their night bottles with cereal and Luke slept until 5am and Allie slept until 6:30. Not bad, just hoping it gets better. I think we were spoiled with Cale because he was such a great sleeper and napper!

I will say...........twins is no joke. Waaaayy harder then just one. I look back and laugh because I remember Chris and I would always tell each other how hard we thought having a baby was, and that was one! I should have soaked it all in, because 3 is craziness!!!

Cale is doing well. He gets evaluated in March for the Mabank PPCD program. We also are applying for the Head Start program so hopefully he will get into that and be pulled out during the day for whatever therapies he qualifies for. He will also start back when he turns 3 to private speech and will probably continue that for his whole elementary career. I still go through so many up and down emotions with him. During the highs I think that he is doing great and he is pretty much on track with other 2 1/2 year olds and will only have some learning disablities. Then the lows are me realizing that he is going to need way more help than that and the biggest thing I worry about is his social skills. I know kids will like him, but will he get invited to sleepovers? Will he have girls like him and call him and write him notes? Will he be able to drive a car? Will he be able to live on his own and have a good job and support himself? From what I have read and seen first hand of FX kids the answer to these questions is no. And that really gets me down, but then I try to think that Cale will be the exception and that some miracle drug is in his future. I know things with Cale are just going to get harder. Making sure he is getting the services he needs, making sure he is learning everything he needs to in school, developing his social skills, taking him to all his therapies, potty training (that's a whole other post). It's a lot to deal with!!!

But, with all that going on it is still a wild ride here at the Choat house. Never a dull moment. I know it will just keep getting better and more fun as the kids get older. I will try not to wait too long between posts next time!

She does everything he does, it is pretty cute:

Who doesn't love baby butts! Allie's is the chunkier one!This pretty much sums up thier relationship, Allie taking toys from Luke:

Christmas.....babies are 6 months:
Babies are 5 months:

We might have an A-Rod on our hands....

We have been working with Cale on stuff that crosses his midline. Like touching elbow to opposite knee and crossing over his body. So swinging a bat was one of these things and he would always just do the 'ol chopping wood swing. But, as I should know with Cale, he does things when he is ready. So this is him finally hitting the ball off the tee! Yes, he swings both ways when he misses, but we can work on that.

Fall, Fair & Four Months!

Soooo fall is here. Thank goodness! Loving the cooler weather. On the baby front everything is going well. Luke is 13.9 and Allie is 12.8. I started them on cereal. Luke is still up once a night to eat so I wake Allie up too. Luke is waking up anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30 every night, then again at 7am on the dot. Hoping the cereal will help him last longer. I know they are only 4 months, but I am ready for a solid nights sleep that's for sure!!! Luke is pretty much the same. He is the crier, needs to be held, basically a mama's boy or lap baby as Chris would call him. But, I am happy to accommodate. He has trouble calming himself and I usually give in and rock him. But, I ended that last night. He is in sleep boot camp this week. Allie is still a little slice of heaven. She is so happy, puts herself to sleep and just plays on the floor with her toys. They are both cooing up a storm and smiling and laughing which is really fun.

Cale is doing well. He is back on his nap schedule and only going to pre-school half days. He still does OT once a week and speech once a week. He has started saying 3 and 4 words together. He repeats everything. He's like a parrot. He also loves to show us things he is doing. He finally learned to jump off a step. It's a tiny step, only about 3 inches high, but he finally did it with two feet at the same time! He loves to climb everything and jump on the trampoline. Cale is pretty much just a happy kid. He still has his anxiety with some things and his sensory issues with his mouth are full force. He constantly has his hands in his mouth. We have to give him a little brush to chew on or rub his mouth with so he can get that fulfillment. He still stuffs his mouth when he eats, but is using his spoon or fork a lot more. I think school is helping with that. Cale knows most of his shapes and colors. He can count to 10 with a little assistance and knows ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me. He tries to sing them, but mostly will fill in the blanks when we sing with him. Oh, and the cutest new thing he started doing is praying. He wants to pray all the time. He tells us "pray" and we all have to put our hands together and close our eyes and he says, "Thank you Jesus...Amen". It is really cute! I think he is pretty much ready to potty train, but I just can't pull the trigger on that yet. I don't have the energy. Maybe Christmas Break???

Allie and Luke got dedicated at church:

Wen to the Fair. Cale loved the airplane ride and kept saying, "go fast"!

He loves wearing his sunglasses and chowed down on a corn dog.

Cale loves his cousin Morgan or sometimes he calls her Mo-mo

Yes! Finally the year is here that he didn't cry getting near or on a pumpkin! He actually smiled and laughed!

