Evalynn & Elizabeth's Journal

Welcome to Evalynn and Elizabeth's journal!  We were born on August 31, 2003 at 34 weeks, 5 days gestation.  Our due date was October 7th, so we were a bit over 5 weeks early.  Select the links below to get quickly to the section of your choice.  Thanks for visiting. 

Many pictures are posted out here.  Prior to posting the pictures, I shrink them down to approximately 300 pixels to save space on the web server (we're only given so much space).  If you're wanting original sized pictures, please email us, letting us know which picture you'd like and we will email it to you.

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December  31 2003: 122 days old  (4 months chronological or 12wks, 1 day adjusted age) Wow!  4 months old!!!!  The girls are growing so fast....

The doctor appointment went great.  Here's the stats: (I included past measurement to give an idea of how they're growing)

I'm going to archive the last two months of entries...You'll be able to find them by clicking on the appropriate link below.  I'll carry over today though.

Here's our 4 month pictures!  Evalynn has Eeyore and Elizabeth has Piglet.  Eeyore and Piglet were Christmas gifts from Grandma Willis.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us!!!

January 1 2004: 123 days old  (4 months, 1 day chronological or 12wks, 2 days adjusted age) Just a New Years post to show off the girls in the outfit Uncle John and Aunt Elena bought for Christmas.  The girls spent over 45 minutes playing in their crib this afternoon before they had enough.  They love snuggling up to Eeyore and Piglet! 

January 2 2004: 124 days old  (4 months, 2 days chronological or 12wks, 3 days adjusted age) I finally got a good picture of Lynn smiling this morning!!!!  I tried hard to get Lizzie to smile.

January 3 2004: 125 days old  (4 months, 3 days chronological or 12wks, 4 days adjusted age) The girls' baby cousin has arrived!!!  Ephram David Willis arrived at 9:19 last night.  He weighed 7 lbs 2.5 oz and was 19 inches long.  He's just 1 lb, 1.5 oz smaller than Evalynn.

Here he is:

Here is Mitzi holding Ephram and we have Evalynn and Elizabeth on each side of them (gotta love the big chairs!):

January 5 2004: 127 days old  (4 months, 5 days (18weeks, 1day) chronological or 12wks, 6 days adjusted age) Yesterday was rough weatherwise.  We received 4 inches of snow in the morning and then a decent amount of ice on top of that.  The trees sounded like they were going to split with wind hitting them.  The power flickered on and off throughout the afternoon (after the Packer game--whew!--but the local Fox station did cut out a few times).  Around 6 pm, the power went out for over an hour and then it went out again around 8 pm for about an hour and a half.  We kept an eye on the thermostat, which didn't dip below 68 degrees and got some good use out of all those candles we've got.  The girls handled it well and we still kept them on schedule.  It was just so quiet in here.  We did find a radio with batteries for some background noise.  Mommy, Daddy, Dan and Mitzi played Uno by candlelight.  It sure is hard to tell the difference between the blue and green cards in the dark!

We tried carrots on Friday...Here's some pics.  Lizzie was about to sneeze.  We had to get some plastic bibs, so we can wipe them clean.

January 7 2004: 129 days old  (4 months, 7 days (18weeks, 3days) chronological or 13wks, 1 days adjusted age) Here's how cereal went this morning:

Yup...they fell asleep!  But they did finish first.  It was weird, as they both went silent about 5 minutes (they were both screaming just prior to falling asleep) before and let me feed them the rest and then they were out!  I'm afraid to clean them up...they look so peaceful!

Look what Lizzie did tonight:

Daddy put her hands on the handles and she brought it up to her mouth.  She got grumpy when she couldn't get anything out.  She tried tipping it up, so that's a good start.  She had quite a death grip on the cup.  This was also the longest she held on to anything.  Now I'm going to try to offer it every time we feed them meals.  They both drank from sippy cups today.  I've tried to offer it every couple weeks.  Today was the first time they sucked anything out.  You have to suck to get anything out of these cups.  It actually looks like she's holding onto a steering wheel with her hands at 10 and 2 :).

