Today Nora went to the pediatrician for her 3 year check-up. Except for a flu shot a few months ago this was Nora's first doctor appointment since a year ago.

We've read a lot of books about "going to the doctor", including Ани, who goes for a check-up too. So Nora knew roughly what to expect.

There were no shots this time and Nora did well during the visit, but I could tell it made quite an impression on her. Before we left, when I put her in the car seat, she asked me: "papa, wat gaat dokter Kim doen?". She was weighed, they took her blood pressure and length and checked her eyes and various developmental milestones.

She got quiet when the doctor talked to her in English -- even words she usually does know -- but that was no problem.

Adrian takes his time with feedings -- he just loves to hang out with mama. He gets a very warm face when he is done eating and happily falls asleep. He is often the one who wakes up first for the next round.

He has a distinct cry, it goes "laaa, laaaa".

Here are some pictures from him from yesterday when he was exactly two weeks old.

He gained a few ounces since he was born, and his body feels a little stronger and bigger already.

Leo and Adrian received their first package this week. Thank you very much for the nice presents!

They are two weeks old now, a first milestone in their development. They graduated to a bigger diaper size yesterday after some incidents. We used the Newborn size diapers I ordered 3 years ago but now we still have some left over.

It was a very icy day and our front steps are slippery so the mailman left our Amazon package for today down the stairs: another huge box of diapers, but now in the next size up (size 1). We go through a huge amount of diapers per day. It's great to be able to order everything without having to leave the house -- we even bought a new garbage can online.

When Nora was born I went back to work after two weeks -- that would be tomorrow. Thankfully that's not the case and I'm staying home for another three weeks.

So far I can say that twins are harder because there is more work but it is not twice as hard as one baby, thankfully. It is also very helpful that we have been through all this before: it is less scary and we care less about the small stuff.

They are super regular and wake up by themselves every three hours to eat. Getting up in the middle for the night is not as hard as it sound, as long as you can take a nap or two during the day. The scariest part is that you never know if they'll truly fall asleep after a feeding. If one of them has hiccups or something bothering them, it might take a while before we can all go back to sleep. That will get better over time -- they are still very little of course. It's very special to be around them, and I am very happy. It's great also to spend more time with Nora: she usually hangs out with us in the bedroom and we talk and read books a lot.

We went to the pediatrician this morning. The boys are 13 days old today and we did their 2-week checkup.

That entails mainly looking at their growth, and they are doing well. Leo is now 8 pounds 2 ounces, Adrian 7 pounds 9 ounces. That means Leo gained 15 ounces, almost a pound, and Adrian 4 ounces, since they were born. We're very happy about that since it means our feeding schedule is working for them.

Speaking of a schedule -- slowly but surely we're getting into some sort of rythm. They sleep pretty well from midnight until 3 pm in the afternoon. Of course, they wake up every three hours but those stretches of sleep are pretty solid and that's when we have a chance to take a nap as well. From 6.00 pm to midnight is "witching hour", very similar to what we had with Nora, and while we are having dinner they often get a little fussy and we bring one or both of them downstairs.

Leo and Adrian are 9 days old today which means that they've slept more nights at home then in the hospital. Well, "nights" is a big word for stretches of sleep no more than two hours.

We are still trying to figure out our routines and schedules but we're getting a bit of a handle on things. One lessons we learned from Nora is to write down when they wake up and eat (which is typically at the same time).

Leo and Adrian are one week old now. Time flies!

On Friday we went to the pediatrician who measured their weights and did a general checkup. Adrian was 6 lbs 15 ounces, Leo was 7 lbs 1 ounce. Everything was fine and we don't have to come back until they are 2 weeks old. Quite a difference with Nora where we had to go to the pediatrician every other day.

Slowly we are settling in a bit of a routine. The boys are like clock work: they wake up every three hours to eat. We want them to be on the same schedule, so if is up we'll wake the other one also -- it's the only way to stay sane with twins.

Last night we had two periods of 3,5 hours between feedings, which was nice. Sometimes one of the boys doesn't fall asleep right away so they need some cuddling. I wrote this article with Leo on my lap who seems to be asleep now.

It's been cold and snowy weather the whole week of Leo and Adrian's life. Yesterday there was a big snowstorm again.

At 7.30 pm, just as we were preparing Sasha's birthday dinner, the power went off in our neighborhood. I was outside shoveling the snow when I saw three bright flashes in the sky. Most likely some electrical transformers exploded somewhere.

We have plenty of emergency lights and our dinner was ready, but the cold weather is scary without power since our heating is electric. The temperature dropped 3 degrees Fahrenheit in 45 minutes and I had visions about having to heat the house with the fireplace and having everybody sleep downstairs.

After a while one of our neighbors stopped by and offered us to stay at their place since they still had power, which was very kind.

Thankfully things were resolved in 45 minutes. Nora said: "papa was geschrokken!". Spot-on.

It was very special to see Nora meet her brothers.

She understood the pregnancy pretty well, and we've read several books together about getting siblings.

We try to keep things as normal as possible for her. But today at 11.30 am I realized I forgot to give her breakfast and I felt terrible.

She loves the little ones and likes to watch their faces close-by. With my help, she held Leo for a little bit when he was downstairs with me, and she lied in the crib with each of them, staring at them and smiling.

We came home from the hospital yesterday and we spent the first night together as a family of five.

Going home was stressful, and so was figuring out all the small details for the first time. In the car we worried when the boys were crying. "Why are they crying?!". Then when they stopped crying we were also worried. "Why are they not crying?!". Haha.

But in the evening we had time for a sit-down dinner together which was really nice.

Through the night the boys woke up several times and we're all getting used to us. One lesson we still remember from Nora: sleep when the babies sleep -- so we took our first nap at 9.00 pm.

This is our last day in the hospital. The pediatrician came by this morning and the boys are doing well. Their weight was stable Tuesday night, and last night they even gained a bit of weight. Adrian has some jaundice but he is doing much better than yesterday.

Yesterday was a hectic day -- I had to go to Sibley early in the morning and traffic is just crazy. Today it took ame 45 minutes to get to the hospital. Leo and Adrian were born on a Sunday and Monday was President's Day followed by a low-traffic snow day, so we've been pretty lucky with traffic until now.

I went to sleep at 11.00 pm and fell asleep at once. Then I woke up at 5.00 am but told myself this would be the last full night in a loooong time so I went back to sleep.

Guus & Leo.

Guus & Adrian.

Adrian.

Leo.