40 weeks

The twins are due tomorrow! Oh, wait...

I can't believe how much the babies have changed in just 3 weeks. Noah is putting on so much weight it's ridiculous. He developed a double chin sometime last week and he may have a third one soon. I want to weigh him every day because I can feel him getting heavier. Lily has turned into a very alert little baby. She stays awake several periods every day, looking around and grunting. She picks her head up really well, too! Noah is also working on lifting his head, but is a bit slower about it. I think he should get a little extra consideration for having such a massive noggin on such a tiny neck.

Every day they get a little more different from each other, too. From the shape of their eyes and faces to their temperaments (and, okay, their respective boy/girl parts), they are two very different people. Noah is calm and easygoing for the most part. You pick him up, feed him, change his diaper, and put him back in his bed for the next nap time, and you usually don't hear from him until he gets hungry again. (Which, amazingly, follows pretty closely to the three-hour schedule we are trying to follow. He may be very punctual when he grows up.)

Lily, on the other hand, gets a bit more interesting. She is quick to let you know when she is hungry. Or tired. Or whether the position you have had her in for 30 seconds has gotten uninteresting. Or whether she'd really like wrapped up in a blanket. Or unwrapped. And she is even quicker to let you know when she is REALLY upset about any of those things after approximately 3 seconds of grumbling. And she's not exactly precise in letting you know what it is that's bothering her. (It becomes like some sort of game show where you try and figure out what the answer is before the time runs out. But nobody gives you any money for figuring it out...)

But she keeps things exciting, that's for sure. And she is so alert and responsive, I think she'll be a really bright and interesting (if somewhat intense) little kid. She's definitely going to be a cuddler, that's for sure. I feel bad sometimes for poor Noah, who doesn't get snuggled 24 hours a day simply because he's not crying all the time. But he seems happy enough, and I suppose he may forgive me someday.

We took the babies to get pictures taken yesterday. I have always enjoyed the cute pictures I've seen of sweet, peaceful babies sleeping in serene little poses. I had always wondered how they got the babies to sleep so well. Want to know the secret? They don't! Noah was fairly unconscious for our little photo shoot, but Lily was her usual awake and active little self. They pretty much had to take the pictures while she was blinking. The effect is pretty good though. Here is a sampling of the best shots...

Noah:


Lillian:

And both babies: