J. Frog News

J. Frog rolled over today! He's always had great head control. Yesterday he was able to play on his tummy without any strain. His neck didn't seem to get tired, so he wasn't nodding like a bobble head doll anymore. Today, while our friend D was over watching the FA cup finals between Portsmouth and Cardiff, I put J. Frog on his tummy on his play mat and within a few minutes, he let the weight of his head carry him right over onto his back. It didn't even spook him the way I remember LR's first rolls did.

In other J. Frog news, he's refused the bottle for the past 5 or 6 days. At first I just thought he was being particular, but now I'm afraid we have a problem. I can't produce quite enough milk for both of them for the entire day, so Missy is getting a little short changed. She's taking more formula so that I can feed him more often. He's also feeding more often because he's not getting a ton at every feeding. Daddy read up online today and apparently it's not unusual for babies around this age who have been successfully taking the bottle to refuse it for a little while. They say the key is to keep trying it until the baby takes it again. We'll see if Abra has better luck with him next week.

Picture Post

Sick Again

It never fails. 3 days after a birthday party at an indoor gym and LR has a cold. He must be licking the equipment. We had the worst night's sleep last night. LR was up every half hour or hour crying in his sleep, but not waking enough to tell us what the problem was. Then Daddy's phone was ringing with some sort of work crisis ~ you know, the type where a machine fails in a forest and no one hears it. Then J. Frog and Missy were up for a 3am feeding and awake for good at 6am.

Yes, we love the couch photos, but they've just started using the exersaucers, so you'll start seeing more interesting photos soon.






Missy started a Bill The Cat impression contest.







LR answered.







I killed 20 shots trying to get J. Frog to do the same thing.

Synchronized

People talk about how twins do funny things at the same time. I'm curious if that is nature or nurture. Does is happen more to identical twins since they have the same genetic make up, or does it happen to fraternal twins like J. Frog and Missy just because they're so often in the same place at the same time. When they were younger and learning to nurse they used to somehow know when it was time to unlatch. Like red ants, they would both bite down at the same time which would send me though the roof. Lucky for me, they've stopped doing that. Now when they unlatch, if they're both awake, I give them a few minutes to look at each other. This past weekend, they started cooing and talking when they made eye contact. It's far more fun than constantly trying to breakup the poking fights they usually have.

Just now they were sitting in bouncy seats in the kitchen while Abra, LR and I ate lunch.
We heard bubbling from J. Frog and then grunting from Missy and we realized they were participating in synchronized pooping. Abra and LR are now giving Missy a much needed bath and I decided it was just the sort of thing that needed a blog post.

How Quickly They Change

So after 2 and a half months of screaming, J. Frog is finally all smiles. Abra discovered that he is ticklish. There is nothing like a baby giggling. Today I managed to make him laugh by blowing raspberries in front of his face.

You know, I didn't think I'd be one of those mothers of twins who puts the kids in matching outfits, but after receiving some sets as gifts, I'm really starting to get into it. Now granted, it never lasts long. One is bound to mess up his or her outfit within a few hours, but I've managed to get a couple of good pictures out of them anyway.

You can't tell, but Auntie H has a perfectly round belly for J. Frog to sleep on. She's due in a few weeks with a playmate for Missy. Finally another girl!










Thank goodness Aunt K stopped by for a visit.













This was when J. Frog had just started to learn how to smile.







LR loves to visit with the babies while they're in the swings. And they love watching him!






LR is telling them about the bicycles on their outfits.






awwwwww (Styling courtesy of Grandma W. She couldn't resist the outfits and neither can I.)








AWWWWWW (Actually the hold on Missy turned into a bit of a headlock by the end of the photo shoot, but she's gonna have to get used to that.)





J. Frog: I'm too sexy for this sleeper.

New Names

It's time to give the babies new blog names. Lord B and Lady V were just place holders until I got to know them a little better. Now that 3 months have gone by I'm pretty ready to rename them. Lady V has a ton of nick names around here. N calls her Miss V, Miss Miss, and Missy. I hear it so often that I've started using it sometimes. So, "Missy" it is. She still smiles on command but is a little more fussy than she's been in the past. Have I mentioned that her lower lip quivers when she cries. It's adorable.

Lord B is a little tougher. He's shown so much personality in the last two weeks. He actually laughs for N when she cuddles him. I keep trying to get it on video, but he stops abruptly whenever I turn the camera's power on. He's like the Michigan J. Frog of babies. For that reason I'm calling him "J. Frog."

Speaking of new names, it's high time I gave N a name other than her initial. She has a magic touch with the babies and she can always make LR laugh. She said that while she's on duty, she just imagines that she's 10 years-old and that makes it easy to play with LR. She's South Africa's Mary Poppins. We'll go with "Abra," short for Abracadabra.

LR, Missy, J.Frog, and Abra ~ that's much better.

And here's the video of their birth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CURzGfmht0

3 Nights in a Row!

For the past 3 nights the babies have slept from 8 or 9pm to 5am. It would be amazing except that LR usually still wakes up at least once during the night. When LR was 3 months old he was waking up every 2-4 hours. This is such a different experience. My friend Amy says that God only gives you as much as you can handle. That's why she supposes that her second child is a good sleeper. Her first was like LR and didn't sleep well at all. Since we're not big church goers, I don't know who to thank for getting two good sleepers, but I'm still really grateful.

The first time around, nights were the worst, but the day was great. We were able to watch LR's development in detail. I watched him sit, roll, crawl, coo, wave, make faces, giggle, etc. This time the nights are obviously better, but the days are a crazy hamster wheel. N and I juggle babies, do laundry, pick up after LR, cook meals, have play dates, go to classes with LR, play outside, and change ALL their diapers. There's not a free minute to breathe, much less enjoy every moment of their development. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out, but then I have to burp a baby.

Warm Days Ahead!

It got up to 75 degrees yesterday! I don't mean this as an ice breaker. I mean that we were able to open the doors wide, turn off the heat in the house, crack the windows, and take the kids - all of them - outside! (You can't imagine what life with LR is like when cooped up all day.) We spent hours outside yesterday. Grandma Nese, who is staying with us while Daddy is in the Philippines this week, bought LR a crab sandbox and six heavy bags of sand. LR had a ball. He helped pick a spot for it and set it up. He even "helped" me wheel the wheelbarrow full of sand. Then he helped Grandma Nese plant flowers for the deck. It was pretty easy to put him to bed last night.

Things I tell everyone over the phone, but forget to write in the blog:

Lady V loves the mobile and can even put herself to sleep under it if left long enough. She is the more content, easy going of the two. She rarely cries unless hungry, but recently has had a nasty bout with gas. She has super strong legs and likes to stand. Her cheeks are HUGE and get comments from passers-by.

Lord B loves to look around. Hold him over your shoulder to get him to stop crying so that he can see out a window. He's been able to hold his head up on his own since he was about 6 weeks. We still get head-butted on occasion, but he's pretty good now. He is far more sensitive about being changed, but has stopped screaming quite so much on the table. He collapses at the knees if you try to make him stand. He's more alert in general with wide-eyes whenever awake.

Wanna Play?

Warning: This post is all over the place.

Check out our very cool new stroller. (Actually, I bought it used, but it still kicks ass.) LR wants to ride in it and rarely asks to be let out. That's a first! The twins have lots of room to recline, so they tend to sleep in it every time we go out. When I talked to other moms with the same configuration of kids, they said this stroller helped to redirect attention from the twins to the toddler.

Every person who walks into our house is asked by LR, "wanna play?" It always makes me feel bad. I think I must be neglecting him... and I guess I am. Now that our grandparent help is gone, N and I are on our own. She and I do what we can with LR when the babies are sleeping, but they rarely go down at the same time. LR definitely has to play by himself sometimes, but it certainly won't harm him in the long run. I take him to gymnastics, playgroup, and music class during the week and every time we get back into the car to go home he announces, "I don't wanna go home." I know, Kiddo. Sorry about that.

On the plus side, the last few weeks they've started sleeping really well. They only get up once during the night. They were waking up every night between midnight and 1am, but now they wake up closer to 3am. Daddy and I get up to feed, burp, and re-swaddle them. Then we put them back to bed. Usually they stay there until at least 6am. It feels like a full night's sleep at this point, so I'm pretty rested. This is far better than LR was at this point.

