Two Months Old

It's amazing that we can say the boys are two months old as of yesterday. They - and us! - have come so far in the past two months. We were talking the other day about those first few days of their life and what each of them went through. Those first few weeks were such a blur and although if you read some of our posts it may sound like we are barely getting by, but day-by-day things are getting more manageable.

On Sunday we met with a "Twins Consultant". There truly is a job for everything! She was great and gave us a lot of good ideas that we can do to make our lives easier now and in the long run with these two. A lot of it is based around scheduling. Not only does it help maximize your time, but also helps the boys get a sense of “what is coming next”. It certainly isn’t a cure all for their fussiness and isn’t going to magically stop the colic times, but it can help for sure. If you know me, I’m ready to start the schedule now with the perfect timetable and charts down to the minute. And if you know Age, then scheduling and organizing are about as much fun as getting your teeth cleaned!

Between the two of us though, we’ll find a nice balance between real life and the “perfect schedule”. The thing is that these boys have their own schedule and some of the things she talked to us about we can start now, but it may not necessarily happen perfectly. A lot of it is just laying the groundwork for when they are little older in the coming two months. Although they are eight weeks old, we still have to work off gestational age as well. They were born four weeks early, so in some ways they still are only four weeks old in a lot of their mannerisms and how they deal with life.

I don’t want to say Colin has turned a corner and jinx us, but over the past few nights his “witching hour” from 9-12 at night has gotten easier to manage. He still has his moments, but calming him and keeping him calm has got better. We upped his medication for the reflux last week and that really seems to be helping him stay asleep during the night between feedings. It seemed like in the past, we could get him to sleep after a night feeding, but the reflux and gas would wake him up halfway through.

As for Jake, he is putting on the pounds and is actually eating just as much as his brother on a daily basis. He is up and alert much more than his brother and enjoys checking out the world. He loves a good nap though and doesn’t have much of a problem staying down once he settles in.

We have definitely slowed down on the picture taking, but there are some new shots in each of their galleries.

The two boys together

Colin

Jake

Thank God for Grandmas!

Well, as our last post indicates, things have been difficult lately. Both boys are fussy a lot of the time and don't like to sleep much. We know this is just a phase and they'll get through it soon. We still love them dearly and they're so cute, even when they're crying.

One of the reasons we've been able to handle the stress of the last few weeks is that both Grandmas have been a HUGE help. Grandma Scully is here every day, all day during the week and comes by on the weekends too. Grammie Spencer comes every Friday because it's her day off from work, and this past week she came for several days because I had a bad cold and was having a hard time keeping the pace. These ladies are working their tails off and they're smiling through every moment. We are so grateful.

The Grandpas are going to be on duty soon as well. Grandpa Spencer is coming Super Bowl weekend and Grandpa Scully will be here for a week in mid-February. These boys are so lucky to have all of these people around to love them...

Tomorrow the boys are two months old so we'll post some new photos.

Adrianne

Nails On A Chalkboard x 10

Try and think of the worst possible sound you can remember....then multiply that sound by 10 and listen to it for three hours. I know that sounds dramatic, but when these guys get going at 10:00 at night and don't quiet down until 1:00 a.m., it certainley feels that way.

Colin is going through a bout of colic right now - at least that's what we think it is. The "experts" don't seem to really know what causes colic, but one-by-one we are trying to determine what is causing these late night crying sessions. It could be a reaction to the formula he is getting, a reaction to what is in the breast milk, over stimulation or reflux and the food is coming back up. We know that this little stretch will end at some point in the next few weeks, but right now it's tough to see the forest through the trees as they say.

With all that being said, last night might have been our best night yet with the both of them. Colin was a little fussy after getting fed at 10:00, but nothing like he has been on other nights. By 10:30 he was down and slept all the way until 3:00!! A solid five hours between night feedings! Jake did well too feeding every three hours, but going back down fairly easily after each meal. So we'll see how these next few days go and if what we are doing is starting to help.

The quiet times

Life With Two

Since we made fun of Jake in the past post, here is a nice shot of the little guy.

It's been about a month since both of the boys have been home with us. Life has gotten easier each day, but as always, there have been challenges. We have yet to get on any sort of "schedule" with regards to feeding. They will go three to four hours between meals, but each night the timing is different on when they wake up for their three different feedings. Most of the time they eat between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00, then another around midnight to 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and a third feeding between 4:00 and 7:00. As their stomachs grow they will be able to stretch these feedings out to five or six hours, which hopefully will mean one feeding in the middle of the night.

Age is still breast feeding and pumping for them, but we have to add in formula to supplement a feeding or replace one all together. We are playing the formula game and trying to find the one that doesn't cause fussiness or gas after each feeding. There has to be 75 different versions out there, so we're slowly making our way through the gauntlet of options.

They have begun to become more and more aware of their surroundings and life in general. Each day has them staying awake longer after each feeding. The only problem is when it's 3:00 in the morning and they decide they want to stay up and look around! But it has been great to watch them become fascinated with certain things. Both boys seem to find our dining room chandelier the most intriguing thing they have ever seen and can stare at it for an hour at a time!

Added just a few new shots of Jake to his photo gallery

And some Colin photos

Is this mean?

These days a little humor at 3:00 in the morning goes a long ways. Jake cracked us up the other night after one of those late night feedings with his lawn gnome impersonation.

Lesson #1 Jake...If you can't laugh at yourself...who can you laugh at?