January 8 2004: 130 days old  (4 months, 8 days (18weeks, 4days) chronological or 13wks, 2 days adjusted age) Here's a picture for all you Grandma's out there...

 Here's what Lizzie had to say...

It  says...Did I wake you?

January 13, 2004: 135 days old  (4 months, 13 days (19weeks, 2days) chronological or 14wks adjusted age) There's some serious teething going on here!  I call it 'teething x 2'!  It looks like Lynn may be cutting a tooth, but she won't let us get a good peek at it.  I guess we'll find out within the next couple weeks.  Mitzi was 3 months old when her first tooth was found.

We made a new purchase Sunday...It's a Fisher Price Take-Along Hop n Pop!  It's along the lines of an exersaucer, but folds up (like the Take-Along swing we have).  I would have liked to have gotten the new Fisher Price Jumparoo (jumper that doesn't need a door frame like the Johnny Jump-up), but it takes up too much room.  Here's a picture I took of the girls 'playing' yesterday.  Lynn is in the hop n pop.

January 17, 2004: 139 days old  (4 months, 17 days (19weeks, 6days) chronological or 14wks, 4days adjusted age) What a difference a year makes....

From this....

To This...

The girls have both started sucking their thumbs.  Lynn sucks her right and Lizzie sucks her left thumb.  No teeth yet.  They're both eating great.  Lizzie is close to rolling over from her back to tummy.  Lynn hasn't rolled over yet.  She has taken back the pacifier though.

Better go, they're not very happy at the moment...they sure keep us on our toes!

January 19, 2004: 141 days old  (4 months, 19 days (20weeks, 1day) chronological or 14wks, 6days adjusted age) Evalynn rolled over for the first time yesterday from her belly to her back!  Woo hoo!!!

January 21, 2004: 143 days old  (4 months, 21 days (20weeks, 3days) chronological or 15wks, 1days adjusted age) No new news really, I'm just posting pictures I took this morning.  They were sitting so cute.  I couldn't resist!  It sure is hard picking out pictures without Lynn's hands in her mouth. 

 John, Elena and Ephram stopped for a visit this afternoon.  Here's a picture of the three of them together in the crib.  There all so close in size.

January 25, 2004: 147 days old  (4 months, 25 days (21weeks) chronological or 15wks, 5days adjusted age) We made another attempt at sleeping without carseats last night....IT WORKED!!!  The girls slept close about 12 hours and we never heard a peep out of them.  We'll try it again tonight to see if we can make this a trend. *knock on wood*

We probably did wear them out yesterday.  We went shopping as we try to get out at least once a week.  We decided to put them in the stroller without the carseats.  They loved looking around at everything and everyone at the mall.

January 28, 2004: 150 days old  (4 months, 28 days (21weeks, 3 days) chronological or 16 wks adjusted age) A year ago today we got the positive pregnancy test results. 

We're officially out of the carseats at night.  We've gone 4 straight nights without them.  Woo hoo!!!  It takes a bit longer to get them to sleep (especially Lynn).  Once they're asleep they sleep close to 12 hours.

Yesterday was Mitzi's 10th birthday.  The girls helped Mitzi blow out her candles (ok, they watched)... (no, the cake is not on fire!)

Here's a picture of Lynn laughing...

And Lizzie helping Mommy in the kitchen (making Mitzi's birthday cookies)...

January 29, 2004: 151 days old  (4 months, 29 days (21weeks, 4 days) chronological or 16 wks, 1 day adjusted age) Here's the girls' 5 month pictures....

February 4, 2004: 157 days old  (5 months, 4 days (22weeks, 3 days) chronological or 17 wks, 1 day adjusted age) Not too much new here.  It's been cold and icky.  We have about 4 inches of snow on the ground with 3-6 inches forecasted tomorrow (believe it when we see it). 

