Dave&Meeks&Mitch&Lucas&Sam@Home

Portrait sessions with the boys

2009-07-08T19:08:00.006+10:00

After rearranging the lounge room we decided we want to put some pictures of the boys up on the walls. So today I whipped out the softbox and put on the trustee Tamron 90mm SP F2.8 and started shooting whenever the boys were still long enough to take some photos.

Here is a sample of what came out of the camera
Mitch

Lucas

Sam

Lucas and Sam are looking very like each other at the moment. Looking at the photos, the only way we can tell the difference is because of tiny spots on their faces!

Furniture rearrangement

2009-07-02T06:41:00.005+10:00

Over the weekend we decided to rearrange our lounge room to make two smaller living areas out of it. One is for grown ups and there is a play area for Mitch. This is partially driven by the need to give Mitch a bit of a play area and partially because we needed to rearrange the nursery too. The nursery was only big enough for two cots, if we took the arm chair out. So we put the arm chair in the corner of the new play area. It's quite nice sitting by the front window in the sun reading stories. Here is the new arrangement

Shaz and Phil have loaned us their cot, so now the boys room is somewhat crammed with two cots, a change table, a bookshelf and a cupboard. Big thank you to Phil and Shaz for that. The boys are just starting to get to big to be in a cot together. We quite often separate them now during the day by putting one on our bed so they don't wake each other up. It's not so much of an issue at night because they sleep reasonable well, but during the day there is lots more noise in the house, so they are more inclined to wake up.

In other news, Mitch had another successful swimming lesson again yesterday, so that seems to have sorted itself out which is a great relief.

Finally, our thanks to everyone who has, and continues to, cook meals for us. We greatly appreciate it. It is so busy at that time of the evening, not having to worry about cooking dinner as well is a great help. We have had a great variety of meals and have appreciated every one.

Slideshows of the boys

2009-07-01T22:02:00.006+10:00

First up a video of Mitch playing on the rope climbing ball thing the park, from a few weeks ago

Next up the boys from today.

Swimming Lessons

2009-06-24T14:45:00.003+10:00

Mitch has been having swimming lessons on Wednesday mornings for the last three weeks. The first week Meeks took him and he screamed and wailed and cried, constantly trying to get out of the pool. Meeks was there with the twins and had a nightmare balancing act trying to keep Mitch in the pool, while not letting the twin who was strapped to her front fall into the water and the twin in the pram get splashed. In short it was a total disaster. As Meeks left the mother of the other child in Mitch's little group said, "Are you coming back next week?" in an accusatory tone.

Last week I took Mitch without the twins. Pretty much the same thing happened except there were no twins to worry about so I pretty much kneeled on the floor the whole time trying to convince Mitch that every thing was okay and that he needed to stay in the water and the swimming instructor was nice and friendly and there were no sharks in the water who were going to eat him. He was a little bit better than the week before, and the other mother was nice enough to say so, but I walked out with my nerves wrecked from the screaming and the distress at seeing Mitch distressed. The odd thing was that on the way to swimming he was talking about how much fun swimming lessons were and as soon as he was out of the pool and getting changed he was saying how much fun he had had and he was looking forward to coming back the next week. Obviously the experience didn't scar him emotionally like it had done to me!

Now, as an aside, this is all very unusual for Mitch. He normally loves swimming in pools and indeed when we were in Queensland at the start of the year he would cry whenever we told him it was time to get out of the water. Equally he loves swimming at Nana and Poppy's house too and was making really good progress towards the end of last summer.

