2 Months

On Monday the 9th, the twins turned 2 months old.  I anticipated their birth for so long and wondered how we'd adjust once they got here and now we're two months into our 'new' normal.  At times, it seems surreal that they're even here.

We visited Dr. Crow for their 2 month well-check Monday also.  Both boys got great reports (PTL... we were due for a "good" visit!) and are growing nicely.  Here are a few facts:

Luke weighs 7 lbs 14 oz and is 20 3/4" long

Colt weighs 7 lbs 7 oz (that's a 14 oz gain in ONE week!)  thanks to adding rice cereal to his bottles (per Dr. Crow's recommendation after dipping on the weight charts after his nicu stay) and he's 20 1/2" long.

Because they were premature, they aren't on the growth charts yet, but are making great progress.  Most experts agree they'll be completely caught up by their 2nd birthday.  In the meantime however, their motor skills will likely be more aligned with their adjusted age (using their actual due date) which places them just over 2 weeks old.  So, crawling, walking, sitting, etc will likely be delayed when looking at their actual age.  But, social skills should mirror their actual age, which means we're starting to see some smiles out of these little guys.  Have I totally confused you??  

Since I wasn't blogging when Jack was 2 months old, I'll include his stats here as well:

11 lbs 5 oz and 23 5/8" long

But here's what he looks like now :)

Some other info (I realize this is excessive, but I want to document some of
this so I'll be able to remember something. HA!):  

*We're going to switch to Barley cereal in hopes of relieving some gas issues.

*Both boys are still wearing newborn size clothes. 

*Both boys are in newborn size diapers. 

*They go to bed about 10:00 pm and wake up once around 3:00 for a feeding.

*It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get both boys changed, fed, and burped in the middle of the night.  So, I'm glad they're only waking up once now!! 

*They wake up for the day around 7 am

*They are eating every 3 hours during the day

*We're adding 1/2 tsp of Neosure to each bottle which adds 22 calories.  At the end of this can (the only can I've bought) we're going to stop adding it.  This was something that was started in the nicu and we were asked to continue at home until weight gain was established.  

* Colt will continue to have cereal added to his bottles to help with the large amount of spit-up he has.  It's not reflux, but he needs the heavier substance to keep it in his stomach.

*I haven't mastered the art of nursing both of them at the same time, so they get breastmilk bottles during the day and I nurse them individually at night.  

Overall, I'm pretty calm about life with these 3 boys.  Even I surprise myself at times with how relaxed I am.  I'm not really sure how I've managed that... other than the alternative (freaking out at every detail) just doesn't seem like a good or productive idea.  So, I just keep telling myself that this is all temporary and that we'll get REinvolved in our community before too much longer.  And honestly on most days, I don't have time** to even think about what else we could be doing.

So people say "You'll figure out how to do it"  and it's soooo true.  I truly thought I'd be so sleep deprived that I'd fall asleep washing dishes or folding laundry, but luckily that hasn't happened yet.  Here are a few things I've learned to do:

   blog / feed Jack dinner / prepare bottles at the same time

   bottle feed both boys at the same time and catch up on DVR shows

   pump and put on make-up at the same time

   carry both boys upstairs at the same time (one in the bjorn)

I hope to add to this list as more time goes by - - but this is where we are a month in (since they were in the hospital for nearly a month.)

**  Those of you who know me well know I've bitten my nails for dang near my whole life.  I looked down the other day to find a full set of nails on both hands!  Whoa... now that should tell you just how busy I've been.  So when you see that they're bitten off again, you'll know things have slowed down.

Jack and Luke
(when Colt was sleeping)