Dialogue

Me: Max, please put away the cutlery for me.

Max: This is not called cutlery.

Me: What do you call it?

Max: Silverware.

Me: Cutlery is another word for silverware. I grew up calling it silverware but, when we moved to Australia, I heard people calling it cutlery. Now I use both words.

Max: Cutlery is a swear word.

Me: What does it mean?

Max: It means baby in Spanish. The "cut" part means fighting.

(We've been working on only using "baby" to refer to the babies)

Jailed

They thought this was great fun...for ten minutes

Helping Daddy Work

We use a lot of nappies

Elise, Abby and Max

Another "make-ups" creation

Any guesses???

Playing at Southbank

We took a trip to Southbank with some friends a few weeks ago. The water was still a bit chilly for the weather but the kids didn't seem to mind. Plus the sand at Streets Beach is always a hit.

Max, Sadie and I playing in the sand

Sadie and Ryan

Funny comment

Max's teacher approached me when I arrived at his montessori to pick him up yesterday. She asked me to sign an incident report b/c another child bit Max. Here's the story as she related it:

Max and Orlando were playing with some dinosaurs and Caleb bit Max when Max would not give a dinosaur to him (apparently the rule is that only two children can play with the dinosaurs at one time). The teacher noticed Max crying and went over to the boys. After inquiring about what happened, Max said, "Caleb bit me."

The teacher asked Caleb whether or not he bit Max (there were not teeth marks on Max's arm). Caleb replied, "No. I scratched him with my teeth. I'm not allowed to bite."

The mark on Max's arm looks like a scratch so I think Caleb truly believed he was not biting :)

Arts and Crafts

We have created an arts and crafts box where I put all sorts of boxes, ribbons, containers, doodads, and gobbledygook. Max has, in the last three months, become really interested in making things. He has made Ben 10 watches out of toilet rolls, Green Lantern rings out of paper, dare I say hundreds of paper airplanes (yes, I do), a robot, a wobble board (Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport), Star Wars space ships, a DVD player and TV complete with DVDs and two remote controls, a boobie trap for above one of the bedroom doors, etc. I love to watch his creative side developing.

Wobble board

robot

Ice skating in Brisbane?!

There was a German market/winter carnival traveling through the capital cities of Australia this winter. We decided it was a good time to introduce Max to ice skating. He loved it!

A summit in the cot

Elsa giving me kisses as we watched Max and Tim ice skate

Ice skating with the seal scooter

We also had three rides on the ice slide

We spotted some girls with animal balloons at the German market. After we asked them where they got the balloons, we tracked down the artist on the Queen Street Mall.

Max wearing his scabbard while using his sword and shield on me. It was frightening as you can see (is fear the expression on my face?!).

Dairy Allergy

Elsa has had eczema since she was two to three months old. I wasn't too concerned about it until she gained enough fine motor skill to scratch it. And then there was the time that her neck, upper chest, and side of her face became infected...

When I came to realize that the discomfort was effecting her personality, I decided that I needed to take serious action to get the eczema under control and try to figure out her triggers. Our local GP and a dermatologist gave me some good guidelines on how to treat flare ups and what to do for general maintenance. We were lucky enough to also see the allergist on the Gold Coast who is a bit of a local legend so in mid-July, we found out that Elsa has a dairy allergy. I had suspected that was true b/c she refused to eat yoghurt and even broke out in hives the last time I tried to feed it to her.

Elsa and I have gone dairy free. Well, sort of. I avoid all of the obvious dairy but I haven't been as careful at dinner or birthday parties. Unfortunately, I think that Elsa pays the price after those occasions so I need to be a bit more diligent. I just hope that we don't discover more allergies in the next few months!

Elsa soaking in her bath oil

Elsa's eczema at its worst (I cringe just looking at this picture. Thankfully, she is much, much, much better now).

Too Long

I can't seem to blog and facebook at the same time. Facebook has won out for the past six months or so. Hopefully I can get back into blogging.

Life has been so busy since the twins arrived. Beyond the time that it takes to care for two babies, I've committed to running the Under Ones playgroup for the Brisbane Multiple Birth Association-Westside. The group gets together twice per month at a couple of our local libraries. I've enjoyed meeting with other Moms of multiples.

Maxwell is still enjoying Montessori three days per week. He never wants to go in the morning but, as soon as he arrives, he's off to play with his friends with hardly a good-bye. His teachers are lovely: Tim and I are very pleased that he has the opportunity to spend a year there.

Max also hit a big milestone in June. We have a five-year-old in the family! We had a joint party with his buddy, Alexi, in the local park. It was the first year that we didn't host the party at our apartment. Gotta say--the clean up is much easier at the park :)

The girls are growing so fast! I can't believe how quickly these last seven months have gone! They are both starting to scoot around on the floor, have been eating solids for three months, and are working on sitting.

Addie is very smiley and outgoing yet she is also the first one to burst into tears when she is tired and amongst strangers. Elsa is a bit more reserved--she likes to observe the world around her with a poker face. Yet she always has a smile for Max--he loves to make her laugh (and laugh she does!).

Break for snacks during a bushwalk

Max holding Elsa

Perhaps he was a bit sick that day

Addie showing off her toothy grin

We are Australians!