So it was with great trepidation that I took Mitch off to swimming lessons this morning. Meeks had bought him a little lego workman with a cement mixer as a bribe, saying he would only get it if he was a good boy. Mitch was very excited. We got to swimming and he needed to do a wee, so we went off to the unpleasant toilets and then went back down to the pool. With 5 minutes to go til his lesson he said he needed to do a poo, so by now I was thinking, "Oh no!", so we went back to the toilets and he finished his business and we went back to the pool. Finally, it was time for his lesson to start, so I took off his jumper and held my breath. Much to my surprise he wandered over to the teacher without a peep, climbed into the water and proceeded to have a great time for the next 30 minutes. Not only was there no evidence of the crying from previous weeks, he was playing and laughing and squealing with delight. He was doing everything the teacher told him to and he was having fun doing it. I was amazed and so was the other mother. I think she thought I had brought a different child. In fact after the lesson one of the other mothers from a child in one of the other classes came up and remarked on how great it was that he was enjoying himself this time.

Mitch was very excited to receive his lego workman with cement mixer and we were delighted to give it to him. I guess this was a bit of a lesson in perseverence for us. It is really important to us that Mitch learns to swim as soon as possible. Every summer you hear the horrible, horrible stories about toddlers drowning in backyard pools.

Mitchy's first day at Kindy

2009-06-22T22:33:00.002+10:00

Well, it's not really kindy, it's Long Day Care, but we tell him it's kindy. Anyway, the important thing is he absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back next week. He played on the equipment and he did painting and played with puzzles and did heaps of other fun things. The one thing he spent all his time talking about when he got home was his new friend Annabelle. Anabelle this, Anabelle that. Very cute!

Lucas and Sam - 8 weeks old

2009-06-21T15:03:00.009+10:00

Lucas and Sam are 8 weeks old tomorrow. Time has indeed flown! I have been a bit slack with updating the blog of late. I have been too busy. I've taken quite a few photos, but it is hard to get both of them looking okay at the same time and to have the camera ready when it happens. Instead you get a bunch of shots like this:
Lucas
Sam
Again, good for 18ths, not so good for putting in a photo album

When you are trying to get something a little more like this:
Sam
Lucas
Little cutie boys!

Both boys are much more alert now. They track you with their eyes and kind of look at your face - Sam has a bit of a habit of looking at my hair rather than my eyes. Both of them aren't quite to the point where you know if they are smiling or just experiencing wind. They occasionally make cute baby noises, but not much going on there either.

They had their shots on Friday for whooping cough and other things and also rotavirus. They cried but were asleep again by the time they left the surgery. They both also slept most of Friday, perhaps hoping if they didn't wake up no one would stick another needle in them again. Speaking of sleep, it really is a bit of a lottery at the moment. We have some really bad nights and some reasonable nights. They don't do anything like sleeping through at the moment. It is only 8 weeks though and Mitch didn't do it till he was 11 weeks. I suspect they will be later though, because it only takes one of them to wake up and they're both awake. We're not waking them up to feed at night. They're quite vocal in telling us when they're ready. I think the record between feeds is about 5 and a half hours. Meeks and I have forgotten what a full night's sleep is. We wont know ourselves when we finally get one. On a good night, if we're lucky we might get 6 hours sleep, however it is generally in chunks of no more than 2 hours which isn't really good sleep.

Thanks to all who have been cooking for us over the past couple of weeks. We have really, really appreciated every meal. Also thanks to Anne-Daisy who over a couple of weeks ago and took care of the house while Meeks had a sleep. It was very appreciated. Thanks also to those who have been praying for us. It is making a big difference and we greatly appreciate it.

Mitch's funny faces

2009-06-21T14:46:00.003+10:00

Mitch likes making funny faces for the camera and then looking at the results of them. Here is a sample:

It will be fun bringing them out at his 18th birthday :)

Mitch was going to start Kindy tomorrow, but has a cold at the moment so may not be able to. We'll have to wait and see how he goes the rest of today and tomorrow. He is sooooo looking forward to it, it would be a big shame for him to have to miss out. Hopefully he gets a good sleep tonight and is good to go tomorrow.

Kindy

2009-06-15T09:15:00.003+10:00

Today is a big day for Mitchy. We are fortunate enough to have been given a one day placement at a very good local long day care type place. He is going to start going to Mt Errington Early Learning Centre (they don't seem have a website which is a little surprising) on Mondays. Today he and Meeks are going up for a meet and greet. We have had his name on the waiting list for a while and were fortunate enough to get a place on a day which works well for us. We really hope he loves it.