So finally a bunch of pictures. Sorry for the delay in getting them out. They have, of course, changed a ton already. Enjoy!

Mommy cuddles with Lord B.








LR cuddles Lady V.









LR sports the latest in Easter accessories.












V chills out her own way in the swing. What would we do without those swings?






N holding Lord B the only way that keeps him from fussing.







LR hams it up.







Look, Ma! Smocking!

6 Shots and a Train Ride

Lord B and Lady V had their 2 month visit last Monday and got 3 shots each. He's 22 inches long and 10 lbs. 9 oz. She's 21 inches long and 10 lbs. 6 oz. We would all guess that she's heavier because she has such big cheeks, but I guess the extra length has him pulling ahead. I wasn't as worried about the shots as when LR had them. It was the first time I heard him cry in pain and it made my heart ache. This time I was better prepared. Lord B went first and his cry was identical to the one he gives when he gets his diaper changed. So either that's his only type of cry, or changing his diaper makes him feel like he's getting needles stuck in him. Her cry was definitely stronger than his and unfortunately she reacted the same way LR used to. Her right leg swelled up about 4 hours after the shots and she screamed for a while. Other than that, they slept it off over the next 2 days.

On Friday Daddy and I hopped on our bikes with LR in the trailer behind Daddy. It was 40 degrees with a 15 degree wind chill. We froze, but LR seemed to enjoy it. We stopped at the preschool that LR will be attending in the fall. He met the teachers and checked out the rooms. We had to drag him out.

Then we celebrated Easter with friends D & H and their son King J on Sunday. N and her friend joined us as well and we had a nice meal courtesy of Costco and Boston Market. On Monday Daddy used the last of his paternity days and we took LR on his first train ride. We drove to Alewife station and took the T to Harvard Square. It's been so long since I've ridden the T that it took me a while to figure out the new machines for tickets. We finally got on the T and although LR was thrilled, he also seemed slightly apprehensive when the T finally lurched out of the station. I had forgotten how loud it is in there. When we arrive in Harvard Square, we first located the elevator for the stroller and then went to the Curious George store. Then we hit the ice cream shop and took a rest. I nursed Lady V while Lord B continued to nap. He didn't wake up until we got into the car on the way home. Then it was scream, scream, scream! For the most part, LR loved the outing. He talked about it for the rest of the day and then wanted to go again this morning when he woke up.

Pics are from N's camera since forgot ours...

With 2 Hands

"Mommy? Wanna pick me up with two hands?"

This is what LR asks me every morning when he comes out of his room and is standing at the top of the stairs, waiting to go downstairs for his milk. Usually I have a baby in one arm, so I have to heft LR up with my free arm. This is the first of many moments during the day where I can feel LR's anxiety about sharing Mom and Dad with the babies. So, as often as I can during the day, I cuddle LR with both arms.

The pics are from our first walk with the twins. We stopped to talk to a neighbor for a little too long and had to run home in a snow squall.

This is how sleep deprived I am

I'm pretty sure I missed the fact that LR has been sick for a good 24 hours. I thought he was developing a cough as a result of the cold he had last week. In reality he was starting a new cold and when I cuddled him late this morning, I felt a very hot forehead against my cheek. He had a 100 degree fever and then it dawned on me that I noted yesterday that Lady V's head was hot. At the time I thought I had her too bundled with blankets. Stupid, stupid, stupid. A friend last weekend told me that parenting is 20% luck and 80% guilt. This one, once again, lands in the guilt category. Lady V was running a 99 degree temp and Lord B started one a few hours later. LR took some Motrin and slept for 4 hours. Poor kid. So, we're a house of sickies. Crossing my fingers that I don't catch it.

The pics are from some of our recent helper visits.

Latest Movie

LR plays a new game with Daddy. Lady V enjoys the mobile. Lord B has some quality time with N.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lDaHIvqH67I

Picture Post

Grandma W and "Grandma Dad" with Lord B and Lady V their first week home. LR was a little confused by all the Grandmas, so at one point he was calling Grandad "Grandma Dad."





