Conley Chaos

helmet, check. when do the braces start?

2009-11-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

Peyton (she gets to be first since she came first) and Lucas turned 9 months old this week! We had a checkup today and everything looks great. Now I can officially say "they grow up so fast!" Check out one of our first photos when we got home...

Peyton was 15 lb 12.2 oz (5th percentile) and 2' 3.7" tall (55th percentile) today. Tall and skinny! I think it's all the aerobic activity. She is crawling around pretty well, ok, a little too well. We took this a couple weeks ago. She's improved...

It also looks like she is done wearing her helmet. Last night Erika was cleaning the helmet and noticed some metal from the strap rivet had started to wear through the padding. Peyton's head grew so much they had to carve out the foam to the bare metal! But up until now the helmet worked great. We're both happy with the results so far. Though, if they can fix it so she can wear it a few more weeks we'll probably do that. Gotta get our money's worth!

Lucas still hasn't quite got the crawling thing down, but he looks good trying. He usually travels in reverse and ends up backed into a corner somewhere wondering (quietly, of course) how he got there. He's not as skinny as his sister and weighed in at 18lb 3.8oz (14th percentile). He was 2' 4.5" tall. Oh, slightly off topic, he loves Spicy Thai Kettle chips! Mmmmm, yummy.

So Lucas now has .75 inches and 2.5 pounds on his sister. But she can still take him in a no holds barred brawl. She just has to aim for the pacifier. Grab it and he taps (screams) out every time.

Ron (Papi) and Kathy (Mimi) have been here twice since our last post. I think they must like my cooking or something.

Ok, maybe not.

I think Papi comes for our soft grass in the park and padded play mat. Auntie Amanda came to visit too. She likes to play dress-up.

My parents (Grandpa John and Grandma Wanda) were here this week too but somehow escaped without being caught on film, errr, memory card. Hmmm, how convenient!

Professional Photos!

2009-11-02T15:48:00.001-08:00

Mimi & Papi came into town for a quick visit this weekend because they were having grandbaby withdrawls! Mimi insisted on taking the kiddos to the mall today to have a professional photo session done. Here are a few of the pictures:

7 months old!

2009-09-23T12:53:00.001-07:00

Wow its been a while since I've posted a blog...I do apologize but I am at least better at posting photos & updates on Facebook so you should add me as a friend on there :) Here are some highlights of our lives lately.

The kids and I went to Ohio with my parents to visit my dad's family at the beginning of this month. Peyton & Lucas had fun hanging out with their 2nd cousin Jack who is 3 weeks younger (but quite a bit bigger!).

They also got to watch the 1st Ohio State game of the season and were pretty excited about that!

Peyton even learned how to drive while we were there. Some think it was inspired by her racing helmet :)
The kiddos have learned to play well together and can entertain each other for quite a while. Sometimes they will start laughing for no apparent reason and go back and forth forever. I'll have to catch it on video one of these days :)
They aren't crawling quite yet but they roll around like crazy and can scoot themselves around. They also love to pretend they are flying! lol
Lucas is sitting up all by himself now, Peyton is a little floppy so we like to put a protective barrier around her. Especially when she isn't wearing her helmet :)

They are eating solid foods 2-3 times a day and are always quite excited about it! They haven't met a food they didn't like so far. They have both been sleeping 11-12 hours most nights for the past few months so mommy is very happy.
According to my scale this morning, Lucas weighs 16 lbs. 7 oz. and Peyton weighs 14 lbs. 4 oz.. Lucas cut his first tooth a couple days ago and I'm sure Peyton isn't far behind because she is also chewing on everything she can get her hands on! Here is a picture of the cutie pies today on their 7 month bday :)

busy busy busy :)

2009-08-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well the first week of solid foods went pretty well. We started with oatmeal and then tried some avocado. Peyton & Lucas both gained a 1/2 pound in a week! I guess the avocado fattened them up a bit...lol This week we tried some butternut squash and that was a hit as well but it seems to have "stopped them up" a bit...hopefully their system will get used to it and recover soon!

On a not so happy note, it seems that Lucas is a little under the weather :( He started getting a stuffy nose a few days ago and now he has a pretty bad cough. He has a little bit of a fever but the nurse said as long as he doesn't get any worse I shouldn't worry about it too much. At least he doesn't seem bothered by it other than maybe being a little more sleepy than normal.

