Lucie and Ryan wish you a very Happy Halloween! Decked out in their pumpkin and ghost hats, they enjoyed their first trip to the beach yesterday and saw (or at least slept through) their first sunset.
Ryan and Lucie have enjoyed the past two weeks with Chris' mother Laura. It makes such a difference to have the help, especially when she arrives early in the morning refreshed and ready to help when we are at the very end of our energy reserves.
Lucie and Ryan are having a great time this week playing on their activity mat. They are getting more and more alert each day, and enjoying their daily play time. Plus, Ryan doesn't seem to mind if Lucie tries to eat his ear...
Another week, another wellness checkup. Ryan is up to 7 pounds, 13 ounces and a wiry 21 inches. Lucie weighs a robust 7 lbs, 3 ozs and 20.5 inches.
I've received so many supportive emails and phone messages as I transition the twins from bottle to breastfeeding. It's been a struggle, but every day gets better and feels more natural. After about a week of multi-hour appointments with militant lactation consultants (ask me about that sometime) and some trying nights, Ryan and Lucie are almost 100% converted to breastfeeding. No more mounds of bottles to clean & prepare -- time to celebrate!
Between blankets and burp clothes, onesies and snap shirts, the laundry piles up quickly. The twins manage to dirty about a wash load per day. Fortunately, our on-site grandmother laundry service keeps up with demand.
Even though it's not medically necessary, we decided to have Ryan circumsized. Now that we've had four days to recover, Megan would tell you that it was harder on her, but I'm not so sure Ryan would agree. Megan and Lucie conveniently went for a walk during the procedure leaving Ryan and I to face the "clamp". With a little help from the local anethesia and suger-water sucked from my finger, he survived with minimal discomfort.
If someone had told me on our wedding day that five years later we'd have two kids, I'm not sure that I would have believed them. I guess it's a much easier feat to achieve when you get two at the same time!
We try to go for a walk every day. Exposure to sunlight is supposed to help the twins sleep better at night though it doesn't seem to be working on Ryan and Lucie. Tonight, by the time everyone was changed, fed, burped, and bundled, the sun had long since departed so we set out for a nighttime stroll.
Two more clean bills of health at today's peditrician's visit. Ryan tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and Lucie is now 6 pounds, 12 ounces. Both of them are gaining about 1 ounce per day.
Our first family portrait. No fancy backdrop at Sears, no special lighting, no poses with hands on chins, but I think the shot turned out pretty well.
Yesterday, we bought the mother of all boppies. Designed especially for twins, it looks like a sofa cushion with a large bite missing. Our dream is that Megan will eventually be able to simultaneously breastfeed both babies with the aid of the super boppy. Obviously I love the idea as it makes my participation unnecessary. Dare to dream...
On the recommendation of several friends, we bought a copy of the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. It took almost a week to find the time to watch, but after a single viewing tonight, I don't think it is an exageration to day that the video will change our lives.
Lucie and Ryan enjoyed their weekend with their Chris' family. How nice to be held and snuggled for hours on end! That is their dream life. Our dream life is having mutliple feeders and burpers on hand. Special thanks to Uncle Greg for being our first overnight guest and his willingness to awake every two hours for feedings.
Boppy pillows are one of those strange inventions that every parent knows about, yet people without kids have no idea about them. We use them primarily to prop babies/arms during feeding, but Lucie and Ryan also like to spend "tummy time" (strengthening neck muscles) on the pillows as well.
The twins are no longer premies! OK, that's our unofficial proclamation, but not only did Lucie and Ryan start wearing Newborn diapers and clothes (finally into the "0- 3 months" category), but they are gaining weight at a very fast pace. No doubt making up for lost time, even the pediatrician expressed surprise when, at their appointment this morning, Lucie weighed in at 6 pounds 4 ounces (and 20 inches) and Ryan at 6 pounds 14 ounces (20.5 inches). That's almost a pound each in 8 days. They're now big enough to track on the regular Newborn growth scale.
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon so we decided to do what parents do in such circumstances. After quickly loading up necessary supplies, the four of us set off for our first family trip to the local park. A quick five minute walk and we were a Norman Rockwell painting -- new parents strolling through the park while kids played in the background.
Every baby's home should have one, two if you have twins. A genie that makes dirty diapers (and their smells) disappear. Absolutely magical invention. An unanticipated benefit of the Diaper Genie -- it provides a way to track the number of diapers used. In the first 8 days the twins were home, we went through 140 diapers and 168 wipes.
It takes a village to raise a child - and for sleep deprived parents of twins, we could use a small metropolis. Lucky for us, we have amazing parents to help us along the way.
They take security pretty seriously in the NICU. All four of us were issued id bracelets almost immediately after birth. Lucie and Ryan each got two matching id's -- one on the wrist and another on the ankle. Megan and I had two as well, but one for each baby.
Because of the extra risks with the c-section delivery, I wasn't allowed to cut the cord for either of the twins. Far from disappointing, the rule meant avoiding an upclose look at Megan's abdomen pulled apart. Instead, after the initial health assessments, I cut the 'ceremonial' cord. The doctors intentionally leave an extra 3 inches on the baby-side just for dads. Very rubbery stuff, but the job was quickly completed.
With all of their baby skin folds, it took a good twenty minutes each to bathe Lucie and Ryan. Of course, most of that time was spent debating whether or not we should get their ears wet (we decided against), their belling-buttons wet (yes, but we'll ask the Pediatrician tomorrow), or use soap on their faces (baby books say just warm water). If Dr. Spock had a 1-800 number, then we would have called several times.
Since Lucie and Ryan are the first grandchildren in both families, they have had lots of welcomed visitors over their first two weeks. Rachel and Jason's arrival this afternoon means that the twins have now met all of their grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Based on initial reactions, Rachel has staked out a clear position are favorite aunt...
So far, the Lucie and Ryan are successfully sharing a cosleeper — think of a crib with an elevated floor and one side lower than the other three. The height of the lower side is even with the height of our mattress. The idea is to provide an easy way to check in on and extract the twins from the cosleeper without getting out of bed. The cosleeper provides the closeness of actually cosleeper (the entire family sharing a bed), but avoids the rollover/suffocate scenario. Obviously that's a trade worth making.
