Here is a quick picture update while I have a few minutes. I'll come back and fill in things later.
I've been sick. Now Cody might be sick. So far, the boys are not sick.
Alex dancing in his swing
Here are some bath time pics. Their dignity was maintained with a well positioned wash cloth and then I cropped out most of the wash cloth that you can see. It is important to note that I do not have any pictures of the boys in their birthday suit.
Alex enjoying a bath
Ben playing around at first
Ben thinking about getting upset
Ben getting more serious about being upset
Ben upset
Ben sleeping on Cody
Alex sleeping by me
Not sure, maybe Alex?
Not sure, maybe Ben?
Not sure, maybe Alex? I like when they do weird fancy things with their hands like this.
New developments: Eyelashes! They are both growing these long beautiful eyelashes. They got that from Cody, definitely not me.
What he is
wearing: He is fitting in the 0-3 month sleepers a little better. He is still a little short, but he is getting there.
Favorite memory of the week: I had both boys in the crib close together while I was changing the bedding for one of them. Alex was using Ben's shoulder to hold his pacifier in. It was very cute.
I don't actually remember things well enough to really post things here. I have to desperately remember something that happened. I'm with them too often! Cute things lose their cuteness when you see it all the time.
Least favorite memory of the week: He has been super spitting up this week. I can think of at least 2 times this week where he threw up enough to make a puddle in my sports bra. Totally gross.
What we're looking forward to: I'm still waiting for a smile that does not signal vomit.
Ben
Weight: 8 lb
New developments: They are both starting to actually look at us. Before they would look in your general direction, but you can see them actually focusing on your face now... finally.
What he is
wearing: The clothes that were so big I had to roll up the sleeves and pants in the NICU are now pretty much too small. The arms definitely fit and are almost too short on my favorite outfit for them. I'm sad about that. Cody has offered to try to find my favorite sleeper in a bigger size.
Favorite memory of the week: He gave me baby kisses. It was more pressing his mouth on me and gnawing, but it felt like kisses. I'm sure he was just trying to tell me he wanted food, but it was nice. Also, he tried to latch on to my nose. He got his mouth on it and started sucking before I figured out what was going on. Silly, hungry boy.
Least favorite memory of the week: Ben isn't sleeping as well as he used to. When I put him in his crib, its a toss up whether or not he will sleep. I've had to pick him up and put him in bed with me for a little while a lot more often.
What we're looking forward to: Their 2 month well baby check is today. They will get their shots and stuff.
Cody & Courtney
Favorite (non baby) memory of the
week: Cody let me sleep until noon Saturday and he washed all of the bottles. I only missed the 9 am feeding and part of the noon feeding, but it made a huge difference to my sanity.
Least favorite memory of the
week: I really wanted to make lasagna, but I didn't have what I needed for sauce. It was total devastation. I can't go shopping with the boys yet, so I was trapped here dreaming of the lasagna I could be eating.
Well it is the 2nd week of weekly updates and I'm already late. Time really flys when you have 2 babies! We've made it another week. They are still alive and relatively happy. We're starting to get a pretty good routine going.
Before we left the NICU, one nurse told me that I'd really miss having the nurses there to take care of the boys and to give me a break. She said I'd really miss it in a week. I'm really enjoying not being in the NICU. Even when I'm really tired and the boys have been crying for an hour or more... I don't miss the NICU.
They have their appointment to get the Synagis shot tomorrow. (As I post this, they had the shot today.) Hopefully Cody can make it out of work early to help me take them (He did.). It is at the Children's Hospital. I have become quite familiar with the Nebraska Medical Center. I'd rather just go there but whatever (The Children's Hospital was actually quite nice and easy to deal with.).
Alex
Weight: Our scale has been having some massive swings in weight display. It is either broken or there are some major issues with gravity that the government isn't telling us about. When something is weighed more than once consecutively, you may get weights that vary by 20-50 pounds. I'm pretty sure that neither baby is 20-50 pounds.. so it must be the scale.
They were weighed today at their appointment, but I was too flustered to remember the exact weights. They are both about 7.5 lbs give or take. I think.
New developments: He is going to bed in his crib like a real trooper. When I put him in the crib, he might drop his pacifier once or twice but after that he snoozes like a champ.
What he is
wearing: A lot of the outfits they have worn since birth are getting dangerously tight. Some of the onesies can't be buttoned in the crotch anymore. I'm changing his outfit as often as I can so I can see all my favorite clothes on him before he finally busts the seams. It is like a baby's clothes greatest hits over here. They are still too short for the 0-3 sleepers. I have a feeling they will be trapped in between sizes for a while.
Favorite memory of
the week: He likes to hold my finger while I give him a bottle. It is really sweet.
Least favorite memory of the week: We tried a new formula that the doctor recommended. It did not go over well. There was a lot of screaming and crying. The boys were upset also. :)
What we're looking forward to: I'm still waiting on a smile. They smile in their sleep a lot. They make a happy face when they are awake, but then they always spit up. I'm pretty sure it isn't really a smile if it signals yacking.
