First trip home

Our first trip home was kind of a mixed bag.  It was wonderful in so many ways because we were reunited with our family.  We spent Thursday-Monday at the lake house with the whole family (even Jim, Sue, Bart, and Jenny came out) and we did the normal lake things.  Well, we did the normal lake things for a cold weekend, which meant that we only ventured outside a couple of times for walks.  Mostly, we spent time inside holding babies, playing with the girls, eating wonderful meals, and playing Mexican train dominos. Ellen commented afterwards that it was a wonderful time. 

The trip was just a little too fresh for Forrest and me to declare it "wonderful."

We learned that travelling with babies is tough tough tough.  The trip out there was ok.  Carter started the trip in a terrible mood.  He was having digestive problems (what else is new?!?!) an he screamed for the first hour.  I had to sit in the backseat and hold him on his stomach, which is the only position he could tolerate.  Fortunately, we stopped outside of Jackson to feed them, and although he wouldn't eat, he did get over whatever was paining him and he fell fast asleep.  The rest of the drive was uneventful, as they just slept.

The tough part of the weekend was that they were just out of their routine, which meant they had a very hard time sleeping.  We had previuosly enjoyed about 6 weeks of great night sleep.  Their typical nighttime schedule includes a bath and a bottle right before a 7:00pm bedtime.  They would then wake up between 2:00am and 3:00am for another bottle, and then sleep until 6:00am or 7:00am  It was wonderful to have only one night feeding.  Instead of dividing up the feedings (like Forrest and I did for the first few weeks of their life - a necessity for survival!), Forrest and I shared the night feeding each night.  I grew to love that time with Forrest, as it was quiet an we could just talk about whatever we wanted.  Sometimes I read articles to him from my iPhone.  Sometimes we'd just sit together in silence and feed the babies.  Regardless, it became a nice time for the two of us. 

Travelling plucked the babies out of THAT fantastic schedule an thrust them back into the "eating every 3 hours" schedule. So, needless to say that exhausted us.  We were so eager to get back home so that we could get them back on their normal schedule, but alas it's just not that simple.  10 days later, I think we are finally back on our schedule.  Yes, for 10 days following the trip, they (read: Olivia - our tough sleeper!) got up every 3 hours to eat at night. 

I don't have many pics from this trip.  It's a shame because there really were some wonderful times.  I was just so busy and worried about keeping them happy and helping them sleep, that I just frazzled myself into a tizzy.  However, I do have a few gems:

Forrest and Carter

Morgan and Olivia

I just love this pic of Caroline.  She's so pretty, she takes my breath away.

Holding Carter at the Jalapeno Tree restaurant in Gun Barrel City - great dinner!

Three of the four at the Jalapeno Tree.

We are now looking forward to our next trip home over Spring Break.  I am going to take off a couple days of work, which I think will help.  Plus, the babies are a little older, and I think it will only get easier (until they become toddlers, then I imagine the car ride will be way worse!).  It's a small price to pay to get to see our family.  We miss them so much (especially the cousins).

4 month shots: the aftermath

I dread these well baby appointments.  You arrive with a well baby and leave with a cranky and feverish baby.  That's what shots will do.  Vaccines are an incredible blessing, so I must acknowledge that here.  I am so glad that I do'nt have to worry about them dying from catching a common airborn illness.  I can't even imagine the fear mothers had when their babies were at risk for catching typhoid or yellow fever or any number of other deadly sicknesses (the plague?  I'm not real sharp on my contagious disease history).  Anyways, thank you scientists of the past for determining that if you give someone a tiny dose of pathogens, their bodies can fight and kill the bad stuff and develop antibodies to protect them in the future.

Now that THAT is out of the way, mostly I hate shots because they make my kids feel bad.  Olivia has actually seemed unaffected.  At her 2 month shots, she of course cried when the shots were given, but afterwards she seemed normal.  Carter screamed like a banshee during the shots and then again for the rest of the afternoon.  Poor Forrest worried that Carter might be having an allergic reaction and considered taking him to the emergency room.  Fortunatley, Carter's pain is eased by tylenol, which we diligently doped him with yesterday. 