Back to work ... sigh

2009-06-10T08:59:00.003+10:00

Well, I am back at work which is very sad. Back to the world where NFT means Non-Functional Testing as opposed to Nappy Free Time.

The last 6 weeks have gone incredibly quickly. The first 4 weeks were relatively easy. The boys basically only slept and fed. The last two weeks have been a lot harder. A lot harder. After feeds they double team you. One starts crying so you pick him up and sooth him, then just before he has become relaxed the other one starts crying so you put the first one down to sooth the second and just before he calms down the first one starts crying again. This can go on and on. At various times Meeks and I have been exhausted. Please pray that we can get through it.

I think it will be hardest for Meeks alone with the three boys now. I've had a bit of practice being the only one home, when she has been able to go out for a few hours here and there so I can begin to see how hard it is going to be. But a few hours is no replacement for day in day out.

In other news the boys had their 6 week check up yesterday. Lucas is 5.4kg and Sam is 4.7 kg so both boys are continuing to pack it on. The Doctor said both boys are very healthy although both have flat spots on their heads which are a bit of a cause for concern, but there are things we can do to address it like more tummy time.

Sorry there hasn't been more photos lately. I blame exhaustion!

Little boys

2009-06-02T19:28:00.003+10:00

A bunch of photos of the little boys and one of their big brother.

Both Sam and Lucas have a bit of teenage acne at the moment and a bit of peeling skin too. They are still very cute :)
As you can see Lucas is almost smiling

Lucas

Sam

Two little boys

The niggle continues :)

Mitch playing with his little brothers.

Marion and Tony meet Sam and Lucas

2009-05-30T14:12:00.003+10:00

Marion and Tony are up from Melbourne to meet Sam and Lucas and for Mitch's party on Sunday. Last night we had dinner at Nana and Poppy's house. Marion and Tony got to meet Sam and Lucas and play with Mitchy.

Mitchy

2009-05-28T20:09:00.002+10:00

This weekend is Mitchy's belated 3rd Birthday party. We're praying for good weather because the idea of having 17 kids and their parents in our house is a bit mind boggling. The Council has unknowingly been helpful and mowed the grass in the park today which is very helpful because it was getting quite long.

For the party I decided to put together a couple of collages of pictures of Mitch's 3rd year.

If that isn't enough pictures for everyone out there I don't know what is! Click on either image for a bigger version.

Mitch went to Ready Steady Go today and loved it. He was a really good boy and participated and listened and had fun. The difference this week was that I stayed home with the twins and just Meeks and Mitch went. I don't quite know what that means, but I know I'm sad that I miss out on seeing him enjoy himself, but at the same time I'm really glad he had a great time.

Lucas and Sam - 4 weeks old

2009-05-25T20:57:00.005+10:00

Two 4 week old boys - Sam and Lucas

Lucas and Sam are now 4 weeks old. It's hard to believe it is 4 weeks ago they were born. The last 4 weeks has gone so fast for us.

Both boys are growing well ... very well in fact. We weighed them today and Lucas is up to 4.8kg and Sam is 4.2 kg. So Lucas has put on abut 800g since he was born and Sam has put on 1 kg. Lucas is out of size 0000 and well into 000 and he has even moved up to the next sized nappy. Sam is still in the smallest nappy and 0000 clothes.

Both boys are still mostly sleeping well, although as I type they are both awake at the moment when they should be asleep. At the moment Lucas is always hungry and Sam sleeps the most. Which is a bit of a change because when they were born Lucas slept the most - Lucas has always been the hungry one though.

Big boy in Daddy's shoes

2009-05-25T20:53:00.002+10:00

I think every boy has a picture of him wearing his Dad's shoes. Mitch is very cute.

Niggle

2009-05-18T20:33:00.003+10:00

The niggle has begun between Sam and Lucas. It's not hard to tell who started this one!