Ben
Weight: They were weighed today at their appointment, but I was too flustered to remember. They are both about 7.5 lbs give or take. I think.
New developments: Ben is passing Alex in head control. They both do pretty well when you hold them on your chest. Ben is doing a lot better with trying on the floor. Their heads are so heavy that when they try to lift their head off the floor, their legs come up instead. If you give their head a little boost it helps a lot.
What he is
wearing: Ben is still a little smaller than his brother, so he isn't testing the limits of his fabric quite as much. I often times lose all 3 of one of their embroidered name hats, so occasionally they will both be wearing an Alex hat or a Ben hat. I always find the other 3 eventually, but by that time I usually lose the other 3.
Favorite memory of
the week: I've started putting them in bed with me to snuggle around 10am. They won't sleep, but it is a nice break between feedings. Ben has been extra snuggly.
Least favorite memory of the week: Did we go to a Superbowl party? No. I cleaned pee out of Ben's ear. Twice.
What we're looking forward to: I'd really like them to sleep a little longer overnight. Right now they only sleep 1.5-2 hours between feedings. Not enough time to catch a nap in between for me.
Cody and Courtney
Cody and probably Alex snuggling in the chair.
Sometimes feeding and comforting 2 babies requires you to resort to questionable feeding techniques. Alex was screaming too much I had to pick him up. Ben would scream too much if I took his bottle away. Good thing I'm good with my feet I guess.
Favorite (non baby) memory of the week: We got Shep back. It is nice to have him around. He is not in love with the babies, but we missed him. When the babies start to really get worked up and crying, he picks up his bone and walks around with a weird face. I'm not sure why, but it is funny. I think he is feeling a little neglected after being with my parents and Amy and Andre for so long. He has to wait until after I deal with the babies before I can take care of him. Sadly, I have to wait until I take care of the babies and then him before I can take care of me. I'm usually starving and about to wet myself before everyone else is taken care of and I can finally do my own stuff.
Cody's audit went well, so he was in a pretty good mood for a day or so. He brought home $50 worth of BBQ that I was forced to eat for nearly every meal over the next 4 days.
Least favorite memory of the week: This week was a blur. I'd say the worst was listening to the babies cry because of formula issues.
What we're looking forward
to: I mostly look forward to sleep. Cody mostly looks forward to internet gaming. I'd like to say parenting has done this to us, but those were the same things we looked forward to before babies.
What you all came for... more baby pictures!
Alex in stripes Ben in the back. They take their best naps while laying like this on the couch. I don't love it, but it is nice to keep them quiet sometimes.
I'm not positive about which baby is which. I think Alex is in the dark blue and Ben is covered with the white burp cloth. We put them like this after eating sometimes when they are extra spitty. Sitting up is supposed to help with that.
Baby tummy time. Ben is in the stripes and Alex is in the blue pants. They were only slightly enjoying their time on their tummies.
Still on the mat, but no longer on the tummy. They did the usual pet each other/punch each other.
I know I'm not supposed to feed them like this, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. They are both pretty good at keeping a bottle up themselves. When it is a lighter bottle, they will actually use their hand and hold it.
I'm not sure which baby this is, but he somehow fell asleep like this and I was too happy he was sleeping to wake him up. He is between the back of the couch (on the right) and a couch pillow (on the left). When I put him on the couch he was closer to the middle. He used his legs to push himself to this position against the arm rest (top of his head).
Here is a video of Ben trying to get the pacifier back in his mouth by himself.
Sort of Tummy Time. Ben (in stripes) was trying a lot harder than Alex, but even he wasn't giving it his all. Alex (in sports print) was mostly wanting to eat some food. You can see them both pulling up their feet when they can't get their head up.
I'm going to try to start doing posts like I did during my pregnancy each week with the same prompts. I don't know how it will go, or how long I'll keep it up, but I do enjoy looking back on my weekly updates. The prompts may change at first until I figure out what I want to track.
Alex
Alex holding Ben's hand. He was also sucking on Ben's hand.
New developments: He is really getting good at holding and moving his pacifier. He actually holds on to the little nub thing on the outside with his fingers, not just blocking it with his whole hand. He also reaches out to touch Ben a lot more than Ben reaches out to touch him. They are both really starting to suck on their hands.
What he is wearing: They fit in their bigger boy cloth diapers now. They aren't supposed to fit until 8-9 lbs, but they seem to be working just fine. I'm glad because I didn't buy very many really small diapers. They were getting a little over used. Now we have plenty to choose from.
Favorite memory of the week: He was awake for a few hours one day while Ben was sleeping. We did tummy time on my chest and sang songs. Of course I had to make up songs because I can never remember the words to real songs while under pressure. I made up some excellent ballads. He doesn't know the difference.
Least favorite memory of the week: He has really been choking on bottles this week. I don't know why, but it hasn't been fun. Nothing has changed. I think he is having trouble breathing because he is a little congested. That is one of the side effects of his reflux.
