A trip to the park with Grandma

Grandma Dorothy made the trip out from New York this weekend so that we could all spend time together. It worked out perfectly that we had some beautiful weather to enjoy! On Friday morning, we piled the kids into the van and visited a nearby park. Mairead LOVED it! She liked the swings the best, and Grandma did a great job with the pushing.

She was watching us closely when we were swinging, and she started to mimic the pumping motion- she's a smart one!

Almost as high as Daddy!

The slides were lots of fun, too. Daddy picked her up and helped her slide down over, and over, and over...

Thanks to Grandma for coming to visit! Mairead had a lot of fun, and Mommy and Daddy appreciated all of your help around the house. We are usually outnumbered here, so having another adult is always a huge help to us!

All Good News

I have a couple of updates to report- and they are all good! First, Early Intervention came to the house yesterday to do an assessment on both boys and determine whether or not they had any delays that would require therapy. They do not! The boys are 6 weeks old chronologically, but only 2 weeks old by adjusted age. They are responding to light and sound, as well as to my voice and Dave's. They are tracking objects well and supporting their heads very well. The physical therapist doing the assessment thought they were performing nearly as well as full term babies, which is great!

Also yesterday (it was a busy day), I took the boys to Children's Hospital in Boston for hip ultrasounds. Both boys were breech, which sometimes causes hip dysplasia, so this test was to rule that out. Neither boy has it, which is also great news! Surgery is often required to correct this, so we are thrilled to avoid that. They were very well behaved during the ultrasound- they didn't even pee on the table like their sister did when she had the test.

Today, VNA came to check on the boys and their weights. Ben is up to 9lbs 1oz, and Jack is 8lbs 4oz. Granted, some of you have babies who were born at those weights, but for us, those weights are fantastic! I have already put away the preemie clothes, and now I am starting to put away some of the newborn clothes in favor of 0-3 months. I never thought they would get this big this quickly, but I am so glad that they are growing so well!

The best news of all is that Jack smiled at me for the first time yesterday! It was amazing- he looked so cute! This was a real 'social' smile, not just one while he was dreaming, etc. Social smiles are a typical milestone for 6 week olds, but I didn't know when they would do it since they are not 'really' 6 weeks. Now I can't wait to see Ben smile, too!

Mairead is at her all time cutest lately as she is saying or doing something new every day. When EI came yesterday she was showing off for them and was adorable while doing it. Dave thinks she tried to say 'I love you' back to him when he put her to bed tonight- I think that when she says that to me for the first time I might just cry because I just love her to pieces. We are so luck to have these three amazing kids!

Surprise!

This past Sunday, our entire family and lots of friends gathered at Brian's favorite place to surprise him for his 30th birthday. His actual birthday was April 2, so he didn't see this coming! The Old Court is an Irish pub in downtown Lowell. For all of you life-time Lowell residents, it used to be the Press Club. Brian is a regular at the Old Court- Once, he was even on the menu when they created a special called "Monaghan's Favorite." The owners helped us to set up a party for him in the perfect location.


Christin was in charge of getting Brian there on time- no small feat! When they walked in, Brian headed over to say hello to the owners and other regulars before he realized what was going on.

Katie made this fantastic cake to celebrate the occasion.

Mairead must take after her godfather because she loved it at the Old Court. There were tons of places to run around, lots of people, good food, and even balloons.

I have to admit that yes, I did bring all of my babies to a bar. And sadly, this was not Mairead's first time in a bar... not even close. I will say that it Ireland, it is completely customary to bring your children to the pub on Sundays-- so I am just raising my children in proper Irish custom.

Jack and Ben were very well behaved- they spent some time with their cousin, Beth.

Even Nana made it to the Old Court to spin some yarns.

Mairead had a lot of fun playing with Jen. Jen even let her climb up and stand in the big windows.

Ben had to belly up to the bar for a drink. Since our friend, Krystle, works at the OC, we were able to ask her to store some baby formula in one of the refrigerators. Probably the only bar around that had formula in the fridge.

Here's a nice shot of Mairead's grandmother and great-uncle giving her some beer. She wanted more!

Ok, I know this looks bad, but I swear he was drinking Coke.

Ben and Jack were sporting new outfits- thanks to Erin from Probation (my dad's work) for the adorable little shirts!