Okay so it didn't quite happen like that, but it is very cute :)

Tummy time

2009-05-14T23:12:00.005+10:00

The community nurse visited yesterday to look at the boys and weigh them and make sure they're growing etc. Both boys have regained their birth weight and then some. Lucas is up to 4040g and Sam is 3560g - so Sam is catching up to Lucas! Looking at the two of them though, it is still clear that Lucas is the bigger boy.

It is getting harder to tell them apart purely by size now unless they're lying next to each other when it's fairly obvious

Admittedly Lucas' legs are straight so it does make him look bigger.

One of the concerns about Sam was that he is developing a bit of a flat spot on his head from lying on one side of his head. As such it makes tummy time even more important. Both boys really like tummy time. Sam can sort of lift his head up and turn from side to side. Lucas turns from side to side too, but sort of smears his nose across his face in the process because he can't lift his head off the ground.

Here is a couple more photos.
Lucas
Sam

Mitch has "Ready, Steady, Go" on Thursday mornings. It is a little organised sports activity class he does at Thornleigh. Each week he does a different sport. I'd love to take photos but it is one of those things with heaps of kids running around where it wouldn't be good to pull out a camera. Last week instead of laying soccer he moped around and didn't participate, and didn't listen to his teachers and just looked like the most unhappy boy in the world. This week he was heaps better. He was playing hockey and he listened and did what he was told and participated really well. Meeks and I were so proud of him. He is getting better and better with his brothers as well. He's not perfect about it but is learning to "share" mummy and daddy. He is gentle when he tries to be and enjoys being helpful. Here he is playing with the boys as they had tummy time.

Meeks and I are settling in to a rhythm with feeds and things and feel somewhat on top of it all at the moment, but are still tired most of the time. It helps immensely that the boys sleep a lot and both of us being at home helps too. Thanks to all the people who have cooked for us, we greatly appreciate it. It will of course all change when I go back to work, but that wont be for a few more weeks fortunately.

New car!

2009-05-12T17:37:00.004+10:00

After the debacle a couple of weeks ago the new car arrived today. There was a bit of a false start this morning when the release handle on the third row of seats broke while the salesman was demonstrating it and the seat couldn't be folded down. But that was fixed and the car was delivered this afternoon. I'll have to take some photos tomorrow while it's still new and shiny.

Updated with photos ...

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T23:14:00.002+10:00

Today was Meeks' first Mother's Day as a mother of three. Here she is with her three boys.

We met up with both sets of grand parents at Nana's house. One advantage of having twins is that both grand mothers have one to cuddle and have a feed with.

There is even one little boy for Poppy to play with.

Bad habits

2009-05-09T19:08:00.002+10:00

Did you hear the one about the Mexican fire fighter who had twin boys? He called his first son Hosea and his second son Hose-B.

If you've seen much of us over the past few months I've probably already told you that joke, so just groan and move on. Along with Hosea and Hose-B we had a number of other pet names for Lucas and Sam when they were still inside Meeks. These included Horace and Boris or Brian and Ryan and a few other ones. As it turns out Hosea and Hose-B were the closest to being accurate.

Both boys have a bad habit of weeing when you take their nappies off. Mitch only ever weed on me once. Both Lucas and Sam are making a bit of a habit of it. Sam even managed to do it twice in one session. I pulled his nappy off and as I was getting the new one ready, he weed. I managed to catch it in the nappy, so got another one out and was about to put it on and he weed again! Both are particularly prone to it when having a bath. You'll be washing them and all of a sudden the bath briefly becomes an active water feature complete with fountain.

Speaking of the bath, both boys love the bath. They look so relaxed when they're lying on their back with their little eyes open looking around. In fact, during their bath is when they're most likely to have their eyes open. I'll get some photos at some stage but it is kind of difficult to bath them and take photos at the same time!

A morning in the park

2009-05-08T19:31:00.007+10:00

We had a play in the park with the Smarts this morning. It was a beautiful morning and Mitch and Lachie had lots of fun playing together.