What we're looking forward to: He is currently really working on better head control. I'm looking forward to him getting the hang of it. He is trying so hard, it will be nice to see him reach his goal.
Ben
Here is Ben wearing on of the hats that our wonderful neighbors Randy and Sandy got for the boys. Sandy saw that I wanted hats with their names embroidered on them, so she made some for me. They each have 3 hats with their name. I didn't even have to break out the sharpie, duct tape, or hi my name is stickers. (reference to previous post :) )
Baby sneeze about halfway through. You can see Alex's hands on the right side.
New developments: He has periods where he is a lot more awake for a lot longer. It is good and bad. Good because it is nice to have him up and interacting, but bad because I get even less time away from him to do things that need to be done.
What he is wearing: His name hat! And it is adorable.
Favorite memory of the week: This morning he was fussing in his crib, so I put him in bed with us. He was giving me the cutest faces. It was really dark though, so maybe the cute faces were all in my head. My brain was probably trying to make him seem cuter so I wasn't angry he had me awake at 5am for no reason.
Least favorite memory of the week: He has been falling asleep before he is done eating and then freaking out 20 minutes later from starvation. Of course that is after I've put everything up so it takes a while to get more food for him. I tell him he is not really starving, but he doesn't listen.
What we're looking forward to: He is getting his next Synagis shot next week. It will probably be the first time I go out by myself with both babies. I'm really really (not) looking forward to that!
Cody and Courtney
Bottle Feeding 2
The joys of two babies. Just a little spitup... on both sides.
Favorite (non baby) memory of the week: I made bacon pancakes. Cody's ring tone is a song about bacon pancakes. Every time his phone rings I crave them, but I had never had them. I finally got around to making them on Sunday. Yes it was delicious, but not worth the extra work. I'll just top the pancakes with bacon next time. I'll skip the "inside the pancake" step.
Least favorite memory of the week: Cody has a big audit for work coming up this week. He's been really busy.. (and grumpy) preparing for that.
What we're looking forward to: We're looking forward to getting Shep home. He has been with my parents for weeks now. That dog is getting spoiled. He'll be so disappointed to come home. Hopefully mom and dad can stay not sick so they can bring him up this weekend.
The boys are now 6 weeks old. I can't believe they are that old. The NICU time really doesn't seem to count in my mind. Their due date is on Wednesday, so I guess that is another milestone.
We had a follow up Pediatrician appointment to check their weight and make sure things are on track. They both gained weight and are okayed to start the regular baby appointment schedule instead of a more highly monitored schedule. Interesting side note, their doctor is an identical twin.
Ben is 6 lb 7 oz
Alex is 6 lb 9 oz
They don't fit in any preemie stuff and they are in regular size diapers now. We are doing cloth diapers most of the time. I thought Cody would dislike it more, but he told me today how much he doesn't like the disposables. Other than the added laundry, I'm pretty happy with the cloth diapers as well.
We have officially hit our out of pocket max for health insurance for the 2012 year. They haven't even processed the claims for my hospital stay or the NICU stay for the boys. I'd say we definitely got our money's worth last year. The neonatalogists charged $300 per day per boy. I've already got that bill. That really adds up.
Alex and Ben are getting increasingly mobile in their cribs. They are able to move closer together when they want. They also plant their head and kick around in a circle. It is kind of like how Cody and I crawled, only on a smaller scale. (I balanced on my head face down and kicked with my legs. Cody balanced on his head facing up and kicked with his legs. Neither of us was very good with our arms I guess.) They like to get really close together and scream in each other's face. I don't think they intend to scream in the other's face, but it does happen. They are also able to roll from their back to their side or from one side to their back to the other side. I think they do this by flinging their head to the side as fast and hard as they can and letting physics take over from there. I haven't seen it happen, but they end up in positions I didn't put them in.
Everyone says twins are great because they entertain each other. Here are some videos of them entertaining each other. Alex in long sleeves and Ben in short sleeves.
We had to go see the Pediatrician on Monday. It was a little soon for Ben, but they wanted Alex seen within 48 hours of discharge.
Everything went well. She was very nice. The office is relatively close to our house. It is right on the edge of town facing us, so we just have to take the highway into town to get there. Unfortunately, it shares a building and waiting room with an adult physicians clinic. My healthy babies were in the waiting room with a bunch of sick, hacking adults. Not as cool... but in a relatively small town I guess I'll just be happy we have a specialist at all.
Ben is 5 lbs 12 oz and 18"
Alex is 5 lbs 15 oz and 18.25"
They compare our babies to 5 week olds, so they are in the 0 percentile for height and weight. Our babies are technically 5 weeks, but preemies usually get their age adjusted down so you're not comparing them to babies that were full term and are now 5 weeks old. Our babies would only be like 38 weeks right now if they were still in the womb. They are in the 11th percentile for head size though! My boys have gigantic noggins. I can only imagine what percentile their heads would be if you compared them against other 5-6 lb babies. Probably off the charts huge.