Last week Gma Wanda & Allie came to visit for a few days. Then my mom, sister & her boyfriend were here for a night. Then last weekend we had an eventful trip to Sacramento. 1st our good friends Chris & Kristi had their baby boy. He was born on Thursday morning at a whopping 10 3/4 lbs!! He was almost as big as Peyton & Lucas combined when they were born. He is quite the cutie too :) I picked up their doggy Ace and he stayed with us at my parents house for the weekend while they were in the hospital. Then on Friday I met up with some other mom's and kiddos at the park. Alyssa came along to help me out which worked out great for me but I think we may have scared her into not having babies for a while...lol Then on Saturday, my good friend Crystal's son had his 1st birthday party! My aunt & uncle were in town from Bakersfield for the weekend so we got to spend some time with them as well.

Now we are back home and JD's cousin Tyler from Oregon has been visiting the past few days along with his roommate Rachel. Today Rick & Rhonda & their kiddos are coming for lunch and then Ab & Vron will be staying with us to help out for a week again :) I will put them on picture duty so hopefully I can post another blog soon...but I will stop boring you now with my blabbering and give you some pictures from the past couple weeks!

Gma Wanda & Cousin Allie feeding P&L some oatmeal.

Bradyn Maverick Smith (or Smump)

Bradyn & his future MIL

My friend Cami's son Talon

Cami & sleeping Lucas

Ace & Peyton

Alyssa & Peyton...Cami posing in the background with Talon

Lucas & Peyton thought it was the 4th of July again

She had to wear the outfit at least once since she didn't wear it on the 4th

Lucas likes the 4th of July

mmm squash!

mmm avocado

Tyler with Lucas & Peyton

First Solid Food

2009-07-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

We decided to start the kiddos on some solids today :) Here is a short clip of their first attempt at eating from a spoon.

(almost) five month update

2009-07-19T13:45:00.001-07:00

Almost five months have passed since that fateful day when the twins were born. They've gone from tiny blobs of inactivity to smiling semi-interactive little things.

Last week we had our four month checkups and, except for the three shots that caused a bout of screaming, things went great. The kids are growing steadily and the doctor was happy. Peyton was tall and skinny, weighing in at 12 lbs 0.4 oz (7th percentile) and 24.4" tall (36th percentile). Lucas had a bit more chunk on him and was 13 lbs 11.7 oz (13th percentile) and 24.8" tall (26th percentile).

Here's another round of pictures for all you baby-crazed maniacs, from father's day to present.

Father's Day!

2009-06-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

So far it has been an eventful Father's Day! First Lucas decided to sleep 12 hours straight last night!! Peyton still did her normal wake up and eat around 3:30 am but I decided to let Lucas keep snoozing and I'm glad I did since he just kept on sleeping until 7:15!! Then this afternoon Peyton was having fun on her playmat, staring at herself in the mirror, when she decided to try and roll onto her stomach. JD & I were both watching her as she made it onto her side and waiting to see if she would actually make it all the way over. Then all of a sudden she rolled onto her stomach and kept going right off the playmat and back onto her back! Unfortunately we have hardwood floors so she wasn't too happy when she ended up off the playmat but it was only an inch off the ground so I think she will be ok.

I'm sorry I've been slacking on pictures. If you would like more updates you should follow me on Twitter or be my friend on Facebook because I have gotten in the habit of taking pictures with my iphone and posting them there. But here are some pictures from the past few weeks :)

3 Month Pictures

2009-06-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

While we were home over memorial day weekend we had some photos taken of the kiddos. The photographer, Melissa Womack, is a friend of our good friend Sarah. She said she will be posting more on her blog as she gets them done.

http://melissagracephoto.blogspot.com/

Thanks again Melissa! They turned out great :)

More Tummy Time :)

2009-06-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently I'm a bad blogger

2009-06-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit for the weekend plus Amanda & her "special friend" Chris came to visit for the day yesterday to celebrate Mother's Day. Instead of fighting the brunch rush today we decided to make our own. We had an extensive omlette bar, yummy potatoes, sausage, bacon & waffles w/fresh strawberries courtesy of JD & my dad. We ended up too full and decided to hold off on the waffles until later this afternoon. Here are a few more pictures & a video of Lucas showing us he can roll over now!

2 Month Appt. (a little late)

2009-05-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

So the kiddos finally had their 2 month appt. today. I had to reschedule once and then the dr. was out of the office for the 2nd attempt. So today they finally made it in. They are both doing great. Lucas was 10 lbs 8.8 oz & 22.5" long. He has more than doubled his birth weight already. Peyton was 9 lbs 7.2 oz & 22.25" long. We noticed that the scale in the dr.'s office was quite a bit lighter than the scale they were getting weighed on each week at the Kaiser new baby club. So Gma snuck a peek at Lucas's weight on that scale and he weighed over 11 lbs.

