Thinking of baby Scarlett

Today on a website I visit I read about baby Scarlett. I wanted to dedicate a post to this beautiful baby girl who needs thoughts and prayers as she undergoes surgery in January due to a tumor on her brain. She is so small and fragile. You can read baby Scarlett's story here http://brandiandchris.blogspot.com/ . Please keep her in your thoughts.

I will be hugging Ava and Emma extra tight tomorrow morning when the awake. I am the most luckest person on earth. I love my girls more then anything.

Bex

Merry Christmas Everyone

Just wanted to say a quick Merry Christmas to family and friends! I will be posting pics after boxing day of the girls first Christmas so stay tuned. :)

Bex

Christmas Is Around the Corner

Well Christmas is just around the corner. The girls love the christmas tree and stare at it non stop when it's turned on. Sometimes I even catch them staring at it when it's off. It is the girls offical first christmas but it really doesn't feel like it. I mean after all they are only 3 months old. They will not remember this.
I love christmas. IT'S CHRISTMAS!! Let's have a safe one and a Happy New Year. My girls have New Years Resolutions, they promise to stop fussing so much and take naps when Mommy tell's them too. lol....a woman can dream can't she?
Here's an updated pic of Mommy and the girls.

The girls love staring at each other but they do have lots of jealousy issues regarding Mommy. LOL, look at Emma's face. It's as if she's saying "Hey, that's my mommy!"

Ava is on the left and Emma is on the right. I love those looks it's a priceless moment.

Ava is on left and Emma is on right. "Whoa wait a minute, who are you?"

Emma says to Ava "Whoa sis! You got some lump on your head, what is that?"

Hehehe Enjoy,
Bex

3 Months Today

Well the girls are offically 3 months old today. Wow I can't believe how fast time can go but still seem slow at times. The girls are getting more and more active. Ava is now trying to pull herself up (even tho she is way to young still lol) and she is also trying to get her toes up to her mouth lol. Emma is a little behind and we think this has to do with the week she had to stay in NICU. She'll catch up though.

They are doing well at night but not taking naps during the day and it's a losing battle everytime I try. I am not going to give up however. It's a little frustrating as people have different thoughts on how I should do it. We will get it though. The nights are good like I said, however getting them to bed is a task and a half. They will scream for a good half hour or more and their is nothing you can do to quiet them. They just all of a sudden stop crying and fall asleep. Then they are good until midnight when they wake for food and fall back to sleep instantly. Wake up again at 4am for food and sleep straight though till between 7 and 8 am. Depending on the morning.

Here's some updated pics taken today for their 3 Months.

Bex

New Family Member

On November 16, 2010 we lost a very loved family member. Our beloved kitty passed away due to illnesses that could not be fixed by medicine or surgery. It came on Sweetpea very quickly and took her life just 2 short days of finding out that something was wrong. We will miss her dearly. She will always be in our hearts forever.

RIP Sweetpea

On November 18, 2010 we welcomed Hershal into our lives. Although we will miss Sweetpea dearly we needed to fill the void that she left. After having a cat for 7 years it was hard to adjust to no cat. It will be nice to see Hershal grow up with Ava and Emma. He is very good with the girls and loves to lay down beside them when they are on the floor. He doesn't try to hurt them at all. So lets all welcome Hershal Layton to the Balansiak Family!

Hershal with Emma

-Bex, Dan, Ava, Emma and Hershal

12 Weeks Old

Well the twins are going to be 3 months old in 10 days time. How time flies. It feels like only yesterday I was carrying them inside and now I'm carrying them over my shoulder, in my arms or across my chest. Whichever way makes them happy. The girls are doing great. At the last checkup they both weighed just shy of 12 pounds each. My babies are really growing. They got their needles at the last checkup and boy did it go bad. Emma took the needles like a trooper. A little cry out and then she was fine. Ava took them worse. She cried and cried the little darling. Her one leg bled for a awhile too. We were good until about 7pm and then all hell broke loose. I'm not joking. Poor little girls were in such bad shape. It took me nearly 2 hours just to get them to bed. I am not looking forward to more needles.
The girls went to see Santa as you can see in the post below. Grandma Balansiak had some work function that they do every year for the children and since it was her first time having children (other then when Dan was a little boy) I thought it would be nice to go. They got some learning toys which will come in handy when they are a bit older. The singing clock keeps them happy though so we have that to entertain them some days.
Well I will always try my best to keep everyone updated on the girls. Sometimes all I have time for is a couple pictures but they can tell stories of their own lol.

Bex

Christmas 2010 Pictures

First visit with Santa.




Ava
 



Emma

More Sisterly Love

Holding Hands Emma is in pink and Ava is in white.

A message from the twins. "We are starting to look more and more identical! Now that Emma is getting hair it is getting harder to tell who is who. Just wait until we get older and we trick all of you."

Elle The Elephant

Ready to talk...

Well as I sit here with the girls quietly sleeping I think back to September 14th when I could have lost one of them. I wasn't really ready to talk to anyone about any of it or how I felt about things but since my doctor thinks it would be a good idea to start expressing feelings I figured I'd start here.

It was a long long day on September 14th. It started at 2am when I woke up with stomache pains. I thought it was just me needing to go to the washroom as I was scheduled for a 8am inducing for the girls. Once I got to the washroom I realized that it wasn't me having to go it was my girls telling me it was time. I called labour and delivery but since my contractions were only 5 minutes apart they told me to hang on until 8 and come in. I did. Once we got there things starting going fast. They gave me stuff to make my contractions get worse, and boy did they get worse. By 2pm I had my epidual. (thank god for that whoever made that stuff is a lifesaver) But things started slowing down and the girls just didn't want to come out. Finally about 11pm the nurses said we were going to try to push. Ava had some difficulty comeing out so they used the vacuum on her. I can't even express the feeling when I saw her. I cried so hard. She was beautiful. Shortly after she was born was when I started feeling like something was wrong. Everyone had gotten really serious and when Emma came out she wasn't crying like Ava was. I cried, what's wrong with her and they insisted she was fine. I knew she wasn't. I don't know how to tell you how I knew, I just did. When I saw them put the oxygen mask on her beautiful face my heart dropped. Why, after carrying them for 38 weeks and having a great 8 months is my little girl on oxygen? Then they told me, she wasn't breathing when she came out. She was without oxygen for 3 minutes. They rushed her to the NICU right away. I didn't even get to welcome my angel into the world. The next morning I went to see her. I will never ever forget what I saw. No one should ever have to see that. My babygirl was strapped to machines. I couldn't touch her, I couldn't hold her. All I could do was look at her. I felt helpless and guilty because her sister was getting all my love. But now they both are 2 months old and they both get my love. I will never forget the emotions running though me that critical 48 hours and I will tell them about that day. I am glad I have both my girls with me. I guess for once God really was on my side.

Bex

ps I posted a the picture because to me it's a silent reminder of what could have been. I am thankful for each day I have with them and am amazed by the miracle of life.

Sisterly Love

There is nothing better then having sisters. I caught Emma looking at Ava today. It was one of those looks that you just knew that she knows exactly who Ava is and you know that they are going to look after each other. I can't wait to see that bond grow.

Halloween 2010

So Ava and Emma are a little young still to really enjoy Halloween but we took some photos of them wearing a Halloween outfit. Hope you like them. Ava is on the left and Emma is on the right.

Bathtime Video's

Bathtime video's of the girls at 6 Weeks old. Can't wait to see them together in the tub.

6 Weeks Old

Well my girls made it to a month and a half. I can't believe how much they've grown or how far they've come. Seems like just yesterday I had to hold their heads so they wouldn't hurt themselves, now they hold their own for short times. I love the so very much and you can tell that they love each other. It is adorable when they "talk" to each other. It seems like they don't want to be apart. Just last night I tried putting them in their own cribs and was met by two screaming babies. So in the went together again.
Nights are not getting any better. They want food at 8, 11, 3 and 6, the 3-oclock one being very hard to put them back to sleep. We're doing it though and although I can't wait for them to get older I think I will also miss these moments.
They both made their first "real" smile earlier this week and it melted my heart. Seeing those huge grins when you do something to make them laugh just makes everything disappear.
Bathtime is soo much fun. They both love to splash in the bathtub. I can't wait until I can put them together and see what kind of mischief they can get into.

Sleeping Day 1

Well yesterday was the first full day of using the EASY routine on the girls. I'll tell you right now, sleepy babies hate to be kept awake lol. I feel awful every time I have to keep them up, but it's better then getting woken up at 3 am with two screaming babies. So as of today we have to keep them up for 1 hour and then they can sleep for 2 hours then it's feeding time. Then the routine starts all over again. Last night was good. They didn't start fussing until about 4 am except to feed and as soon as we fed them they went straight back to sleep. After 4 however it took a lot of encourgement to get them to sleep. Everything takes time right. I'll keep everyone updated on how we are doing.
EMMA is on the left and AVA is on the right.

Just Some Pictures

EMMA

Just Some Pictures

AVA

The EASY Routine

I would advise any mom and dad who even has one baby to use this routine. You can learn it by reading The Baby Whisper. It's great, just make sure you start right away and not wait. AVA is on the left and EMMA is on the right.

Bath Time

Bathing two babies is not an easy chore. Once you are done with one you have to start all over again with the other one. Here's a picture.
EMMA is beside and AVA is on top.

The Twins Arrived

Okay the twins are here! Yeahhhh. They were born on September 14, 2010. Ava weighed
6 lbs 7 oz and her sister Emma weighed 5 lbs 12 oz. Emma had a rough start and had to stay in the NICU for 1 week. She is doing great now. Here are the girls at home finally together.

Cool Facts About Twins

These are some cool facts about the type of twins Ava and Emma are:

Incidence
Monozygotic twinning occurs in birthing at a rate of about three in every 1000 deliveries worldwide,[13]

The likelihood of a single fertilization resulting in MZ twins is uniformly distributed in all populations around the world.[11] This is in marked contrast to DZ twinning, which ranges from about six per thousand births in Japan (almost similar to the rate of MZ twins, which is around 4–5) to 15 and more per thousand in some parts of India[15] and up to 24 in the US, which might mainly be due to IVF (in vitro fertilisation). The exact cause for the splitting of a zygote or embryo is unknown.

In-vitro fertilization techniques are more likely to create twins. Only about three pairs of twins per 1,000 deliveries occur as a result of natural conception, while for IVF deliveries, there are nearly 21 pairs of twins for every 1,000.[16]

Genetic and epigenetic similarity
Monozygotic twins are genetically identical (unless there has been a mutation during development) and they are almost always the same sex. On rare occasions, monozygotic twins may express different phenotypes (normally due to an environmental factor or the deactivation of different X chromosomes in monozygotic female twins), and in some extremely rare cases, due to aneuploidy, twins may express different sexual phenotypes, normally due to an XXY Klinefelter's syndrome zygote splitting unevenly.[17][18]

Monozygotic twins have nearly identical DNA, but differing environmental influences throughout their lives affect which genes are switched on or off. This is called epigenetic modification. A study of 80 pairs of human twins ranging in age from three to 74 showed that the youngest twins have relatively few epigenetic differences. The number of epigenetic differences between MZ twins increases with age. Fifty-year-old twins had over three times the epigenetic difference of three-year-old twins. Twins who had spent their lives apart (such as those adopted by two different sets of parents at birth) had the greatest difference.[19] However, certain characteristics become more alike as twins age, such as IQ and personality.[20][21] This phenomenon illustrates the influence of genetics in many aspects of human characteristics and behaviour.

Phenotype similarity
Monozygotic twins are almost always the same sex and their traits and physical appearances are very similar but not exactly the same.[22]

Monozygotic twins look alike, although they do not have the same fingerprints (which are environmental as well as genetic). As they mature, MZ twins often become less alike because of lifestyle choices or external influences. The children of MZ twins would test genetically as half-siblings rather than first cousins.

Monochorionic-Diamniotic
Monochorionic twins share the same placenta.
Monochorionic twins generally have two amniotic sacs (called Monochorionic-Diamniotic "MoDi"), which occurs in 60–70% of the pregnancies with monozygotic twins.[25] Monochorionic-Diamniotic twins are almost always monozygotic, with a few exceptions where the blastocysts have fused.[23]
Egg Spilts: Days 4-8

I thought it was an interesting bit of facts. Just so everyone know as well we didn't have any help having twins. It just sorta happened lol.

35 Weeks

Well we are at 35 Weeks and still holding strong. Girls a very active but my rash is still with me. It's not as itchy anymore but still there and red as all hell. I keep getting nice little pains in my lower stomache which is either early signs or braxton hicks. It's probley braxton hicks. I think the only way these ladies will come early is if the doctor says he has to get them out because theirs no room left.
In the mean time my energy is spent and I spend most of the day laying down cause it feels good and because I can lol. I miss work and will go back probley before the year is up just because that's who I am. I love to work and it being almost a month now with no work is killing me.
We go to see DeFrance on Monday for a appointment. This is the last of our 2 week appointments after this it will be once a week until the girls come. It kinda makes me feel a little better knowing that he'll see them once a week so if any problems happen to arise he'll know about it. Although parking is crazy and very very costly.
Well here's to another couple of weeks. Stay healthy girls we love you.

34 Weeks

Well, here we are at 34 weeks and 5 days and still holding on. I know it's not my due date but I do wish they would come. I feel like crap. That's putting it nicely. I have what they call PUPPS, which is a really really annoying rash that covers my whole body. They tell me the only cure is delivery. Nice eh? Creams don't even work to relieve the itchiness. I have to admit it's better then it was. My stomache is no longer covered so now it's just my arms, legs, and hands. Hopefully the girls come soon so I can get some releif.
Everything is set, my bags are packed for the hospital and so are the babies. I really can't wait to hold them in my hands. It's hard to remember that I made them. My body produced two wonderful human beings.
So here's the next few weeks. Stay healthy in there girls. Mommy and Daddy can't wait to see you.

32 Weeks

Well here we are at 32 weeks. I can remember when I couldn't wait to get into the thirties. My girls will be here before I know it. I'm really getting excited. People think I'm kinda messed up because I can't wait. I hate being told that things are going to be tough. I'm not stupid and I'm not young. I know things will be tough but that is life. When is life not tough?
I can't wait to see them again on ultrasound. I go next Monday and I'm really excited. Finished work yesterday as well so I'm officially off for a while. I think I'm going to miss it. You get use to being in charge and now I don't have that.
Well, girls are moving a lot today. I think one pushed her tush right out into my stomach lining lol. It didn't hurt it just felt not normal. I love just sitting there felling them move. Well that's all for today. Take care.

Bex

31 Weeks

31 Week Ultra Sound

July 27, 2010

Went for my 31 Week ultra sound yesterday and the girls look great. They are growing like bad weeds I'll tell you that. They are 4 pounds 5 ounces and 4 pounds 6 ounces. They are laying beside each other with one head up and one head down. There really isn't much room left for them so all they can really do is kick in there. Not much moving positions now. So all is well with them and I feel great too. Getting tired though I don't sleep very well at night anymore. Tossing and turning. Dan feels it too but what can I do. He understands. Well if anything new happens I'll let you know.

Bex