Lord B's first bath with Grandad








Lady V's first bath with Grandma W












LR showing Lord B how this thing works

LR's Adjustment

LR has been amazing with the arrival of his 2 new siblings. I was worried that he'd be aggressive with them and try to poke at their eyes. Instead, he's super gentle. He's more defiant with us now, but he doesn't take any of the frustration of sharing his parents out on them. When they cry he goes over to them and says, "what's wrong, baby?" He tells them "it's okay," and he sings them lullabies. He does snatch their pacifiers from tables and runs around with them in his mouth, but since washing and sterilizing them is easy, I've decided that it's a battle I'm not willing to fight.

His conversation skills have improved and he's sleeping better at night. He's marking his territory a bit with the babies by claiming all the blankets in the house, even those made by Gigi, and Great Aunt BJ for the twins. He's still an amazing social butterfly. He loves gymnastics and our large town play group. He says "hi" to everyone on the street and preys other kids in stores, tracking them as potential playmates.

I promise to get more photos up. We have a ton, I've just been staying busy from feeding to feeding. It's amazing how little I can get done around the house. Laundry, dishes, paying bills, etc. is a challenge. I'm still only getting a broken 5 hours of sleep each night, but N and Grandma Nese are helping out, so sometimes I get a nap in during the day.

More next on our family outings. We finally made it out of the house!

Different From Head to Toe

(The first picture is from the level 2 nursery. Lord B has the oxygen tube in. The second picture is of them on their way home from the hospital. Lady V had already been home, but this was Lord B's first trip.)

Here's a snippet of the conversation both Daddy and I have each had when strangers ask us about Lord B and Lady V.

Stranger: What are they?
Daddy: A boy and a girl.
Stranger: Are they identical?
Daddy: Uh...

We've decided that the best possible response is, "Yes, except for the penis."

Actually, these two are as different as siblings can be despite Daddy's claim that they looked identical when they were on the warming tables. Lady V has a much bigger head than Lord B. Her hair is wavy as if she got a baby perm for her debut. His hair is darker than hers even though they both have brown hair right now. Neither have eyebrows, but she has my shape eyes and he has Daddy's. I know because when Lord B opens his eyes wide, you can see white over the top of the irises and only Daddy has eyes that do that. Right now they give Lord B a "crazy eyes" kind of look.

Lord B has a distinctly long, straight nose while Lady V has the same nose as Hudson. Presumably it's my pre-surgery nose. His lips are slightly more full than hers and he seems to have a tiny dimple in his chin suggesting that he'll have Daddy's small cleft. I also forgot to mention in the post introducing him that he was tongue-tied at birth which means his frenulum, the membrane that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth, extended too far out and was potentially keeping him from nursing correctly. We had the doctor clip the membrane back to prevent any future problems. Luckily, the procedure is painless and bloodless.

As for the rest of their bodies, he has a divot in his sternum that she doesn't have. They both have round little bellies and sticks for legs and arms. I keep waiting for them to gain that chubby baby weight on their thighs, but I haven't seen it yet.

The C-section

C-sections are weird. It's hard to imagine staying awake during major abdominal surgery, so you just try to focus on the babies and not the cutting. I was a little worked up from the pre-surgery routine when they tried 7 times to get 2 IVs running, one in each hand. I couldn't plump up my crappy veins since I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight before the surgery, so the veins just kept collapsing. They finally called in the anesthesiologist to get the last one. Actually, the last 4 sticks wouldn't have been necessary had they drawn enough blood from the first IV. *sigh*

After that I walked into the OR and Daddy stayed behind. The anesthesiologist was waiting and quickly administered the spinal. Then in a matter of seconds they had me down on the table being prepped for surgery. First thing they did was to haul my johnny up to my chest and all sense of modesty was gone. I was completely exposed to a room of a dozen people or more. There were 2 teams ready for the delivery, one for Lord B and one for Lady V. Then there were surgical nurses, my OB, a med student, and the anesthesiologist. When Daddy walked in he was surprised to see a dozen people around the room. I saw him come in and was still weepy from the episode with the IV. He sat in a chair strategically placed next to my head and behind the screen.