Everyone had a great time and we were all happy to come together to celebrate Brian's birthday. He is a great brother, son, uncle, boyfriend, and godfather. We are all so happy for all of the great things he has going on in his life- here's hoping the next 30 years are even better. We love you, Brian!

Real Easter

First- good news from our pediatrician appointment yesterday- both boys are doing great! They are both gaining weight very steadily. Ben is now 8lbs 60z and Jack is up to 7lbs 10oz! Even better news for me is that we don't have to go back for a month! We are so happy that they are doing so well. The pediatrician explained that with a lot of preemies, they use a separate chart for height and weight than they do for full term babies, but they don't need to do that for our boys since they are doing so well. Granted, they are in 3rd and 5th percentile for weight, but at least they are on the 'regular' chart! It's such a contrast to Mairead who has consistently been in the 90s for height and weight percentile. But, I think the boys will get there, too!

For 'real' Easter Sunday, we went to Lee and Jean's house- thanks, Lee and Jean! Both boys had their very cute little while outfits that my mom bought them, and they each a cute Easter bib from their aunt, Katie. They were very well behaved for our visit. Can you guess which one is which?

(If you said Jack first, then Ben, you are right!)

Mairead was also dressed up for the occasion in an adorable dress that my mom found. And, of course, she had to have a hat to match. She LOVES the hat. She was wearing it around our house prior to Easter, even with pajamas, and insists on wearing it still. She looked very 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' in these pictures. She is just beautiful and we are so amazed by her every day.

Once again, we have messy pictures of Mairead eating. This time it was cake. Also, she said the word 'cake' for the first time on Sunday... she has a lot of new words lately including cake, hat, hot, car, and bubbles. Also, she is saying 'thank you' all the time, which we are very proud to see. She is learning to use 'thank you' to get what she wants, though. For instance, she will bring me her empty juice cup and say, 'thank you,' which means that I am supposed to fill it up again. How can I say no?

These pictures are from the day after Easter when she went out to play with Dave, but would not go without the hat. Looks cute enough from behind, right? Well...

How about now?

It was chilly so she needed to wear her warm hat, but she wouldn't go without the Easter hat, so she put it on her head on top of her winter hat and wore it that way. She is so damn cute!

Thanks to all of you for checking in! Enjoy the nice weather this weekend- we definitely will!

Monaghan Easter

Also affectionately referred to as 'Fake Easter,' we celebrated the holiday on Saturday this year. We tend to have our holidays whenever we can get everyone together, and we don't mind moving them.... except Christmas... you don't mess with Christmas.

Anyway, this was the boys' first trip up to Lowell. I hadn't been there myself since early February so it was a long time coming! We loaded up the van with the ten thousand things we needed and headed up 93. Everyone was very well behaved for our first long car trip with all three kids.

The boys were very happy to pose for pictures- even this one with the giant Easter Bunny. Ben is on the left, Jack on the right.


They are pretty good about having their eyes open for pictures. If you have tried to get good pictures of ONE newborn with his eyes open, think about trying to get good pictures of two with their eyes open at the same time- no small feat!


Mairead also had a few Easter Bunny pictures, but she was more interested in taking apart the eggs than she was in looking at the camera. I really wanted pictures of all three kids together, but Mairead has better things to do, apparently.

After dinner on Saturday we had a visit from lots of Donahues! Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Donahue, Josh, Becky, and Ailish for coming to visit (you too, Christin!). It was great to see everyone and it was fun to watch the girls together. For those of you who don't know, Josh has been a friend of mine since 7th grade, and now his daughter is only 4 months younger than Mairead, so maybe we have started the next generation of friends! It also works out really well since we love the Donahue family, and now that Brian and Christin are dating, we get to see them a lot more.

They put their heads together for this puzzle. Mairead was pretty good about sharing, but some of the puzzle pieces Ailish had seemed to end up in Mairead's hands.

This was Mairead's first introduction to the giant stuffed bunny. I love when she is this excited- it show you what pure joy and excitement look like.

She was also very excited about desserts. That is cupcake frosting she is wearing.

She also loved the sugar cookies Katie made that were shaped and decorated to look like bunnies. Two desserts in one day- it was a good day for Mairead!

