Alex and Julie went to the doctor today for their one year check up.  They are doing great! (of course :-)  The doctor said that they were really healthy and no longer show any signs of being a month pre-mature developmentally.  Here are their stats.:

 

Julie (perfect proportions):

19 lbs. 10 oz. (25-50%)

28.5 in. tall (25-50%)

46.5 cm head circumference (90%)

 

Alex (lean, mean, fightin' machine):

21 lbs. 6 oz. (25-50%)

30.75 in. tall (75%)

49.5 cm head circumference (>97%) - they measured twice to make sure his head really is humungous!

 

When Julie was born, she was in the 3% for weight.  Alex was at 10% for weight.  So, they've come a long way!

Today is Julie and Alex's first birthday.  A year ago, around 5 am, we were up getting ready to go to the hospital.  At 7:56am, Baby A, aka Julie, was born via c-section.  Baby B, aka Alex, decided that he wanted to do some somersaults before making his entrance into the world at 7:58am.  They both ended up being breach.  Mom spent most of the rest of the day sleeping and taking pain meds.  Dad spent most of the day going to the NICU to visit Alex and Julie and brought back videos for mom to see.  Late afternoon, Alex, then Julie, were out of the NICU and joined us in the hospital room.  They were healthy and weighed in at 4 lbs. 10 oz. and 5 lbs. 5 oz.  Talk about tiny!

 

Fast forward one year... Julie and Alex got up around 7:20 am.  They were once again sleeping in the same room as mom and dad because it is super hot in Seattle this week and our room has A/C.  They woke, started babbling and stood up.  They have learned so much in one year.  It's been amazing to see how much work it is to learn how to sit, then to learn how to crawl, learn how to talk....  But they are doing great.  They're both crawling and cruising and actually starting to play some together.  They still babble, but I'm sure one of these days it will turn into words with meaning.  I swear Julie was trying to say turtle the other day, "tt, tt".  Tomorrow we find out their official height and weight.

 

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All bets have been on Alex that he walked first.  I had my money on him that he would walk first as well.  But.... it was Julie!  She stumbles forward a few steps, and I think it's because she learned to pull herself up on the cars and push them.  The car would start moving and she would stumble forward while still trying to stand.  She mastered that technique and is now transferring it to walking without assistance.  Alex still likes something to hold on to, but he really doesn't need much help.

 

Lots of pictures coming!  I won't be posting today though since it currently reads 106 degrees out and we'll be hiding in our two rooms that have A/C.  No computer tonight!

We generally have one week in the summer where it's blazing hot.  For this year, it's this week.  We're getting into the 90's and we're supposed to hit a record on Wednesday, 100's maybe?  They're also predicting an all time Seattle record of not going below 70 at night for the first time ever this week.  Now, this is standard weather where Marc and Susan grew up, but we're weak now.  10 years in Seattle enjoying temperate weather has made it more difficult to deal with the heat.  Luckily Microsoft is air-conditioned.  We also bought a new air conditioner for the play room for this year.  We took our old air conditioner that didn't work too well and put that in our room where it's shaded from the afternoon sun.  So, we have our 2 room sanctuary.  Julie and Alex slept in our room last night and it worked out well.  They don't make noise through the whole night any more, but they do wake up at 7am and pop up instantly chatting away. 

I don't want to spoil the surprise of who, but somebody took 2 steps on their own today! 

 

Alex and Julie have had different techniques leading up to this.  Julie has gotten really good at pushing the little cars around.  Alex has been playing "look ma no hands" and standing for 15-20 seconds on his own.  Both are cruising around the furniture like crazy.  So, does car pushing or standing on your own work better for walking preparation?  I'll let everyone guess....

A couple of weeks ago, Laure was on vacation, so the Schnipke Grandparents came out to take care of Julie and Alex.  It's so much better to have family help out than backup nannies who don't care about your kids.  Julie and Alex had a great week.  They developed a lot during the week which is always cool to see.  They loved climbing all over their grandpa and listening to their grandma read to them.  They got to go to the park and Julie really loved swinging.  All in all, a great week!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

On Monday, we celebrated Julie and Alex's first birthday.  No, they're not 1 until the end of the month, but Grandma and Grandpa Schnipke were in town, so we had a family celebration.  They got their first round of gifts which they really seem to like.  They also got to eat CHOCOLATE for the first time.  I got them each their very own cupcake to eat and destroy.  Alex kept cramming it into his mouth.  Julie put some in her mouth but mostly liked destroying the cupcake.  I think we'll have some great video, but I need to go through it and pick out some good bits.  I'll post some pictures to hold you over.

We have two little push cars and a little push cart for Alex and Julie.  They really love riding on the cars.  They put their feet up a little so they don't drag and we push them up and down the hallway.  They get the biggest grins and squeal.  Julie has also started pushing the cars herself.  At first, when she would try to stand up behind a car, she would fall because it would move.  She has since figured out how to use the car to pull herself up without it moving away from her.  And, she's getting really good a walking and pushing the car.  Alex really likes to ride on the car, so we try to get Julie to push the car while Alex is riding.  It's a win-win-win = Julie gets to push, Alex gets to ride, Mom & Dad don't kill their backs bending over to push the car.  When we try to switch Alex and Julie and have Alex push, he just cries.  I don't think he likes the idea of pushing his sister.

 

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