Saturday, July 28, 2012

Some of Our Favorite Things

I've seen a lot of lists of baby must-haves, but not as many twin versions, so I thought I'd chime in with some of Bobby's and James's favorite things, in no particular order.  Some of these are things we've used from birth and continue to use, some were just used as little babies, and some are more recent additions.


 4moms MamaRoo 2012

The mamaroo chair (or "magic chair" as my friend Ginger calls it) was a lifesaver during our first few months.  We registered for two after Ginger's rave reviews (her son is 22 months older than our boys) and were lucky enough to receive one as a shower gift.  We bought the second one after we were sure the boys liked it using gift cards we'd received - yes, it's expensive, but worth every penny!  It moves in several different directions/patterns (tree swing, ocean wave, etc.) and can make white noise.  You can also plug your iPod in to the speakers.  This was often the only place the boys would sleep for the first few months.  They loved it!


Fisher-Price Newborn Rock 'n Play Sleeper 
My mom got two of these to have at her house, and as soon as I saw them in action, I got them for our house.  They weigh next to nothing and fold up, so they're easy to move around (unlike the mamaroo), and the back is at a nice angle for the baby to be able to look around.  When they were very small, it was a good place to park them.  Now, they give themselves their bottles in them and sometimes take naps in them during the day.  I'm dreading the day when Bobby hits the 25 pound weight limit!

  
Summer Infant 3 Pack Cotton Knit Swaddleme, 7-14 Lb, Small/Medium 
The boys both needed to be swaddled to sleep well (Bobby especially startled a lot), and doing an actual swaddle with a receiving blanket with a wriggling baby is a pain in the neck.  These swaddleme wraps are fabulous and pretty foolproof.  I would say we used them for the first four or five months, and they were a life-saver.


Miracle Blanket - Baby Swaddling Blanket - Blue 

Bobby figured out how to get his arms out of the swaddleme, so we switched him to this.  It's much more complicated to use (Peter almost always had to the wrapping, because I could never get it tight enough), but it kept Bobby well-swaddled once we figured it out.  We used it until he got to be about five months, and at that point he was starting to get too long for it.

Boppy Newborn Lounger, Seed Row 
We didn't actually register for these but received two as a shower gift, and I would say they were one of our most-used items.  The boys slept on them from day one, whether on the sofa, in the co-sleeper, or once they moved to their cribs.  They stayed on them in their cribs until they were literally too long for them.  It kept their heads a little bit elevated, and I think it helped with any reflux they might have had as well as helped their breathing, what with the constant respiratory infections the first four months.


And now the babies are crying... stay tuned for part 2!

All images via amazon.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Happy 9 Months, Boys!

Wow, I am not publishing posts at a remotely reasonable rate....  I tend to write them in my head when I'm doing things like giving the boys their nighttime bottles or sitting in traffic, and then somehow I feel like they'll magically end up on the blog.  Here's a hint: they don't.  My personal goal is to make more blog entries so they aren't all so ridiculously long, and so they're a little more timely!  The boys' 9 month "birthday" was last Saturday, and their 9 month check-up was last Thursday!  So here are their vital statistics:

Bobby:
  • is 29 inches tall (77th percentile)
  • is 19 pounds 2 ounces (28th percentile, although I think of him as being such a porker!)
  • has a head circumference of 18.5 inches (91st percentile - there's my big-headed boy!)
  • is crawling like a champ - actually, he does a sort of scoot/crawl thing, with two hands, one knee, and one foot.
  • loves to pull up on anything and anyone
  • still has no teeth
  • will take a few steps while holding on to someone's hands, but loves to bounce while doing so!
  • is drooling like crazy
  • still loves to suck on his soothie (blue, of course, as always), but also loves to chew on it
  • is something of a toy thief!
  • loves to bounce - in his bouncer, with someone holding him under the arms, any way he can!
  • likes looking at his reflection - either in the tiny mirror in his activity center or staring at the glass of the fireplace