Isn't it awful- I have no idea which baby Mike is holding. In my defense, I can't really see his face. I swear, I really can tell them apart!

Mairead LOVED Jen's boots. When she first saw them she got this look of amazement on her face and ran over to touch them.

She also loved her hat. She had been wearing it around the house in the week prior to Easter, and she has been wearing one at home since Easter ended, too. I'll post those pictures as well as pictures of 'real' Easter Sunday when I re-charge my camera battery

While in Lowell, Nana gave baths to Ben and Jack. Ben loved it in the big sink- he actually fell asleep while he was in there! Jack (in this first photo) was his usual self- looking around very curiously at what was going on.

Ben could not have cared less what was going on- he was so relaxed!

Thanks to everyone for a great Monaghan Easter- it was fun to see everyone and to spend time with our family and all of our kids. We went to Lee and Jean's for Easter Sunday and I will post pictures of that day (and Mairead's other cute Easter dress) when I can. Hope that everyone had a great Easter weekend!

A Visit from the Heckathorns and other updates

I have a few things to share today so this post is a mixed bag. First, we did manage to get a couple of pictures of Jack's first bath--well, his first bath at home. He actually seemed to like it once he got settled in.


He has a habit of opening one eye to scout out a situation before he opens both to really look around- it's pretty cute.



This past weekend, Ry, Dave, and Rachael were nice enough to make the long trip out to see us. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and we were able to spend some time outside. Mairead spent most of her time chasing Rachael around and trying to play with whatever toy Rachael had. Rachael was a generous older cousin, and did a nice job sharing with Mairead.



This is the double stroller that we use to get around with the boys- it's quite the contraption.


Jack is wearing an adorable little snowsuit from his Grandma Dorothy- they are the smallest ones she could find, and Jack is still swimming in it! But, the suits kept the boys nice and warm for their first outdoor adventure.

One nice thing about twins is that when people come to visit, everyone gets to hold a baby- no waiting!

Dave and Ry helped Rachael with her first time holding her cousin.

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We had a great visit- thanks, guys!

In other news, yesterday was my original due date- amazing, isn't it? We have had the boys around for a month and two days, and I wasn't even due until yesterday! We had a pediatrican appointment yesterday (it had been a whole 5 days since our last visit). The doctor thinks the boys look great. Jack is recovering really well and Ben is just huge! Well, if you call 7lbs 9oz huge... Jack is still our little guy at 6lbs 15oz. The boys have had a little trouble with reflux and so Jack is not gaining as much as we'd like, but the doctor gave us some ideas for how to help them with that.

Both boys are getting longer. Big Ben is 19 1/2 inches and Jack is 19 3/8 (they were 18 and 17 1/2 inches at birth). We will go back next week to see how they are doing. I wondered aloud the other day what other moms do on their maternity leave. I bring my kids to the doctor. This coming week, we have Visiting Nurse on Tuesday, Pediatrician and Early Intervention on Wednesday, and I have my own appointment on Friday. The next week, we have VNA again, more EI, hip ultrasounds in Boston (standard for breech babies), and another pediatrician follow up. Our insurance company must LOVE us (Kandi- I am sure you can relate!). This was pretty much the norm when I was home with Mairead, too. I will be thrilled when we can go a week without an appointment! But, it is nice to have so many people checking on our little guys.


Thanks again to the Heckathorns for a great visit!

Rachael and Jack

A Month Old Already???

First, let me admit that I am having 'mommy guilt' about using a picture of the boys as the header for the blog since I am replacing Mairead as the solo star of the show. I need to get more pictures of all three together.

How did they get to be a month old? March was a very long month for us since we spent most of it at South Shore Hospital, and now all of a sudden, the boys are a month old today! I almost feel like the NICU time didn't 'count,' and that they are really only a week or so old, especially since I have only had two at home for about 5 days. My due date is not actually until Wednesday, so they are really about -2 days old.

Visiting Nurse was just here to check on the boys and they look great. Big Ben is 7lbs 8oz, and Jack is right behind him at 7lbs 4oz, though he looks and feels smaller than that. They are both gaining weight very well, and we are very happy with their health right now.

We had a great weekend- especially with our visit from Ry, Dave, and Rachael. I will post pictures of our day together when I have a free minute!