Mitzi had her slumber party Friday night, so the babies got plenty of attention.  I was so amazed that they slept through 7 screaming 8-11 year olds. 

The girls turned 5 months old on Saturday.  It's hard to believe... 

Still no teeth...Big brother didn't get his until 9 months and Big Sister was 3 months, so you never know.  They're chewing on everything they can and drooling everywhere. 

They've also begun noticing each other and have started jabbering back and forth and will hold hands.  They're still doing great in the same crib.  They love looking at each other when they wake up.

Lizzie has begun to play with the toys on the exersaucer, so she's able to entertain herself for longer periods of time.  We also went and purchased the Fisher Price Jumparoo, mainly to help Lynn strengthen her legs.  It's the equivalent of the doorway jumpers (Johnnie Jump Up), but it's on legs.  Lynn is able to jump around in it (with a pillow on the floor, since she's still to short to reach with the lowest setting).

So Mommy, which way to the closest mall?

Here's Lynn in the Jumparoo...

So much for nothing new...

February 10, 2004: 163 days old  (5 months, 10 days (23weeks, 2 days) chronological or 17 wks adjusted age) The girls are doing great!  Not much new to report on them other than them grasping toys.  Lynn did a great job shaking a rattle tonight.  Lizzie will reach for the toys.

To add another credit behind my name, I'm now a home schooling Mom to Big Brother.  We've had several issues with the school and in a mutual decision with Dan, we all feel it is best for his future that he receive a 'one on one' education.  We have a curriculum set up and will be ready to start Tuesday.   The withdrawal from public school is effective tomorrow, but will spend the rest of the week organizing, buying supplies, getting the books set up, naming our school, crowning our mascot (Odie, our Pug), designing letterhead and business cards.  Mitzi will remain in public school, but I will be doing some schooling with her over the summer to give her a boost into 4th grade curriculum.  I'm amazed at the support we're getting on this.  I think this will be a great experience for Dan as well as us and the girls will have Big Brother around.  This is by far the boldest move I've ever made and pray that it we'll all be successful.

Better get going...

February 14, 2004: 167 days old  (5 months, 14 days (23weeks, 6 days) chronological or 17 wks, 4 days adjusted age) These pictures were taken about a week ago in their valentines outfits. 

Happy Valentines!!!

We set up the new carseats today.  They must be comfy as we did not hear a peep from either of them.  Liz was able to look out the window, so she got to see a whole new world.  We're getting the infant seats and the matching stroller ready to sell to another twin mom-to-be.  It was getting hard on the backs to lug around the two carseats.  We found a great light weight twin umbrella stroller.  This stroller may weigh about 25 pounds as opposed to the 40 pounds of the old stroller.  It also takes up less room when folded.  The girls love it!  More people definitely notice that there's two babies.  We kept getting stopped at Target today.  I'm glad we were not in a hurry.

So far, Lynn's hair is coming in blonde.  Lizzie's hair is darker.

February 17, 2004: 170 days old  (5 months, 17 days (24 weeks, 2 days) chronological or 18wks adjusted age) Last night was a rough night.  First, Mommy is getting a dickens of a cold.  Then just as Mommy is able to get past the sore throat and stuffy nose and almost asleep (12:30), Liz wakes up.  She has managed to wiggle out of the miracle blanket and wasn't comfy anymore.  Daddy finally got her back to sleep around 2:30 and then she was up at 5:30.  Lets hope this is a teething thing!!!!  We feel a huge bump on the bottom, but with my experience with the other kids, it still could be weeks or months. 

Liz can hold her bottle for short periods of time.  She's able to put it in and out of her mouth.  But then she fumbles it.

Lynn has found her tongue.  It's cute, she'll try to grab it and stick it out.  She's trying to reach for toys.