On Thursday night we attended our citizenship ceremony at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was a really special night for Max b/c he got to stay up late and have an exclusive outing with M&D. Unfortunately, we didn't bring the camera. Such a shame! It would have been nice to document Max asleep on Tim's lap at the cafe after the ceremony.

The ceremony itself was nice if not a bit long. Max really enjoyed the aboriginal dancing, the children's choir and the Australian Army Band. It was strange to see a banner with a life-size photograph of the queen standing behind the official party. Tim's query: "Is that a cardboard cut-out of the queen up there?" Each speaker began his speech acknowledging the traditional inhabitants of the land on which the Convention and Exhibition Centre lies. They used the exact same words, verbatim. It is some sort of official requirement (I looked it up in the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code, p 36).

We wanted to get a photo of Max with the Lord Mayor but the Lord Mayor's robe and gold medallions put Max off. He looked a bit like a rapper Father Christmas.

This is the previous Lord Mayor: the current one is taller and gaunter, like Father Christmas. There aren't any pics of the new Lord Mayor in ceremonial garb b/c he had just been appointed the morning of the day of the ceremony.

Visiting Assisted Conception Australia

This week Wednesday we visited ACA for the first time since the beginning of my second trimester. I had seen a lot of the ACA staff during our last IVF cycle, especially since I hyper-stimulated (I was hospitalized for six days and had a belly like I was 7 months pregnant--my ovaries were the size of grapefruits and I had fluid in my "third spaces"). They played such a significant role in our early pregnancy--it seemed to strange that they did not see me at all after I hit fourteen weeks and they had not yet met the twins. I felt more connected to ACA than I did to the OBs and staff at Arrivals who monitored my pregnancy and delivered the twins.

It was great to show off the twins to the people who made them possible. I told the twins that they hadn't been in the ACA office since they were only eight cells (Dr Clare Boothroyd has a separate office from the main ACA office where she performs the embryo transfers) and Clare hadn't seen them since they were 10-week fetuses!

Visiting Clare in her office--she's such a good one! (I have Addie, Clare has Elsa...Tim has Max)

Margie holding Elsa and Claire (the other one) holding Addie in the ACA office. Margie is one of the IVF nurses and Claire is the ACA office manager. Margie has 18-year-old twin boys by IVF.

Steven Fleming (the embryologist who loaded 8-cell Addie and Elsa into the syringe for the embryo transfer) holding Addie and Claire holding Elsa

ACA has their 3 year anniversary celebration in July so we'll get to see them again at that time!

Max's First 1k Race

Games for the kids afterwards

First Time Rock Climbing Too

Max and Daddy Running the Race

All That Pink! March 18

Bath Time

Watching "The Funny Show"

Of Course There's Room for You!

Another Dream Time Dialogue

Max: You have hair growing under your arms.

Tim: Yes, I do.

Max: Will I have hair under my arms when I grow big?

Tim: I imagine you will.

Max: Will it be as long as Mommy's? (I must interject that I don't have long armpit hair. It is just darker than Tim's so it is more noticeable).

Tim: Hmmm.

Max: Ginormica (the giant girl in Monsters Vs Aliens) must have really long hair under her arms.

Dialogue between Max and Tim

As Max was falling to sleep, we started talking about Rachel's birthday.

Max: If Mommy keeps growing, her head will hit the ceiling.

Daddy: At some point your body will say, "I'm the perfect height" and it will stop growing. Mommy and Daddy will keep having birthdays but we probably won't grow any taller.

Max: (pause) I'm the perfect height. I don't want to get any taller.

Daddy: I agree.

Max: If I get taller, I'll be a man and then I'll have to go to work.

Daddy: Yeah, you'll get to go to work.

Max: I'll have to duck in the elevator.

The Twins' Arrival!

I was finally convinced on December 22nd that it would be best to be induced between 37 and 38 weeks (I was 37+2 that day) so on the 23rd, I scheduled to be induced the next morning. Grandma Wonhof had been visiting since the 16th so Max stayed home with her on the 24th.

Tim and I arrived at the hospital at 7.30am, were in a delivery suite by 8am, then had my waters broken at 8.30am. By 10am I still did not have strong or regular enough contractions so the OB gave me Oxytocin to bring on the contractions. It worked. Fortunately I had an epidural by 10.30am so I was able to relax a bit more for the last three hours. The OBs told me that they recommend an epidural with twins b/c of the risk of something going wrong with the delivery of the second twin. I'm certainly glad I followed that recommendation because twin two's heart rate dropped to 50 bpm and the OB needed to use a vacuum to get her out. She didn't start breathing on her own for 4 minutes. A chaotic and scary 4 minutes. Fortunately, I think I was a bit too distracted to fully comprehend what was going on at the time.

Elizabeth Morse Wonhof (Elsa) was born at 1.44pm on 24.12.10 weighing in at 2664g (5lbs 14oz) and Adelaide Emmerich Wonhof (Addie) was born at 1.58pm the same day at 2888g (6lbs 5 oz).

Grandma Wonhof with Addie

Addie

Elsa

Tim with Addie

Proud older brother holding Addie

Can you see the theme throughout the pictures? Addie is not the laid back one :-)