So, here are some pics I took after we got home from the shots.  They seem happy right?  Olivia was happily grinning (and most importantly, looking my way) at the camera.  I had a hard time getting Carter's attention.

Plus, would you believe this.....they slept well last night.  We put them down at about 6:20pm and they didn't wake up until 1:45am.  Way to go twinnies!

Olivia's Strawberry

You may be wondering about the red mark next to Olivia's right eye.  It's called a strawberry hemangioma, and it's a cluster of bursted blood vessels underneath the skin.  It first appeared at about 6 weeks of age, and it has grown and darkened ever since.  They are very common among babies and near the eye is a likely place for them to occur.  Our first pediatrician told us that 70% of them go away between their first and second birthdays, but if hers didn't then we could treat it.  They used to use a laser treatment on them (ouch!) but have recently discovered that blood pressure medicine does the trick.  So, we had planned on the wait and see approach.

However, Dr. Parvin, our new pedi, wants us to get it checked out by a pediatric plastic surgeon.  He said that because it's on the face, we should be proactive about it and see what we can do, as he'd hate for her to have a permanent mark on her face.  Our appointment is Wednesday March 14 with Dr. Clay in Jackson.  Hopefully he'll be able to treat it and there won't be any evidence that it existed.

I suppose it does mar her face, but it doesn't bother me.  I think she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.  In fairness, Morgan and Caroline also held that honor with me, and I can't honestly say she's more beautiful than them....but I guess it's not a beauty pagent (Toddlers and Tiaras anyone?).  And, they do share some water from a common gene pool, so....

Anyways, here's a good clear pic of the strawberry and also of my sweet girl's face. 

4 (5?) month appointment

Today was the twins four month well baby appointment.  Unfortunately it's closer to their 5th month birthday than 4th, but I wasn't able to get in with Dr. Parvin (our new Pedi here in H-Burg) until today.  It was a good report all around.  He was pleased with their interaction, eye contact, and ability to talk.  He also tested their strength by putting them on their bellies.  Carter did great - lifted his head and shoulders and pushed against the doctor's hands when they were on his feet.  Olivia, however, stole the show.  The doctor declared that Olivia had better mucle tone than Carter and sure enough, she turned over from belly to back, right there on the table in front of all of us.  Wow Olivia!

Before I reveal their stats, remember that they were born small so they may sound like they are "behind" the curve, but actually they are right on the curve.  Their curve is just the bottom one on the graph.  So, they have been tracking very nicely, taking in to account where they started.

Olivia:
Weight: 10 lbs, 5 oz.  4th%
Height: 23.5 in. 10th%
Head Circumference: 15.75 in. 5th%

Carter:
Weight: 12 lbs 14 oz. 5th%
Height: 25.875in 65th% (wow!!)
Head Circumference: 15.75in. 5th%

He's got skills

I have been working with Carter and Olivia on using their hands.  For weeks they have been shoving their fists into their mouths, probably because they have teeth pushing up under their gums.  They also will graps toys when I shove them into their fingers, but I had been hoping that they would start using their hands intelligently, on their own.  Carter finally did it so I snapped this pic to commemorate the event.  He grabbed the ring off of the tray and put it into his mouth, with no help from me.  I taught him that!  It's a skill he will use every single day for the rest of her his life - using his hands to grab something and then putting that something to work.  AWESOME!

Liv can do it too, I discovered a day later.  I am so proud of them!

Hats!

While we were at the beach with Liah (way back at the beginning of February), it became apparent than we needed hats for the babies.  While home, we tried to find some hats at the Gun Barrel City Walmart, but had no luck.  Fortunately, I found these at the Target here.  I tried them on for size and I think they will work nicely!  Now we just need a sunny day.  It's been rainy here.

Olivia - she is in her brother's sleeper.

Carter's hair

Carter's hair is really starting to get thicker.  Maybe only I can tell, but nonetheless, here are some pics of his thick, lustrous mane.