James:
  • is 27 inches tall (13th percentile - what a difference 2 inches makes at 9 months)
  • is 16 pounds 11 ounces (4th percentile)
  • has a head circumference of 17.99 inches (64th percentile)
  • is scooting around some (he can definitely get where he wants to go), but he would really like to skip directly to walking
  • keeps trying to stand up all by himself, without holding onto/pulling up on anything
  • pulls up like a champ
  • will take steps holding on to someone's hands, often on his tip toes
  • has two teeth, which we've affectionately named Chomper and Muncher
  • is pretty much done with his soothie - will very occasionally take one in the middle of the night.  Of course, if Bobby's is available for stealing and chewing on, that's a different story!
  • loves to be flipped upside down or thrown up in the air
  • is not sleeping through the night anymore, I think because of his teething

Nine month photos will have to go up tomorrow; poor Jamesie is so exhausted he's passed out in his bed, so no pictures today!  On another note, I'm hoping to feel better soon; I finally figured out that maybe my intense face pain, ear pain, and exhaustion might be a sinus infection.  Duh.  Not sure why that took so long to figure out on my part.  But I have an antibiotic now, so hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

Back when we had the follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist/sleep doctor, she wanted us to see a neurologist about the central sleep apnea but warned us it would take forever and probably wouldn't happen until October (this was in June).  We were pleasantly surprised when we got an appointment at the end of August.  I never mentioned it to our pediatrician because his office is affiliated with Texas Children's Hospital, so I figured he would just refer us to their pediatric neurology department, which would take equally as long.  But I happened to mention it at their 9 month appointment, and I wish I'd asked earlier!  He gave me the name of a woman who was a year or two behind him in medical school and is in private practice, so he figured it would take less time to get an appointment.  When I called later that day, we got an appointment in two weeks!  Not only did we get in quickly, her office is called something like Pediatric Neurology and Sleep Clinic.  Exactly what we want!  So that appointment is next week.  I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes!

Not a lot in the way of pictures today.....  I need to get copies of what my mom took yesterday.

James and Bobby in their pop-up pool - I apologize for the sunny glare!

 James working on standing up all by himself

Friday, July 13, 2012

ENT Visit

We had Bobby's visit to the ENT about his obstructive sleep apnea today.  They checked him out very thoroughly - poor little guy hated it!  The doctor said that only about a third of his episodes are obstructive apnea; two thirds are central apnea, so he is not as concerned about the obstructive numbers as the central numbers.  He said they don't do surgery on babies under age 2 or 3 unless there is something very clearly amiss, which is not the case with Bobby.  His adenoids are small, and his tonsils are average-sized.  The doctor said to come back to see him if we notice any major snoring episodes (he only occasionally snores now) or we hear major obstructive episodes (you can usually hear obstructive episodes, as opposed to central episodes), but otherwise, he felt that from his point of view, Bobby was safe.  That's one more thing checked off the list.  The neurologist appointment is next month (it takes absolutely forever to get a pediatric neurology appointment - we were fortunate to get one two months from when I made the appointment), and they will probably do an MRI, among other things.  I hate that my baby has to go through all this (not to mention endure the apnea itself), but I know we are so fortunate that he doesn't have any more serious illness like cystic fibrosis, an absorption disorder, or any of the myriad other things that can go wrong with a baby.  Things could be better, but they could also be much worse, and I'm very grateful that we have two generally healthy boys and live in a city with a fabulous medical community that can help us with what issues we do have.