When they took the kids to the warming tables, Daddy went over to look at them. When he turned back, it was tough to avoid seeing part of the surgery, but it didn't phase him too much. I think his exact words were, "umm... gross." The head pediatrician came over to show me the babies and to tell me that they were doing exceptionally well for preemies. As he was finishing up, I started getting intense pain in my neck. I turned my head from the side to look back up at the ceiling while calling for the anesthesiologist to help me. He said it was reflexive pain from what was going on in the surgery. It was intense pain, but he eased it with some medication via the IV within a minute or two.

When I looked back, the pediatrician was gone. Daddy then left to go to the nursery with the kids while they put me back together. A little while later, I started to get queasy. I told the doctor and she said, "I was just putting your uterus back in place, so that's not a surprise. You don't miss a thing!" Weird. I thought the queasiness would go away, but it got worse, so I asked for a basin and started breathing faster to indicate that it wasn't an idle threat. The anesthesiologist administered another drug and the feeling went away. Later when we talked to Papa about it, he said that that anesthesiology is a "dark art," which seems funny, but definitely rings true.

Then it was off to recovery with my numb legs. The first couple of days recovering were rough, but I had the babies to focus on, so it was manageable. By the end of the first week I wasn't in pain anymore. Vivian and I went home on Monday Jan 21st and Beckett came home on Wednesday Jan 23rd.

Welcome, Lady V!

Lady V entered the world on Jan 17th at 9:39am, 2 minutes after her brother. She was not 10 seconds old when she reached up and grabbed the umbilical clamp being held by the surgical nurse. She wrapped her fingers around so that they were in danger of being clamped and the nurse announced that everyone should stop. My OB immediately stopped and then they pried her fingers off the clamp. Later the OB told me she didn't know how tiny baby fingers would fair if they were clamped. After that she grabbed the nurse's sleeve. The OB said at that point she banished Lady V to the warming table and told the staff to "get this brat out of my sterile field." (In a very sweet way, of course.) At the warming table she first grabbed the blanket and then scored an 8 at the one minute apgar and a 10 at the 5 minute apgar. The pediatrician said they don't usually give newborns 10s and especially not when they're preemies, so he was thrilled with how good they looked. She weighed 5 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 18.25 inches. They showed her to me while I was still on the table and then they took her to the nursery for her bath and evaluation.

She spent one day in an open crib in the level 2 nursery while they evaluated her and checked to make sure she could maintain her body temperature. After that she was moved to the regular nursery. I kept her in my room during the day so that I could nurse her and then they kept her during the night. By the fourth day I was taking her to the level 2 nursery to try tandem feeding with her brother. It worked fairly well and the nurses helped me get them latched on. Around the same time she hit a cold patch and needed a little Kangaroo Care. Then she warmed back up and was ready to go home with me on Monday.

Welcome to the family, Lady V!

Welcome, Lord B!

Lord B entered the world on Jan 17th at 9:37am. He emerged quietly thanks to a mouthful of amniotic fluid. At the warming table he scored an 8 at the one minute apgar and a 9 at the 5 minute apgar. He weighed 4 lbs. 13.4 oz. and measured 18 inches. They showed him to me while I was still on the table and then they took him to the nursery for his bath and evaluation.

Turns out that aspirated amniotic fluid kept him in the level 2 nursery in an incubator for 6 days. He came home on the seventh. The first day he was grunting and laboring to breathe, so they put in an IV for fluids and an oxygen tube to aid his breathing. They monitored his oxygen level with a little sensor taped to his foot. The oxygen tube broke my heart. It pulled at his skin where it was taped to his cheeks and I always thought I was hurting him when I held him. The second day he was still breathing quickly, but he wasn't grunting anymore. We used Kangaroo Care which is skin to skin contact to help him stabilize his body temperature during those first days. He couldn't stay warm outside the incubator.

I was finally able to nurse him on the fourth day when he came off the IV. Around the 5 day mark he was jaundiced, so they adding bili lights to the incubator and covered his eyes with a little mask. Eventually it irritated the bridge of his nose, so they tried variations on the mask to avoid skin breakdown. Then at the end of the 5th day he came off the oxygen and managed to keep his O2 stats at normal levels overnight. That was the end of the oxygen tube! On the 6th day he came out from under the bili lights and the next morning they were able to take him out of the incubator. We gratefully took him home shortly after.

Welcome to the family, Lord B!