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This journal is about raising identical twins.9th month
Previous entries
Tuesday, Apr 7, 1998 (8m+1d)
Joanne was very fussy on feeding. She developed a fever later at night. She was at 101°F. We gave her a drop of infant Tylenol (acetaminophen) and she was happy again in the morning. Her temperature is down to normal again. We didn't take her to the doctor.
Saturday, Apr 11, 1998 (8m+5d)
The next doctor's appointment is at 9 months, last was at 6 months. We have not checked their weight for two whole months since then. We were kind of worry because the twins were quite fussy at feeding recently. The Maternal Connections store (650)988-8287 in El Camino Hospital offers free use of their baby scale. We took the twins there to check their weight today.Joanne weighs 14 lb. 5 oz.
Jasmine weighs 14 lb. 4 oz.
They are now in the 5th percentile. (dropped from 20th percentile two months ago!!!) The consultant there told us not to worry too much because within the 5th percentile is still considered healthy. Besides we, the parents, are not very big, the twins may never be as big as other Americans. However, we remember the doctor told us it does not matter which percentile they are in as long as they stay in the same one. When they change from one percentile to the other, it indicates their growth chances pace. We probably have to work harder to make them eat.Afterwards, we had dim sum lunch at Ming's in Palo Alto. Joanne was asleep almost the whole lunch. Jasmine was making a lot of noise. When I held her up, she bounced her legs up and down for almost half an hour.
The Ming's Restaurant in Palo Alto is getting very expensive, but yet the waiting line is still very long. I'd say it costs 30% more on the final bill compared to Mayflower in Milpitas. However, if you consider the recent survey by Worth Magazine which ranks the neighboring cities, Atherton and Los Altos Hills (California) as the 4th and 9th richest city in the U.S. respectively, it is not difficult to understand their pricing. Palo Alto is ranked the 100th richest cities.
Thursday, Apr 16, 1998 (8m+10d)
My brother Ronnie and his fiancee Michelle came from Hong Kong to visit us for a few days. They were on a trip across Canada to visit our cousins in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. They also went to Niagara Fall, Montreal, Quebec City etc. San Francisco is the last leg of their trip.They brought the twins a set of 9 Disney's Micky Mouse alphabet books. The books are in both English and Chinese. The book covers have shiny colorful holographic patterns. The twins are mesmerized by the patterns. They would hold the books and twist their wrists to get different reflections.
Ronnie also brought the twins a gift from daddy's cousin Ying in Toronto. It is a set of 4 Winnie the pooh cuddly booklets. The book covers are made of a stuffed toy of Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.
This is the first time Ronnie and Michelle see our twins in person. Their impression of the twins includes
- they are very well behaving babies.
- Jasmine is more willing to let them hold her.
- Joanne is quiet but rather be left alone except for mommy and daddy.
Sunday, Apr 19, 1998 (8m+13d)
We took the twins to stroll in the park. The difference today was that we stopped and sat near the sandbox for awhile. The twins watched the other kids play quite "intensely". Jasmine even leaned forward from her stroller seat to get a better look.Jasmine is very cranky these days. We notice her lower jaw has a white spot which looks like the sign of a budding tooth. It will come out any day now.
Joanne is nice and quiet for now.
Tuesday, Apr 21, 1998 (8m+15d)
Ronnie and Michelle return to Hong Kong. When they left the house in the morning, Joanne was still asleep, but Jasmine sent them off with a big smile.It was very hot in San Jose today. I didn't know it because I was in an air conditioned office. My wife told me it reached over 80°F in the afternoon. The twins took a bath and wore the short sleeves clothes to the park. They were very happy with the freedom from the winter clothing.
The twins refused to sleep at night. We had not turned on the air conditioner and the house was still in the upper 70°F at night. When we tried to cuddle them to sleep, they kept fighting to get off. I guess they don't enjoy the cuddling when it is so hot. We tried to leave them alone in their cribs, but they kept crying for attention. Finally, we let them sit in the middle of our bed while we slept on the two sides. The twins entertained themselves by playing with each other. I fell asleep before they did. My wife told me the twins didn't sleep until one o'clock in the morning.
Saturday, Apr 25, 1998 (8m+19d)
We took the twins to visit CW's new million dollar home in Los Altos Hills. It is still being remodeled. The house is big, over 3000 square feet, their living room alone is bigger than the whole first floor of my house. The house has an indoor swimming pool. The house sits on the hillside, it has a clear view of Moffet field/NASA Ames Research Center and the south tip of San Francisco Bay in a far distance. Wild deers are often found wandering in the backyard.The twins were well behaving, they were playing with Bonnie within minutes. They watched intensely while CW's children horsed around in the house.
Joanne and Jasmine's personality is quite different. When you hold Joanne, she will sit on your lap quietly, perhaps reaching up to curiously touch your chin and nose. However, when you hold Jasmine, she refuses to sit still, she would struggle to stand up on your lap by pushing her palms on your chest. And she would bounce her legs up and down while making a lot of noise.