They had to get some shots today. An oral vaccine and then 1 shot in their left leg and 2 in their right. They only cried a little bit and then have been super sleey all day. Maybe that means a good night sleep for mom (although I'm posting a blog instead of sleeping right now...).

Here are a few recent pictures!

Sprink Break - WOOOHOOO!

2009-04-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Aunt Amanda and Grandma Wanda both decided to spend spring break with us this year. Check out all the trouble we got into. Paaartay!

Easter 2009

2009-04-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

This easter we headed over to Sacramento (a 2.5 - 3 hour drive). It was our first trip with the kids, and it went pretty well. Amanda came to visit the night before and was our car nanny, serving up pacifiers and bottles as needed. Here are a bunch of pictures of the event.

Aunt Trish feeding Lucas

Baby burrito Lucas

Gma & Gpa with Abbey, Lucas & Peyton

Peyton getting a bath before church

Uncle Matt & Aunt Trish w/Lucas & Peyton

Aunt Sue, Great Gma & Gma w/Lucas & Peyton

Family Easter photo w/baskets Gma made

Family photo w/Gma, Gpa & Aunt Amanda

Gma, Great Gma, Erika & Aunt Amanda w/Lucas & Peyton

Cousin Stacey w/Peyton & Future Cousin Lee w/Lucas

Uncle Tom w/Lucas

Lee & Lucas

Stacey & Peyton

John & Alyssa w/Lucas & Peyton

Cousins Blake, Luke & Lindsay

Amanda & Gpa

Cousins Blake & Kaylee

Cousin Clayton hanging out with Abbey

Peyton & Lucas sporting their bibs made by cousin Carolyn (but they are on the wrong sides!)

Rachel w/Lucas

Kara & Crystal w/Lucas & Peyton

Chris holding a baby for the 1st time! (Getting practice for his own coming in July!)

Cousin Megan & Lucas

Hanging out with dad at work

2009-04-24T13:22:00.001-07:00

JD started a tradition at work last month. Every Friday they BBQ lunch at the office :). They had to do some updates on their servers last night so he was working (at home) from midnight till 5 am. So today he just came into work to eat lunch and we decided to tag along!

Pictures!

2009-04-08T14:39:00.001-07:00

6 weeks old!

2009-04-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the kiddos are 6 weeks old already! I seem to suck at remembering to take pictures though. Whenever I get a spare moment to think about posting a blog they are napping so I don't know how many sleeping pictures you would enjoy..lol I did take a couple this weekend and a picture this morning of them wearing the same outfits they wore home from the hospital so you can see how much they have grown! I will tell Abbey & Vron it is their job to make sure we take more pictures this week while they are here helping out. Oh and at the dr. today Lucas was over 8 lbs and only 2 ounces smaller than his sister. I knew he would catch up! I swear he eats twice as much as she does!

Erin & Lucas

Elizabeth & Lucas

Peyton at this very moment because she felt left out of the 1st 2 pictures

On the way home from the hospital

On the way to the dr. today (5 1/2 weeks later!)

Another week flew by

2009-04-03T19:14:00.001-07:00

Auntie Sarah w/Lucas & Peyton

Sleepy Snow Bunnies!

I can't believe how fast time goes by taking care of 2 little ones! Auntie Sarah came to visit last weekend. She made us yummy chicken enchiladas for dinner on Saturday night :) My mom came back to help out for a few days at the beginning of the week. I had a dr. appt. on Monday afternoon & didn't want to have to bring the kiddos with me so it worked out well. We also went to the "Baby Club" at Kaiser on Wednesday for moms and babies 0-4 months old. Basically it is a place to go and weigh the babies & get questions answered by a lactation consultant as well as meet other mom's with similar aged babies. Of course I was the only one there with twins. Peyton weighed 8 lbs. and Lucas weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz.! So I guess they are eating enough!! Tomorrow our friend Erin is coming to visit for the day & giving JD's nieces Abbey & Veronica a ride as well. They are going to stay with us to help out for a week! Nothing else to report...I'll try to remember to take more pictures this weekend :)

Mommy's 1st week alone

2009-03-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

So this week flew by!! My mom left on Friday so once JD went to work on Monday I was left to take care of the kiddos all by myself! It was a little scary but I think it went pretty well :) I managed to get out and take a walk for a while every afternoon. We even went to meet daddy for lunch everyday except for today. I shopped a little downtown during my walk instead :)

Not much to report here other than the fact that both kiddos have become nursing pros! Daddy still gives them a bottle for one early morning feeding so I can get some sleep but other than that they are all boob. lol Peyton had a dr. appt. today because her stubborn umbilical cord is still holding on. The dr. put a little silver nitrate on it so it should fall off in the next few days. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. which means she gained over an ounce a day since her last appt. so she is doing great!