3 Months

Pretty soon my blog titles are going to need to get more creative. Right now, I just can't muster it. 3 months. Allie is about 10.7 and Luke is about 11.7. They are waking up once still, but it keeps getting later and later. They go down about 8 and wake up at around 4 to eat then again at about 8. Allie is a great baby. She doesn't cry, she plays, smiles, coos, loves tummy time. I mean I hit it big with this one. On the other hand. Mr. Luke is total opposite. He hates tummy time and cries quite a bit. He does make up for it with his extreme cuteness. Well, since there is two of them I am just counting my blessings that one is easy!

I am taking Cale to pre-school at 7:30 so I can get back to the house to feed the babies at 8. Then I have been picking Cale up at 2:30 which has been awesome, but all that is coming to a bitter end. He will not, will not take a nap at school. And this has trickled into his off days and weekends. Basically, he has not taken a nap here at home in 3 weeks! I can't take it. This is madness. Cale needs work in a lot of areas, but sleeping was never one of them. He has always been a great napper and sleeper. And now he cries for the entire 2 hours he is in his crib. And it started when he started trying to nap at school. So I guess I gotta retrain him.

And on a personal note....I don't know if it is because it was my second pregnancy or because it was a twin pregnancy, but my stomach is disgusting! Not just the loosey, goosey skin, but my muscles are just mush. I don't see this getting better. So a minimizing tank just became my best friend.

Funnsies:

Dot overload:

Anyone order a Luke sandwhich?

She's so pretty!

Two Months!

Month 2 has flown by. I am sad that Chris will be going back to work next week and I will be doing this by myself! I'm a little nervous about it. So far the babies are great! They really are good babies. It is crazy because now that I have normal developing babies it makes me realize how incredibly tough Cale was as a baby. I just thought that is how babies were, but I think most of his difficulties stemmed from his Fragile X. It is very interesting to compare different things about them. Don't get me wrong, Cale was a little gem, but that first year. Whoa.

Anyway........Allie sleeps ALOT. Luke loves to be held. They are starting to smile and coo. At their two month appointment Allie weighed 9.13 and Luke was 10.7. Allie is going to have to wear a band (helmet). But, it is not as devastating because Cale wore one. She gets her scan in late September. Maybe she will only have to wear it a couple of months?? Both babies are waking up at night only twice now to eat. Usually about midnight and 4am. Hopefully in the next month they will drop that midnight feeding. Cale has a lot of energy and it is so dang hot outside it is hard for us to get all that energy out of him. He started pre-school and will be going half days Monday, Wednesday, Friday. This will be great for him. He can socialize and I can get a break. He is talking up a storm and repeating everything! His 6 month evaluation for ECI is coming up and he has accomplished all his goals. We are so proud! He eats with a spoon (it is VERY messy), pulls his pants off, washes his hands (still working on drying them), walks up and down stairs with no help and finally can jump!!

Dad is Cale's new barber:

1 Month Down, 215 to Go

The first month has seemed to fly by. As I was posting pictures I realized that I really haven't taken any great ones of both Allie and Luke together. I'll try to improve that in month two. Anyway, it hasn't been too bad (knock on wood). Actually, the challenging part is Cale. He requires more of our energy and we don't sleep a great deal so it is exhausting try to keep up with him. The babies are still eating every 3 hours. Chris does the midnight feeding and I do the 3am feeding. Then he gets up and does the 6am feeding. I am pumping so I pretty much have to get up anyway to do that, but I figure it is just a small blip in the radar of thier childhood so it hasn't bothered me too much to do that. Luke is the crier. He screams everytime getting his diaper changed and he is always the one that wakes up wanting to eat. Allie pretty much opens her eyes for about 1 hour a day. She loves to sleep, but we have to wake her up to eat when Luke does so they will be on the same schedule. Cale loves his brother and sister. He is always saying, hi Allie and hi Luke. He gives them kisses all the time, wants to hold the bottle while they eat and pats them on the back to help burp. Cale started school today. He will be going this summer 3 days a week, half days. And then when school starts he will probably go 2 full days. He seemed to have a good time today. Allie and Luke had thier 1 month appointment today. Allie weighs 8.5 and Luke is 8.4. Now, for some pictures......

They started out on opposite ends. This cracks me up. Exactly how Chris sleeps, drool and all.

The new additions have arrived!!!

The story......

I was scheduled for my c-section Thursday, June 3 at 11:30. Wednesday afternoon about 2 I started having contractions. I finally called the doctor at 5:30 and was told to come in. We got there about 9 and was put on monitors. I was dialated 4cm and was 70% effaced so we decided to go ahead with the c-section. Allie Grace was born at 12:46 am and Luke Daniel was born at 12:47 am on June 3rd!

Last picture. 36 weeks and 4 days:
On the monitors waiting to go in the operating room:

Waiting to get the party started:

Luke:

Miss Allie:

Chris is beside himself:

I am in shock:

Family of 5. Wow. I am still in shock: