Sleepy baby

Sleeping Morgan

The kids and Santa

Jungle Java had a pancake breakfast with Santa this morning. Maggie ran right over and jumped in Santa's lap. Mason refused to even talk to him. Mason said "That's not the real Santa."

This does not look comfortable

Mason stayed up a little late reading his solar system books. I went to check on him around 10pm and this is how I found him. Looks like he collapsed somewhere in the middle of reading about the sun and the moon.

It snowed last night

Crazy Texas weather! It was raining and sleeting when we went to bed
last night and when I got up this morning all the houses and cars were
dusted with snow. Really makes it feel like Christmas time.

Megan and Mason

Solar system update

Saturn is nearly done. All that is left is paint. We had to clean everything up for thanksgiving dinner so we hung the unfinished Saturn to get it out of the kitchen. Neptune and Uranus are also done and only need paint. Next week we will start construction on Jupiter.

Goofy glasses

Maggie got these at a birthday party today. They look hilarious on her.

Solar system model progress

Mason and I are building a scale model of our solar system. Here is a slide show of the progress. This is the Album if you want to see more.

Twins Playgroup

Me and the baby girls go to a once a month multiples playgroup. It's not really for the babies, but more for me to know I'm not the only crazy mom out there. It's just moms of multiples (in this case only twin moms) and all the babies are basically immobile, we do have some rollers though. I'm sure next month there will be a few crawlers too. All these babies range from 2 months to 9 months old. It got real loud at times, but what do you expect with 16 infants! The good things is, crying doesn't faze us. I like to watch how these other multiple moms take care of 2 babies at once. The way they can pick up both babies or how they play with both babies. I'm constantly wondering if I'm doing an okay job with my two and going to this playgroup reassures me that I am.

Mini golfing trip

We took the whole half dozen of us mini golfing on Saturday. Mason got a hole in one on the first hole.

After four holes Maggie decided she wanted to collect acorns instead of golfing.


I golfed about half the course one handed while holding Morgan. It actually improved my game for some reason.
- Matt

Morgan eating cereal

Cristy tried giving Morgan cereal tonight. She did a great job. She
was much more interested this week.

Sorting the Halloween candy

Maggie and Mason went through their candy this morning to check out what they got from trick or treating. One of the neighboors was giving out full size candy bars. Some one else was giving out little bags of chips. Mason got his favorite, Cheetos.

Megan trys rice cereal

Cristy gave Megan rice cereal for the first time. She seemed to like
it and got the hang of the spoon after 3 or 4 tries.

Vampires!

- Matt

Getting ready for Halloween

Mason is a Clone Trooper from Star Wars and Maggie is supposed to be a monkey. I think she looks more like an Ewok.

- Matt

Ski shores cafe

Had lunch today at this place on the river. The outdoor seating is right on the water. They have great burgers. - Matt

4 months & 3 years

Yesterday was a big day for the McMillan Clan. We ALL went to the doctor's office. Maggie had her 3 year check up and the twins had their 4 month well baby visit. I knew the twins were going to get more immunizations and Maggie too, so I made Matt go with me. And since the appointments were 8, 8:30 and 9am, there was no way to drop Mason off at school until after the doctors. So all 6 of us were up by 6:30 in order to get out of the door by 7:15. So here is what we found out:

Maggie -
-weighs 34 pounds
-is 38" tall
-she was able to do all the things the doctor was looking for to check her development; hopping, counting, touching her toes, stacks blocks, plays independently and imaginatively, dresses herself, is potty trained. (Oh yeah, we finally got to that. Well, her teacher said we needed to do it since the other 4 girls in Maggie's class were potty trained and Maggie was asking to pee in the potty. I was afraid I didn't have the time to stay on top of it. Maggie's teacher said she would keep asking Maggie throughout the day and was willing to work with her. So really, the school played a HUGE part in potty training Maggie. I knew she was ready, but I was not. Come on, like I'm not busy, right?)
-the next things she should be doing is drawing people; so watch for some in the next coming weeks
-And the big one - her speech has caught up to her age (woo hoo!)
***@ Maggie's 2 year check up, she was only speaking/communicating at an 18 month level. There were only very few single words and a lot of general sounds. Mostly she just did what she wanted because she wasn't able to tell someone what she wanted. We also did a lot of pointing back then too. She was delayed due to her hearing. We have spent the last year working with a speech therapist and also had some surgery done (ear tubes put in, adenoids and tonsils removed). Since the surgery (March '08) Maggie has been able to hear better and as a result speak better. Since school started in September, she is learning the alphabet, singing songs and counting. the doctor today said that 95% of what Maggie says is intelligible.

Megan -
-weighs just under 15 pounds
-is 25" long
-is at a 4 month level developmentally (which is good since she was 1 month premature)
-and the biggie for Megan - she is rolling over! She rolls from back to stomach and started this on the 12th.

