4 months old!

Well Max and Emma - you are 4 months old now! Wow how time flies! Here's a little bit of what you've been up to lately:


Current schedule
8a - daily wake up time (eat and play)
9a - go down for a nap
11a - wake up, eat and play
12p - go down for a nap (mommy eats lunch)
2p - wake up, eat and play (maybe run errands or go for a walk)
3p - go down for a nap
5p - wake up, eat & play - daddy is usually home now :)
6p - go down for a nap
8p - last meal of the day and bath time
8:45/9 - go to bed for the night
4a - Miss Emma usually wakes up for a feeding while Max is perfectly content with sleeping thru the night


*For some reason you both think that your nap is over 45 min into it these days - I hope this phase will pass quickly cause I am not a fan. It is for this reason that you have been napping in seperate bedrooms for the last month. It's gotten a little better and isn't every nap anymore, but I need Mr. Sandman to come back and help you get back sleep.


How/what do you play with? Right now you both enjoy the play gym that na-nah and grandad got you for Christmas, as well as reading books, singing songs, hanging out in the swing, and practicing your rolling over skills with tummy time.


Max here are some details on you and your 4 month well check:


Weight: 13lbs 1.4oz
Weight Percentile: 20%
Height/Length: 26in
Height Percentile: 85%
Head Circumference: 41.5cm
Head Circumference Percentile: 30%


You apparently are going to be a bean pole just like your Uncle Jacob! We try to get you to eat more, but you will only take about 21 ounces of food a day. But, you are starting to form a nice little double chin :)


Your reflux seems to have gotten under control, I don't know if you just grew out of it or if it is from the Prevacid - but either way you are a doing much better! In fact, because it has gotten so much better, you are able to sleep in your crib all the time now - woo hoo! Before too long, I am going to have to put away all your 0-3 month clothes as you are starting to grow out of them now - but the 3-6 month outfits seems so big on you. You just started wearing size 2 diapers a few weeks ago, but unfortunately it doesn't help mask the odor of your horrendous farts - I'm serious, they are awful! We are going to try switching your formula and see if that will make a difference, but somehow I doubt it - you are 100% boy that's for sure! We also asked Dr. Holt about your head again and he has referred us to a craniomaxillofacial surgeon - sounds scary, but hopefully he can help us with the flat spot on your head - my poor baby didn't have much room in mama's belly :( We are scheduled to see the new doctor on May 2nd - apparently these doctors are pretty busy and that is the earliest we could get in to see him - who knew?


In other news... YOU ROLLED OVER!!!! Mommy and Daddy are SOOOOOOO proud of you! You have been trying so hard for a while and you finally did it! And bonus... we got it on video!! You have yet to do it again, but I know you will :) You were also the first one to start grabbing for the rings dangling from your little play gym (I guess sister must have seen you do it, because she started do it shortly after you did - copy cat!). You finally found your voice and would talk to us all the time, however lately you have moved on to new skills and haven't talked too much. Your favorite thing right now is to blow spit bubble and stick your hands in your mouth. It took you a while, but now that you know how to smile - you smile ALL the time and I LOVE IT! I can't wait to hear your laugh! Your hair is growing so fast and it is at a stage where it just kinda sticks out and is spiky - and with your gorgeous big brown eyes, you remind me of Uncle Kenny when he was a baby (which speaking of, I think he may be working on an aunt for you in the near future - but that's a whole other story!). You're still my little snuggle bug and I cherish those moments because I know that there will come a day when you won't want to snuggle anymore - but for now, you win the snuggle award! I love you so much my sweet baby boy :)


My sweet spirited Emma, you are truly your own person already! You will be, and actually already are, a handful! You will scream your head off one minute and then give me the sweetest, biggest gummy grin the next and make mama's heart melt. You are such a little stinker! You know what you want and often are not very patient about it. I will admit that you have mellowed out a little bit - probably because you are so distracted by things going on around you, that you forget what you were getting upset about. I don't to make it seem like you cry all the time or anything, because you don't - you're just very loud :) You are also growing by leaps and bounds! Here are your stats from your 4 month check up:


Weight: 14lbs 6.4oz (almost a pound and a half bigger than your brother!)
Weight Percentile: 70%
Height/Length: 25in
Height Percentile: 80%
Head Circumference: 41.5cm (same as brother’s but your head seems so much bigger - must be those cheeks!)
Head Circumference Percentile: 70%


