much needed update!

i've been very delinquent on posting anything new, so i thought i'd give a quick update. i've been doing the solo act for five weeks now which just blows my mind! to be honest, maybe because i expected the absolute worst, it's been much better than expected! what have we done or what do we do?

hmmm...well, we go on A LOT of walks, have been on numerous shopping expeditions, went to bp to visit, have a neighborhood playgroup that we visit every once in a while, have gone on many lunch dates and that's pretty much it! it's amazing how quickly the days go by when entertaining two little ones.

they're still sleeping through the night brilliantly! their naps, on the otherhand are still all over the place, but since it hasn't affected their sleep in the evening, i haven't been too stressed about it. i'm hoping that will come in time (fingers crossed!)

they're like little people now...it actually saddens me how quickly they're growing! zoe is definitely a morning person, whereas zach is all about the afternoon. they smile, they laugh, they react...it's crazy!

easter was a lot of fun last weekend at jason's parents house. the five cousins (jenn's 3 (lucas, knox and elaina) and our 2) finally all got to meet. zach and zoe attended church for the first time last weekend as well. jason and i just knew that buzzer was going to go off, but it didn't...in fact, the ladies in the nursery said they were just great! who knew?! :)

we don't go back to the doc until four months, but our best guess is that zach is about 16 lbs now and zoe 13 lbs!

and finally, i think we've found our nanny! she's going to be coming three days a week to start and then will be full-time once i go back to work. i'm nervous but excited at the same time. we're keeping our fingers crossed, but jason and i really like her so far. we'll keep you posted!

we have success!!

hopefully this doesn't jinx us, but after a week of sleep training, zoe has now slept two nights in a row from 7pm to 6am and zach's slept from 7pm to 4am!! it sure wasn't an easy road getting to this point, but it's amazing what a week can do! i so hope i am not setting myself up for trouble by celebrating prematurely!
we're still struggling a bit with getting our naps down pat during the day, but i think once we've got our nightime routine established, that will soon follow (with a little coercing of course!)
this has obviously made a world of difference for jason and i...it's nice to be able to enjoy a meal together once again without having to constantly tend to babies.
i'll keep you posted, but so far, so good!!

8 week checkup

yesterday was a big day for the lawless household. not only did my mom desert us after staying with us for two months, but we also had zach and zoe's two month checkup. (i was kidding about the deserting part...we sure do miss her already!!)

the doctor's appt went very well with the exception of having to watch my little angels endure three injections a piece and a yucky oral vaccine! luckily though, not even fifteen minutes post shots, they were both back in good spirits again. even mommy forgot about them until she saw the big ol bandaids on their thighs as a reminder!

so here's the latest...

zach is now 13 lbs 5 oz (50th percentile), 23 inches long (50th) and his head is measuring 15 1/2 inches (25 - 50th percentile).

zoe is 10 lbs 15 oz (50th), 23 inches as well (75th) and her head is 15 inches long (25 -50th).

so...as you can see...they're doing quite well! can't knock the breast milk!

other than that, we're just chugging along. like i said, it's only the first day since my mom has left, so we'll be faces some new challenges, but are also in the process of looking for a nanny. we're actually "trying out" a few first since i'm here and hopefully we'll find someone we really trust and the children really like. i don't go back to work for a few months yet, so at least we have some time.

we were fortunate enough last week to have jason's aunt betty and aunt linda spend some time with the kiddos and with us last week. not only that, but they cooked up a storm and filled up our freezer with lots of meals that we can't wait to try! thank you aunt betty, aunt linda and mrs. lawless!

zoe is just smiling up a storm these days and is definitely a morning person. as long a night as we may have had, she wipes the slate clean for both her and her brother once we see her precious smile bright and early! zach is a little more reserved with his smiles, but he does like to spread his throughout the day!

the goal is to try and start sleep training them this weekend. i'm nervous...i think it's going to be torture, but hopefully it will make for happier children and parents at the end of the day! i quizzed the doc yesterday on the matter, and she was a big advocate of starting it now, so we've gotten the green light...wish us luck! thanks erin for sending me the book...that will be my bible for this sleep training!

otherwise...keep referring to the picasa website for picture updates. i'm trying to be good about it, but forgive me if i'm delinquent at times! but since this week's haven't been posted yet, here's a couple...zoe with my mom and zach this morning with two of his three bandaids still intact.

picasa website

i've been meaning to put this link out here for quite some time now. it's the tool i'm using to post updated pictures of zachary and zoe.

hopefully you have no problems accessing.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chiangkvc

one month old!

our one month appt was rescheduled from wednesday till this morning, so we've just gotten back. so...my goodness, here goes...

zach is now 10 lbs 2.5 oz...i never in a million years thought he would have gained 3 lbs in just two weeks, but that he did! that puts him in the 75th percentile for weight. he is now 22" long (50th - 75th percentile) and his head is 15" (50th percentile...which surprised us...we think his head is rather large!)

zoe hasn't done too bad herself...8 lbs 9 oz (25th percentile), is 21" long (50th percentile) and her head measures 14 1/4'' (25th percentile).

after birth, zoe has developed a strawberry birthmark on her neck which got me a little anxious at first, but per the doc, this will continue to grow for the first year and then will slowly fade and disappear.

otherwise, they are both very healthy and the doctor was very happy with their progress.

things are still as crazy as ever, and they've gotten fussier here as of late for no apparent reason...fun fun! supposedly this should level off by six or eight weeks, so i'm ready for these next few weeks to hurry on up and pass!

for fun, i've posted pics of both jason and i when we were babies and compared them to zachary and zoe. it's amazing how zoe really resembles me and zach jason. these pics may not do it much justice, so you'll just have to trust me!

newborn pics

as you are probably well aware, it's been a while now since i've published any posts, but time is a little hard to come by these days! zach and zoe are actually one month today and it just blows my mind! we have their one month check up tomorrow, so i was going to wait till after that to post, but our newborn pics were just posted to the photographer's website with only a limited timeframe, so i thought i would share that with you while i have a moment.
they were taken when they were just over a week, and it is amazing how much they've grown! i'm very anxious to see what we hear at our doctor's visit tomorrow. it feels as though zach has doubled his birth weight (obviously not a reality, but he's quite the chunk now!)
click on the attached link to access, then click recent sessions and then "lawless." it definitely wasn't the perfect shoot, but we did get some keepers!

http://www.studioainsley.com/?splash=1

she must be recognized...

i just realized that cindy actually nailed the date that the babies would be born on the actual day! go cind!! i'll be honest, when i saw your guess initially, my immediate thought was there is absolutely no way!
well...what do i know?!! i'm impressed! so what about you...do you have your expected date pegged???
sorry there isn't a huge prize or something for you, but i'll come up with something!! very impressive!