February 20, 2004: 173 days old  (5 months, 20 days (24 weeks, 5 days) chronological or 18wks, 3 days adjusted age) I just got back from taking the girls to the doctor to get their colds checked out (feared they'd worsen over the weekend).  They're just little colds.  Neither one has a fever or ear infection . Doc gave me some Ayr (saline) drops and Benedryl.   I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.  I once said that Mitzi just had a cold once when she was two and it turned out to be pneumonia and she ended up on a nebulizer for a month.  This is the girls' first cold.  I guess I should feel lucky that they've gone five and a half months without a cold.

Lynn weighed in at 9 lb 15 oz!!!! Liz weighed 11 lb 4 oz!!! Lynn is catching up to her sister. Lynn has gained 1 lb 11 oz and Liz gained 1 lb 7 oz over the last 6 weeks.  Lynn started out 2 lb 4 oz less than Liz and is now only 1 lb 5 oz less.

Daddy leaves for NJ again tomorrow.  This time, it's for an entire week.  I'm going to be one tired Mommy by this time next week!  I should have pictures to post here though, since Daddy likes it when Mommy emails pictures to him while he's gone.

Better go, Lynn's a bit grumpy...

February 22, 2004: 175 days old  (5 months, 22 days (25 weeks) chronological or 18wks, 5 days adjusted age) As promised, Here's some new pictures.  Liz is actually sitting on her own.  She'll usually stay like that for a few seconds before toppling over.  Lynn is trying to show you how she earned the name "Thumper".  She loves thumping her left leg. 

Can you tell Mommy has spring fever?  I wanted something springy.  I cannot wait for the weather to warm so we can start going for walks.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilson came down today with Aunts Patty and Marjorie.  Grandma made them Noah's Ark blankets for each of them with their names embroidered on them.

Off to put the girls to bed.  This will hopefully be night two without bed bottles.  We wanted to get out of that habit before teeth start poking through.  I'll have more pictures to post when I have both hands free (this was typed one handed).

February 24, 2004: 177 days old  (5 months, 24 days (25 weeks, 2 days) chronological or 19wks adjusted age) Wow, it's been a rough week...Mommy is bushed!  It hasn't been hard getting those pictures for Daddy.  Odie has been keeping the girls entertained (as well as the attention he gets).

I tried giving the girls blended frozen green beans.  Lynn didn't mind it for a while, but here's the look we got back from Liz (Mitzi took the picture)...

This is a cute one Mitzi took of Lynn (she forgot to use the flash)...

Well, Odie's done entertaining the girls...my turn!

February 28, 2004: 181 days old  (5 months, 28 days (25 weeks, 6 days) chronological or 19wks, 4 days adjusted age) Daddy came back yesterday...Yeah!!!!  The girls love having Daddy home.   I actually went grocery shopping without babies today.  I sure felt out of place/empty handed.   It felt good to get out though.

It was beautiful here today (it got up to about 58 degrees), so we went for a walk with the girls in their baby Schwinn jogging stroller.  The girls loved it and Lynn complained when we had to stop to put air in the tires.   Here's a picture of them all ready to go:

Liz is wearing an outfit that Aunt Marjorie bought...it's a little big, but so cute.  Lynn is wearing Baby B'Gosh overalls...why are the straps always longer than they need to be???

We've decided to celebrate their 1/2 birthday tomorrow.  I'm in the process of baking a cake and will decorate it later.  We're going to Uncle John's and Aunt Elena's for dinner tomorrow.   In case anyone asks, no, I'm not giving the girls any cake.  I cannot believe I did that with Dan.  I'll save that fun for their first birthday.

Here's a picture of the decorated cake (boy, do Mommy's hands hurt)...

I also made baby food today.  A few weeks ago we bought a mini food processor/hand blender with different mixing attachments.  We have pears, plums, green beans and squash so far.  I also want to do applesauce, bananas, carrots and peas.  Once blended, I put the food in ice cube trays to freeze.  Then they'll go into ziplock bags.  As we need food, we'd take what we need out and let it thaw in the fridge.

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