Uh oh! I hear Peyton waking up so I guess I'll leave you with some pictures...

Happy (adjusted) Birthday Peyton and Lucas

2009-03-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. Yes, it is. The day the kids were due! It's hard to imagine not having them here for the last 3 weeks and 6 days. They're officially 0 days old according to their preemie adjusted age. We celebrated by taking a family self portrait. We're high class.

Our friend Annie came to visit today and of course we made her take some photos with the kids. It sure is hard work getting people to hold the babies. Hah!

Hungry Peyton

Naked Lucas

All this excitement tired out poor Tiger. She found a cozy place to take a nap.

Of course the kids were stoked and just begged for some tummy time on their cute floor mat.

And I snuck in a picture of Erika being the wonderful mommy she is. She doesn't allow many of these to hit the light of day so count yourselves lucky! ;)

Geeky growing kids

2009-03-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, the kids will be four weeks old this Monday! Since our time at home we've used 5.75 gallons (736oz) of pumped milk and gone through 404+ diapers.

Last wednesday we had an appointment at the newborn club and both kids were doing great. Peyton was 6lb 14oz and Lucas was 6lb 7oz. They both gained well over an oz/day. We scheduled a 2 week followup to check their weights again.

Before they outgrow these onesies, you've got to see the pics. In case you're wondering, Peyton is the one dressed as the future programmer. ;)

Lots of babysitters = Dinner & a Movie!

2009-03-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sunday we had another full house of visitors! My dad brought my grandma over to meet Peyton & Lucas. They stayed and hung out for the day. JD & I decided it was a good time to get away and have some time with out the babies. We caught a 4 pm movie (Slumdog Millionaire) at the theater down the street and then went out to Thai Food. When we got back to our house JD's parents were also visiting on their way down to Winton. And now I gotta run because I am attempting to dye my own hair and I think I've had the dye on too long! Here are a couple pictures:

Peyton & Lucas enjoying the playmat Alyssa & John gave them

Gma Wanda & Gpa John w/baby burrito Lucas :)

Poppy feeding Lucas

Great Gma Betty feeding Peyton

Feeding Calculations

2009-03-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm a big geek. I couldn't handle looking at a piece of paper and doing math every time I wanted to find out how milk much our kids are supposed to be eating each day. So, I whipped up this spreadsheet where you can see a chart or play with some numbers. We're thinking about taking out one of the night feedings soon and this lets us know with confidence how much food they need to get in all the other feedings.

Just follow the link:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p7TrnSVngknO3ojqelQfqaA

Alyssa visits and grandma makes funny noises in a video

2009-03-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since Erika or I have posted. I guess this has been a pretty uneventful week, though it was my first week back to work. It seems very strange not to be home and around Erika and the kids 24 hrs/day.

The kids are doing great. They're both eating a ton, gaining weight, and soiling a lot of diapers. We're still supplementing with a bottle every feeding, but they're starting to latch on better and actually get some food straight from mommy! That'll make feeding time a lot more convenient when they get the hang of it.

We had our first pediatrician appointment on Monday and it was pretty uneventful (a good thing), except it was really cold in the exam room and the kids didn't like that much. The doctor was randomly assigned to us – none of the ones we were referred to were accepting patients. He was pretty cool though. I think we'll stick with him for a bit.

Alyssa came to visit today. I met her, Erika, Kathy, and the kids at a Mexican place for lunch. It was the first time we took them out to eat! They did pretty well until the end when Peyton woke up from a nap and got a bit upset with the loud restaurant. Good thing we were on the way out and didn't have to be too uncomfortable with screaming babies hanging out in the restaurant. :)

Erika took a video today while Alyssa was visiting and the kids were hanging out on our bed. Check it out:

And, of course they took a bunch of photos:

More Pictures :)

2009-03-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

We did a little photo shoot today to try and get some good shots for our announcements. Here are a few pictures from that. Also my mom & dad, Uncle Rick & Aunt Cindy came to visit. My dad is staying one night but my mom will be staying here for a few weeks since JD is going back to work tomorrow. Hopefully we can keep the same schedule with out gma spoiling the kiddos too much!