No one would ever guess that you were 3 weeks early! You are well into your 3-6 month clothes and I have a feeling that we will need to start pulling out the 6-9's before too long! You still have massive cheeks that make you look like you are smuggling acorns! But I love them, I love to kiss them all the time :) You don't really eat that much more than your brother (about 25 ounces a day), but for some reason you seem to be growing so much faster! I wish we could get you to sleep thru the 4a feeding that you seem you like so much! In due time - but in the mean time, you and daddy get to spend some quality daddy/daughter time at 4a - maybe that's why you do it?? Your hair is getting so long and now has a reddish tint to it (mommy and daddy both had reddish tints to our hair when we were babies too). The jury is still out on what color your eyes will be, for now they are still the bluish gray you were born with - they're so pretty they look like marbles. You haven't quite mastered rolling over yet, but I can tell that you are very close; you like to turn your body right to the tipping point and then flop back down (from back to tummy). You don't seem to interested in rolling over from your tummy to your back - you just kinda lay there like a log! Maybe once you see that brother can do it that will motivate you! You have replaced your constant talking with your new favorite skill of blowing spit bubbles and making funny sounds with your mouth and tongue - it's pretty cute :) Like your brother, you too love to stick your fingers or whole hand into your mouth, or your bib, or whatever might be handy (no pun intended). You still spit up on everything and everyone all the time, but the quantity seems to have gone down a little - but never the less, it is frustrating to have to always have a bib over your cute little outfits - it kinda takes away from the fun of dressing you up. Oh well, you still have your bows!


Among other firsts, you both experienced your first stay at the church nursery (first time anyone but Gram and Poppy have watched you) - and you both did great! I think it will take you a while to really get used to it and learn how to sleep despite all the noises going on around you - at least I hope you will! It does seem to take you both a while to get back on track after church - or anytime we go off schedule - but as you get a little older I am hopeful that it will become easier. We can't wait to be able to take you guys to baseball games, the zoo, the pool, the river, and all sorts of other fun places. We are loving seeing the world through your eyes and experiencing things for the first time with you. I know Lucy can't wait for you both to play with her - she loves you both sooooo much already!


Mommy is hoping to find a good playgroup to join with other kiddos your age - but so far I haven't found it yet. Let me just say, Strollercise, is not for mommy - I hope y'all had fun watching mommy make a fool of herself at the mall! We have an appointment this week with the lactation consultant to try to make this breastfeeding thing work one more time, and if it doesn't (and I REALLY hope that it does), then I will just continue giving you expressed breast milk until you are 6 months (I don't think I can physically or emotionally keep exclusively pumping any longer than that).


Well, I guess that's about it for now, but here are a couple pics and videos of you:



Max's dancing skills :)




This is how Max rolls :)


 
 


 


 
 


 


 
 
 
 
 
 

*Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate the pictures :(

Catching Up

Wow - it has been a while... where to start....

Well, these little guys have been keeping me very busy (hense the lack of blog updates). There is one thing I need to get off my chest first though... let me just say for all you moms-to-be out there, no one really told me how hard being a mom would be - I mean yeah we all know it will be hard, but I'm talking about all the moments where you feel completely inadequet and feel like you have no idea what your doing and are left wondering if you are the only new mom to feel this lost. None of your friends share their moments of weakness and insecurity, or talk about how they too have cried in the shower questioning whether they are going to be/are being a good mom. With as much as I lean on my own mom, cousins, books and the internet - I'm left wondering how on earth moms did it back in the day. I guess I thought I would have some kind of internal instinctual switch that would flip on the second my babies were born and I would just know how to do everything - and when I didn't, I felt like I fell short as a mom. I didn't have the "baby blues" or anything, it was just moments of weakness and insecurity - and I'm sure there will be more as I continue on this journey of motherhood - and now that I have talked to my friends and discovered that they too share in these moments, I wanted to make sure that I put it out there so no one else feels like they are the only ones. OK - now that I have that out of the way, here's what's been going on...


Emma has excellent head control, she has for a while - this child is strong - I swear is she like a tank! She can already sit in her bumbo like a champ, even though she doesn't really like it much - in fact she really only seems to like to be held - yay. Max however is still working on his neck strength, he's not quite there yet but he's getting there. Emma is a smiling queen, she loved to smile, especially when getting her diaper or clothes changed or when you make funny faces/sounds at her. She likes to talk too. She does most of her talking during tummy time and after she eats. Max on the other hand seems to be more of the quiet and serious type. He smiles occasionally (mostly for daddy) and will talk sometimes while he is playing on the playmat. I am hoping that he starts to smile more in the coming weeks. They both LOVE to stare at this canvas painting of a tree that is hung on the wall above the couch - I swear I think they could sit and stare at it all day! They also both seem to enjoy tummy time - which is apparently unusual - I guess most babies don't like it. I really think Max will be the first to crawls b/c he will just lay there and kick those legs like he's swimming, he can even scoot himself forward on the blanket! - whereas Emma just lays there like a log. Neither one are attempting to roll over just yet - but we'll keep trying. Another thing Max LOVES to do is stretch - I think it's his favorite thing. Every time we get him up from his nap, he likes to spend a good 5-10 minutes stretching. The only thing he loves more than stretching is kicking!


