CABIN

After 3 days of stressful bidding (with me and my Mum video chatting constantly), our dream cabin is ours! HOORAY.  We sign for it on Monday.  It is the perfect first birthday present for Emilia and Eva :)

Here are some interior pictures:

And our lovely sunny deck. It feels like a luxury tree house (SO EXCITING!!).

The closest place to swim is about 500m away:

There is a cycle path really close by which leads into a big town, but the other way is another place to swim. There are some swings here for the baby girls to play on when they get tired of swimming in the beautiful lake.

But back to the real world.....  We had a hospital visit today for little Emilia at the lung department.  After the Dr listened to Emilia he concluded that her breathing is a little bit faster than it should be.  So he tested her with some medicine in gas form.  They put a mask on her and she had to breathe in the gas for a minute.  It was awful!  But as usual she just took it for the team.  About 5 seconds after she was back to her usual self, super active and wanting to do 3 things at once while I am left to pull myself together, after seeing my beautiful daughter in distress, for what must be the hundredth time.  10 minutes later he listened to her breathing again and thankfully there was no change; meaning we do not need to give her any medicine.  So now we just need to wait and see how she copes with the inevitible colds and coughs that await her in the future.  I am convinced that her incredible strength is going to see her through without any major problems.  Life is a garden and my baby girl is digging it (hehe!).  As is her twin sister Eva who is my little delight.  Me and Mandy decided today that she is the cutest thing in the world :)

Cute

I couldn't resist posting these, as they are just so cute.

2

So twin 1 (Emilia) got the first tooth, first and twin 2 got the second tooth first :)  We can see Emilia's second tooth but it hasn't broken through yet.  Apart from the twins chomping on everything in sight, teething doesn't really seem to be affecting them.

We are heading out today to look at a summer cabin that we are planning to buy with my Mum and Dad.  It is very exciting :)  The twins should be asleep now but little Eva refused and was disturbing Daddy and Emilia so she is upstairs with me.  I am going to try and put her down again after my cup of tea.

Eva

We knew it was only a matter of time, and when I felt in Eva's mouth before I discovered something hard.  Yes, her first tooth has broken through :)

So lovely

We just got home from our second visit to play group and I feel ever so proud of my little ones.  They are so lovely in a social situation.  They don't fuss (not yet anyway) they just play and take in their new surroundings.  They don't cling to me either.  When I see how some other babies are it just makes me appreciate mine all the more.  I really do have it easier than most, most of the time anyway.

So Eva is starting to take toys from Emilia!  Emilia is rolling around on the floor and is managing to get from A to B.  Time for the parents to step up with the child proofing.  This new phase seems to have come all at once and we need to catch up and fast :) Eva is enjoying sitting for now so as it stands is posing no threat, haha! It seems they want to break Mummy in gently :)

Eva trying to take Emilia's teething ring:

Emilia managed to get hold of my cap and put it on!  These pictures are not staged :)

 Emilia likes to pull in her bottom lip:

And because everything my twins do are always completetly different, Eva likes to pull in her top lip:

They just never cease to amaze me :)

First tooth

Both twins have been showing teething signs for a long time, but on Friday afternoon, just before the Sweden/England game the first tooth was discovered :) In Emilia's little mouth.  I can imagine that all English people were very happy with the football triumph but I couldn't stop thinking about my little Emilia's tooth.  It made my day.  Eva is chomping on everything that comes her way so I am sure she won't be too far behind her older sister.  It has been a very long time since Emilia did something first and it is so wonderful.

A few snaps from today:

We enjoyed a very fun night out, whilst Farfar and Farmor Lindqvist looked after the twins and then took on the morning shift, giving us a much needed lie-in.  We even got driven into town and picked up, then my garden got a  makeover on Saturday.  My Swedish in-laws take very good care of us :)

2 fantastic babies

At the end of the appointment Eva and Emilia's Dr said " You have got 2 fantastic babies"!  We already knew that, but it was lovely to hear.

Emilia: 6435 g / 64.8cm long
Eva: 8750 g / 70cm long

The numbers speak for themselves and it was the first time I haven't felt disappointed with Emilia's weight. The Dr told us that very few premature babies grow at Eva's rate! It was all such lovely news.

After the appointment I took them up to the neonatal ward and we spent a lovely half an hour with some of the lovely nurse who watched over our precious little girls.  They were so happy to see us.  One of them actually cried when she saw Eva.  I can remember her, as clear as it was yesterday, caring for her in the first week of her life.  And then there she was today, holding my nearly 9kg little Eva :)  From the beginning that could have gone so wrong comes our happy ending that so many people get to enjoy.    

So as always hospital days conjure up lots of memories, both good and bad.  I walked home afterwards which gave me lots of time to think about everything.

When I put Eva to bed tonight I lay my face next to hers on her pillow and I stroked her head.  Which made me think about when I got to do that for the first time in the hospital.  It made me cry because she is just so special and brave and strong.  Eva is a 24 week old premature baby who didn't have an aneurysm (hjärnblödning) and who is bigger than a 7 month old baby born at full term.  She is an absolute miracle who amazes me every day.