Four Months Old

Evelyn and Jessica turned four months on Sunday! We can hardly believe it! They have had a busy week being four months old.

Sunday ended their visit with Nonna and Grandpa. They always enjoy being held way too much when either set of grandparents are in town. Then Sunday night they got baths. That meant they were squeaky clean for Monday's trip to the pediatrician.

The pediatrician delared that "they are perfectly healthy babies." It was nice to hear that they seem to be doing well. Evelyn measured in at 8 lbs, 4 ozs and 21 in. Jessica is still the little sister at 7 lbs 3 ozs and 20.5 in. They received their next set of vaccines--3 shots. They did great though. One big, long scream right after the first shot was administered, but then once the 3rd shot was finished, they were fine. A little wide eyed and sniffly, but fine. Then they slept all afternoon, which meant Mommy got a nice long nap!

Wednesday night was bath night again in preparation for our first follow up appointment at the Special Infant Care Clinic at Duke. All of the medical staff there thought the girls looked great. They, like our pediatrician, were very happy with their weight gain and growth statistics. So while we haven't caught up with the full term one month olds, we're on track for preemie growth. The only changes that the Duke doctors made was to Jessica's reflux medicine. We're switching her from Zantac to Prilosec to see if she will spit up a little less. Mom hopes it helps. She wants here little girl to feel good and eat well and, to be honest, is really tired of cleaning up all the spit up from Mount Jessica. But, we realize that if Jessica's reflux is our biggest problem, we're really very lucky.

Before we left Duke, we stopped by the ICN to see some old friends. It was great to see some of our old nurses. We also got to show one of the dads with twins in the unit that they will eventually get to leave and will get chubby cheeks like Evelyn. We were sad that we didn't get to see all of our nurses, but, for those of you that are reading, don't worry, we'll be back in December!


Evelyn during Sunday night's bath.


Jessica during bath time.


Jessca (L) and Evelyn (R) hanging out together.

Evelyn the Acrobat

All the doctors have been telling us that the girls may be delayed slightly on their development track because they were preemies. Well Evelyn just proved them wrong! Jason was giving her some tummy time and she rolled over! Yes, our child with a corrected age of 16 days old just rolled from her tummy to her back! To be fair, she was laying on a wedge, so she wasn't completely horizontal, but we still think it's a big achievement. Now we'll just have to wait and see if she'll do it again anytime soon or can do it while laying flat on the floor.

Both girls are continuing to grow. Evelyn LOVES to eat. We think she would eat every hour if we let her. She's eating about 3 ounces every 3 to 4 hours. Her voracious appetite is paying off; she is now 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 in long. Jessica doesn't have quite the appetite that Evelyn does. Jessica is a little smaller at 6 lbs 9 oz and 19 inches.

Mommy had fun a few days ago taking pictures. Thanks to Ryan and Carey for the cute princess outfits!


Evelyn


Jessica


Jessica (L), Evelyn (R)

Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. It's been a bit busy. I returned to work this week, so Mom had the girls by herself during the day. Things went well, although by the end of the week we were both tired.

The girls are continuing to grow. Thursday night we gave the girls a good bath, and then weighed them. Evelyn had passed the 6 pound mark and was up to 6 lbs and 1 oz. Jessica is right on her heels at 5 lbs 14.5 oz.

We passed another milestone this week too. No more preemie diapers! The girls are both using newborn diapers now. They are much more roomier for moving around, and well, for other things too...

Here's a video of the girls from last week. (I hope that it plays.) Evelyn is on the left in this video. This is from one afternoon just before their afternoon bottles. As you can tell they are both a bit hungry. Jessica lost her pacifier, and then tried to take Evelyn's. Evelyn was going to have none of that (notice her right hand). Jessica found a good compromise though...

Nothing Special

The only update we have right now is that the eye doctor appointment went well. Both girls' eyes are improving and we are not anticipating having any long term problems. We're just hanging out and doing all the regular baby stuff...eat, sleep, poop, repeat. We have cute pictures though....


Jessica likes to know where everyone is at all times. Touching Evelyn while they sleep is a must.

Sweet sisters.

Evelyn taking a quick nap before going to the eye doctor. Aren't her froggy feet cute?


Jessica napping before the eye doctor too. Doesn't she look just like a porcelain doll?

One week at home

Today marks one week that the girls have been home. What a week it has been!!!

We've had two trips to the pediatrician for checkups. The checkups have gone great. The doctor is very happy with the progress the girls are making. Both are gaining weight well, with Jessica now at 5lbs 6oz, while Evelyn is at 5lbs 5oz.

We see the eye doctor on Wednesday to get a check on the girls' ROP. Fotunately, the girls seem to like the car rides. In fact, I'm thinking about taking Jessica for a ride later if she decides that 1:30 am is playtime again tonight. :)

The girls seem to like it here. The only times that they are fussy are when they are hungry, or when Jessica gets jealous or lonely, or when daddy tries to use the bulb syringe on their noses. Seriously, that must be listed somewhere as a tortue device. Fortunately for me, the girls have short memory spans!

Well, time to go for now. Jessica, (who is in my left arm and not helping me type) is getting hungry again. Time to find her pacifier to see if I can satisfy her til midnight.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

They BOTH slept through the night last night!!! We still got up and fed them on schedule, but they dream fed everytime and slept right through everything. We're not sure what was different. All we can come up with is that we gave them a bath last night. We're not niave enough to think that this is going to happen again, we're just excited over last night's gift. Although we're now wondering if every night should be bath night!

There's No Place Like Home

One night down, the rest of their lives to go!

We had a very uneventful time bringing the girls home. Jason and I had a quick refresher course in infant CPR and infant choking, the doctors rounded one last time on them, and then we were allowed to go. Here they are waiting on Daddy to bring the car around.

We were home by 12:15. We promptly fed the girls lunch, made lunch for ourselves, and then we all took naps. The rest of the afternoon and evening went smoothly. We fed them, played, napped some more, bathed them, and put them to bed.

Evelyn had a wonderful night. She seems to understand that when it is dark outside, it is time to sleep. She didn't wake up much at all--not even for meals. She would open one eye just a crack, close it, and then scarf down her bottle. After a good night's sleep, she was ready to play about 8:00 this morning.

The rest of us didn't have the same easy night. Jessica's reflux was bothering her, so she didn't sleep much, and Jason and I took turns being up with her. Hopefully tonight will be a better night for her.

We see the pediatrician tomorrow. We need to leave about the time that the girls get their afternoon snack, so we're going to try to feed them a little early. We'll see how that goes and see if we can actually get two babies packed up and to an appointment on time!

Dad and the girls playing.

Hey, I know you!

Nap time.