On the (more entertaining, I'm sure) development front, both boys can sit up by themselves from lying down, by rolling onto their tummies and pushing up (Bobby did it first, last Saturday.  James did it for the first time Tuesday.  I totally would have thought James would do it first, given the size of Bobby's head!).  Jamesie (Mr. Abs of Steel) can sit up from lying flat on his back by just sitting straight up like he's doing a sit-up, no assistance from hands or legs.  It makes diaper changes interesting!  James loves honeydew melon (he likes to eat it with his honey mama, as my mom is the only family member who likes it), was ok with pineapple, and likes turkey.  Bobby tried honeydew and thought it was foul (he made the most awful face, but he's so polite he won't spit anything out, so he made himself swallow it, and then sneezed!), and he wasn't such a fan of the bite of ham my sister gave him.  Both boys adore Blue Bell coffee ice cream - their momma's favorite!  They both pull up from sitting on whatever is around - usually the legs of whoever is playing with them.  Bobby had a big boy cup that he was drinking out of yesterday - of course, this mostly entailed dumping ice on himself, but he thought it was hugely entertaining.  When they weighed Bobby at the ENT today, he was 19 pounds, 12 ounces - I can't believe it!  Such a big boy!  Neither boy wanted to go to sleep last night; they finally went down between 10 and 10:45 - not good for me when I was going to have to get up earlier than usual to get me and Bobby out the door by 7 am!  Bobby had several episodes last night and came down with me by about 12, but James was a trouper and slept through the night - Peter said he didn't get up until 8.  Way to go, Jamesie!  On another note, the elevator at the doctor terrified Bobby.  The office is on the 27th floor, and the elevator was one of those that goes pretty fast and then, when you stop, you feel like your stomach is still going and your ears pop.  It really scared the poor guy - made him shake and burst into tears, on top of everything else!








James passed out with his Grampus - my two curly-haired boys!






Bobby attempting to drink out of a big boy cup in Grampus's lap - both boys sure do love their Grampus!

Friday, July 6, 2012

8 Months Old!

My sweet baby boys were 8 months old June 21 (so I'm a little late with the posting)!  Life got in the way a bit....  James got very excited, reared back, and hit me in the bridge of the nose with the back of his head, breaking my nose.  Thanks, Jamesie.  So I had to have surgery this past Monday to repair it, because I was having trouble breathing out of the right side.  Surgery is over and done with, the bandage has fallen off, so I think I'm safely on the road to recovery.  Still in pain, but nothing I can't deal with.

Here we go....

 You both:
  • can get around pretty well - neither of you officially crawls, but you're pretty good at army-crawling or otherwise pushing yourselves to where you want to be.
  • are starting to work on standing up from a seated position and pull up on everything - your lion toy, mommy's arms and legs, the sofa - whatever is available.
  • are teething like mad, and we can feel bumps just under your gums.
  • are doing well with formula, four to six ounces every two and a half to four hours during the day.  You do solids (two pouches of Plum Organics or Ella's Kitchen) anywhere from one to three times a day - it depends on the day.



Bobby:
  • not sure of your exact stats, but a couple of weeks ago, you were 18 pounds, 2 ounces and 28 inches long.
  • can take or leave the solids.  You would be perfectly happy with just formula.
  • is still struggling with sleep apnea.  Some nights are good; some nights (like last night), not so much.  You sometimes wake up very scared from the episodes.
  • gets up on hands and knees and rocks back and forth, then gets very frustrated when he face-plants.  You're so close to crawling!
  •  is making more sounds than he used to - you're getting to sound more like your brother! 
James:
  • loves his solids!  If you feel you haven't had them recently enough, you chomp your jaws at me!
  • said his first word on June 21st - I swear.  I could swear that he said "mama" a few times.  He's said the syllable over and over and over plenty, but this was a specific "mama" when I entered the room.  He's done it a few times since, but I've yet to decide whether it's truly a word or just a sound.
  • got his first tooth July 5th!  You were so upset all day and just would not nap, and a little before dinner Honey Mama (my mom) stuck her finger in your mouth and announced that there was a tooth!  It's just poking through on your bottom right.  On top of that, you're running a slight fever (100.5) and your ear seems to be bothering you.  Dr. Ho says it's a virus.  Charming.
  • The curls just keep coming - you look just like your Grampus (my dad).  He now calls his hair "Jamesie hair" when he doesn't brush it!
  • This morning at the doctor you weighed 16 pounds 9 ounces.  Catching up with Bobby!

I am exhausted from being up off and on all night with Bobby, who just could not seem to get comfortable, but unfortunately I have to wait for the plumber, because our disposal spontaneously stopped working.  It's never boring around here....... 


 
A little chat with Bobber.  =)