Then Mitchy took Lachie off to show him where the lady beetles live

Then back to the mat for some snacks. Lucas and Sam were sleeping (just for a change).

Then the boys headed up to the play gym and played on the slide.

All in all, beautiful morning in the park.

Two little boys at home in bed

2009-05-07T17:11:00.004+10:00

Lucas and Sam are sharing a cot at the moment. They're very cute, sleeping next to each other.

They also like to sleep on the floor

You may have noticed something. They sleep a lot, which is great. No complaints from Mummy or Daddy.

New banner

2009-05-07T08:04:00.005+10:00

Now that Meeks and the boys are home it's time to bring the banner at the top of the page up to date with the new family. It's hard to believe we are now a family of 5! Here are the old banners for reference.

Coming Home

2009-05-03T20:17:00.005+10:00

Meeks, Lucas and Sam came home from hospital this morning. Just as we were putting on their "going home" outfits, Lucas did a huge wet poo that he had been saving up for a few days. Here are their going home outfits. Then into their capsules The borrowed Volvo got us home safely despite the attempts of a number of crazy Sunday drivers. At home Nana and Poppy were waiting. Nana finally got her first cuddle after being sick during the week. Mitch got to play with the boys too. He introduced them to his cars. We gave them their first "at home" bath and then had a bit of a photo opportunity. Sam Lucas The boys are continuing to be a delight. They are sleeping very well and need to be woken up to feed. They are feeding fairly well, but not wonderfully. One of the things that Meeks really wanted to do when she got home was to jump on the scales and see how much weight she had lost. In a Biggest Loser exclusive we will reveal the most amazing weight loss ever that will change the competition for ever! Meeks lost an amazing 20kg in a week. Rather than following a strict exercise regime and diet. She pretty much lay around whenever possible and ate three meals a day .... oh and she had two whopping baby boys :)

Another slideshow. Just Sam .. he had his eyes open and was closest to the camera!

Day 4 - News and pictures

2009-05-01T18:05:00.003+10:00

Here we are on day 4 or 5 ... it's all become a bit of a blur already. The boys are doing great. They are continuing to feed well both attaching reasonably well and sucking for about 20-30 minutes. Lucas is a better feeder than Sam, and as such will continue to maintain his weight lead on his little brother. When they're not feeding they pretty much sleep, sleep and sleep. That is just great as far as we are concerned. It's hard not to compare them to Mitchy at the same stage. He did the sleeping thing extremely well, but he didn't do the feeding thing nearly as well as either Lucas or Sam. Both boys are a little bit jaundiced, but nothing that needs to be addressed at this time.

Meeks is doing very well, her blood tests show that her blood count is improving but she will still probably need to stay an extra day in the hospital. As such we probably wont be home until Sunday.

Meeks' Mum came in today to see the boys. She has been sick with a cold so she still hasn't had a chance to cuddle them. There will be plenty of time for that later, but right now she is missing it a lot. My Mum and Dad dropped in today as well and had a cuddle with the boys.

Also a couple of the little boys snuggling up together.

Latest news, pictures and a slideshow!

2009-04-30T22:29:00.007+10:00

Another day in the life of our two newborns. More feeding, more sleeping, more cuddles. Meeks having a cuddle with Sam. Lucas and Sam with their eyes open The boys had their first bath today. Sam went first. He didn't like it at first but didn't mind once he was being moved around on his back. Lucas wasn't happy on his back but loved it on his front. After the bath they were all cute and fluffy and decided to have a bit of a chat with each other. Sooooo cute! !

We picked up our loan car this afternoon. It's a Volvo XC70. Very, very nice. My experience of Volvos are Grahame and Pete's beasts from many years ago. They have come along way since then.

A very special thanks to Shaz who minded Mitch this afternoon at short notice. Not only did she mind him, she fed him and bathed him and put him to bed and cleaned our house and ironed our clothes. What a woman! Thank you sooooo much Shaz, we appreciate your help so so much.