Jasmine can support herself on her palms and knees. She doesn't know how to coordinate the movement to crawl yet. She will rock her butt back and forth and usually end up sliding backward. Joanne on the other hand, will be quite content lying quietly on her belly.
Joanne however does have her naughty moments. Sometime she likes to squeal in high pitch, then sigh and laugh loudly. Jasmine usually will sing the chorus with her.
Sunday, Apr 26, 1998 (8m+20d)
The in-laws and great-grandma came for dinner. They had a great time playing with the twins.
Tuesday, Apr 28, 1998 (8m+22d)
Jasmine's first tooth is quite apparent. It is the lower right central incisor (that would be tooth P on a dental chart). I let her nibble my thumb the other day and I could feel the sharp edge of her tooth. Joanne still has a smooth gum line.Jasmine had another diaper accident. She managed to leak poop to her back above the waist band. She did that couple weeks ago. Mommy had to wash her clothes by hand. Believe me, if you were parents who are used to disposable diapers, washing noisome soiled clothes is not a pleasant task.
I got a runny nose and a slight fever. I tried to keep my hands off the babies for awhile.
Friday, May 1, 1998 (8m+26d)
Jasmine and Joanne didn't take a nap yesterday. They didn't eat much either, perhaps they were too excited playing with grandma Chui. They were so tired at the end of the day that they slept for over 10 hours straight last night.The twins' tongues can do tricks that neither of us can do. We can only roll the tongue into a U shape cross section, but they can flip the tongues sideway to a vertical position. We learned from high school biology class that tongue rolling is a heritary trait, looks like they had evolved beyond us. :-)
Jasmine often leans her head to her left side and smile when playing with us. Perhaps she likes to get a different perspective on life or it may be just a result of playing too much peek-a-boo. Joanne does not have such habit.
Saturday, May 2, 1998 (8m+27d)
We took the twins to Denis C. and Jane M.'s wedding. A lot of our friends met the twins for the first time. They got a lot of praises.Joanne was babbling during the ceremony, I had to take her out to the hallway. My wife brought Jasmine outside few minutes later, I guess she was also making too much noise. We didn't feel bad at all because some other three year old kids were talking loudly when the couple were exchanging vows.
We left the twins with aunt Tina before we went to the banquet. An hour later, we got a phone call telling us that Jasmine was crying non-stop, her clothes were soaked with tears. Tina and Ivan decided to take our twins back to our house hoping the familiar environment would make a difference. The twins stopped crying after arriving home. They were happy playing with each other. Tina and Ivan stayed to help my mom because my mom could never handle two babies on her own.
Sunday, May 3, 1998 (8m+28d)
We took the twins to the in-laws' place. We spent an afternoon with them playing some new toys. They fell asleep while we had dinner.After dinner, we took the twins to visit their granduncle Collins in Alameda. My wife's cousin Ken is getting married in a few months, we stopped by to see their new home too. On the way home, Joanne cried so hard that we had to exit the highway to check on her. She stopped crying for a while after we changed her diaper. But she resumed as soon as we got back on the highway. We decided to borrow a pair of deafen ears and head home. Jasmine seemed to enjoy Joanne's crying and slept all the way. Joanne stopped as soon as the car entered the garage.
It was an "uneventful" day for the twins. Both Joanne and Jasmine has a runny nose. I don't know if I passed the bug to them last week or if they contracted that from the new people they met in the wedding yesterday.
Tuesday, May 5, 1998 (8m+30d)
We currently feed the twins baby food twice a day, formula 4 times a day. The problem with the twins' feeding is that they move their jaws okay, but their mouths do not close around the nipple, as a result the suction is insufficient to draw the formula from the bottle. We squeeze the bottle once in awhile to speed up the feeding. After about 4 oz., they would stop sucking entirely. We cannot tell if they stop because they are too tired, or they are not hungry because of the other baby food in their diet.We called the doctor to ask what we can do to increase the twins' appetite. The doctor asked us to bring them in to check on them. Doctor Oro said the twins are very healthy despite not eating enough. She suggested that we increase solid food feeding to three times a day. We don't need to mix in the rice cereal with the baby food if they have constipation. She adjusted the powder formula to 22 calories per ounce, that is 5 scoops of powder per 9 oz. The doctor will check their weight again in couple of weeks during their 9 months check up.
Joanne weighed 14 lb. 7 oz.
Jasmine weighed 14 lb. 5 oz.
Both measure 26¾" in length
They are in the fifth percentile.I know, they've only gained a little weight since last time. May be the scale at Maternal Connection is not as accurate as the doctor's. Or perhaps, they are really not gaining because they didn't eat enough.
Joanne's eczema is getting worse. It now spreads to the side of her face. The doctor prescribed hydrocortizone(1%) in addition to Eucerin cream she has been using.
My wife's mom came stay with us for a few days. She misses the babies. However, the babies are more attached to my mom instead of my wife's mom. Perhaps my mom is more patient with them, or perhaps it is just because my mom plays with them everyday. The other grandma has a type A personality. She tends to rush through things including holding the babies. Of course, babies know how to choose too. Nevertheless, it is always nice to have someone to help with cooking and stuffs.
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