Morgan -
-weighs about 12 pounds
-is 23" long
-developmentally at 4 months
-is not rolling, but doc said that rolling is typically done by the 5th month, so they do not consider this a delay.
I also read in my Raising Multiples book that we as parents should not expect the twins to do the same thing at the same time.Especially if they are fraternal twins (which we think the girls are) since fraternal twins are basically just 2 babies born at the same time. There is nothing more in common between the twins than any other pair of siblings.
-Morgan is doing better since being on the Prevacid (she has reflux). As she starts moving around (rolling) and sitting up, the reflux should go away. So until then, we'll keep her on it. However, being on the Prevacid makes Morgan have a super hard time going poo. So the doc has given us the okay to add a teaspoon of juice to her bottle once a day. We did it yesterday, and wouldn't you know, it worked. Her poo was softer and she didn't scream and cry while she was passing it.

We were also given the okay to start feeding both babies rice cereal. And if they like it and keep it down, the okay to move on to baby food. WOW! Already? Yeah!


The other thing that happened was we all got the flu shot. Well, everyone except the twins since they cannot have it before they are 6 months old. I had told Mason that he wasn't getting anything done at the doctors, that we were only going for the girls. Well, I had to get a shot, Dad got a shot, Maggie got an additional one and Mason had to get one. Man was he mad! He tried hiding under a table and then under a chair. When I went to pick him up, he tried to run away from me. Then I had to pin him down - I swear that's one of the most painful parts of parenting. Anyway, we all got the flu shot to protect the twins from getting it. I explained that to Mason, but he was still upset.

All in all the doctor's visit went well. Everyone is doing good and the baby girls are growing.

Megan rolled over

Megan rolled over today while we were at Jungle Java. Now she won't stop doing it and then she gets mad because she doesn't like being on her belly.

Trip to Jungle Java with Grandma Teri

Grandma don't blow out my candles

I am three!

We had cake and presents one more time so Magster could celebrate her birthday with Grandma Teri.

Fun with the iPhone

Mason and I were having some fun with a new iPhone app called PanoLab.

Maggie turns three

Here is Maggie in one of her new dresses she got for her birthday.

Peanut butter or lotion?

Which one do you think will get this out of Maggie's hair.

Morgan's Heart

I took Morgan to the heart doctor yesterday. (Following up from birth. She was born with a small hole in her heart. It's called a VSD -Ventricular septal defect.) The doctor listened to her heart for 5 whole minutes. I thought something was wrong, but no. He said he just wanted to be sure, but he didn't hear the murmur. The hole in her heart has already closed! :) YEAH! I had to go to the regular doc today and she double checked Morgan. She also did not hear the murmur. Both the cardiologist and the regular pediatrician were surprised that the hole has closed so soon. (They usually close by the time the baby is 2 years old. The cardiologist said he hadn't seen this type of hole close so quickly.) So this is great news! And by the way, she weighs 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

Here is a link about VSD if you're interested in learning more about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventricular_septal_defect

Cristy posted this. I have no idea why.

Mason turns five!

Today is Mason's fifth birthday. We had a party for him on Sunday with his friends and Guamanian step-siblings. Mason was very excited that the TV show Wipeout decided to air their season finale especially for his birthday.

Smiley Morgan

Finally a happy Morgan

We finally figured out that Morgan has acid reflux. Our doctor
precsribed Prevacid antacid medication. Now she is a happy camper
after eating instead of crying in pain. For the most part the babies
are sleeping through the night now.

Dad's labor day dessert

This is the dessert I made for our labor day BBQ at the Villagomez's. I had to look up on the Internet how to suspend the fruit in the middle of the Jello. I put strawberries and blue berries in it and vanilla yogurt on top.

No wonder my skin felt like it was going to rip open.

Here's the bare belly version...

This was taken the day before I delivered - 35 weeks, 5 days

Look how loving he looks. So precious.

Megan and her binky buddy

Megan LOVES the changing table

Maggie and Megan

I think Big Sister is teaching Little Sister how to smile.

Megan on the left and Morgan - with the binky in her mouth

The Babies and their Binky Buddies

Morgan doesn't seem to like having her picture taken

Big brother Mason

Mason giving Megan a bottle.

Summer fun

Mason, Maggie, Mia, Mariah and Madison playing on our new water park.

Dad's floam race car sculpture

This was a special request from Maggie.

Sleepy Megan

Sleepy Morgan

Megan's first bath

Bubble wrapped desk

While I was out taking care of babies my co-workers thoughtfully
bubble wrapped my desk so it wouldn't get broken while I was gone.

Megan and Morgan together again

Morgan is home!

The hospital called while we were at Megan's check up to tell us Morgan was being discharged. Mason and Maggie were very excited to have both of their sisters home. Morgan is on the right.

Maggie and her twins

Maggie taking care of her twins