They are still on their schedule, eating every three hours (except for at night). They had been getting up around 6a, but recently have started extending the hours they sleep at night and instead of getting up at 3am and again at 6 - they have stopped the 3a feedings and are now getting up around 4/4:30 and then again around 8am - so now we are working on adjusting our schedule. They always have their last feeding between 9-10p and are now sleeping about 6-7 hours thru the night :) I have heard that 12 pounds was kind of the magic number for them sleeping thru the night - and that seems to be about right. They recently had their 2 month check up, here are their stats:


Emma
*Weight: 10lbs15.4oz
Weight Percentile: 55% (big jump!)
Height/Length: 22 in
Height/Length Percentile: 30%
Head Circumference: 38.5 cm
Head Circumference Percentile: 45%
Hair color - still blond
Eye color - still a bluish grey color


*we had to go to the dr. again last week b/c they were sick and she weighed in at 11 lbs. 15oz


Max
*Weight: 10lbs6.6oz
Weight Percentile: 25%
Height/Length: 22 1/2 in
Height/Length Percentile: 25%
Head Circumference: 38.5 cm
Head Circumference Percentile: 20%
Hair color - still brown
Eye color - still brown


*we had to go to the dr. again last week b/c they were sick and he weighed in at 11 lbs. 3.4oz


They have both graduated from NB diapers and have been in the 1's for a couple weeks now - in fact they will very soon be moving on to the 2's! I had a very sad moment a few weeks ago when I finally had to admit to myself that Emma did not fit into her NB clothes anymore and it was time to fold them and put them away :( Most of them she never even wore. Which reminds me... another tip for new moms... don't get a lot of NB clothes - they wore like maybe 10 different outfits - at least that was the case for me. Now we are well into the 0-3's for both Max and Emma. I emptied Max's closet of the NB clothes last week :( I didn't know I would be so emotional about it - but it was sad realizing that they were growing so fast! They are both up to about 4.5-5 ounces per feeding and taking 6 feedings a day. I am still pumping after each feeding and am up to 20 ounces a day - which comes out to the babies getting about 1/3 breast milk and 2/3 formula. My supply is still slowly increasing, so hopefully I can get up to half and half and maybe even catch up to them around 6 months when they start eating solid foods - we'll see! I'm still taking Fenugreek, Blessed Thistle, and Reglan everyday to help increase my supply. It's a lot of work, and I certainly have days where I want to throw in the towel, but I just keep telling myself that it's the best thing I can do for my babies - and that something is better than nothing. I really try to cherish the moments I have with each of them when I'm nursing them, since I know I will never get to experience it again.


Max still struggles with his reflux and is taking Prevacid daily to help control the acid in his tummy. As a result of the reflux, feeding times are very LONG - I pray for the day that it doesn't bother him anymore - there is absolutely nothing worse than seeing your little baby suffering and in pain and not being able to do anything about it :( Emma has a little reflux issues too - but nothing like her brother. Her biggest issue is spitting up. The doctor calls her a "happy spitter" since it doesn't ever seem to bother her. This girl can go through some bibs and burp cloths let me tell ya!


Sadly, the babies have been sick for about 2 weeks now :( They have both been congested and Max has had a cough which we found out was Bronchiolitis. Because of the congestion, they can't breathe very well, and when you can't breathe very well, you don't really want to eat - so feeding times have been really fun! They have been averaging about an hour each to eat - which isn't soo bad when Jason is here - but during the day it is brutal! I feel like all I do all day is feed babies, pump, feed babies, pump, etc... until Jason comes home. They are slowly getting better though thank goodness! Max was prescribed 2 inhalers, which he hates, and we have been using vicks, the nose frida snotsucker (look it up - it is a MUST HAVE), and saline spray. Luckily, neither have had a fever - I just pray that this ends soon - I don't like having sick babies!


I have more to write about my solo trip to my parent’s house with the babies and Lucy, their first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, our first time out without the babies, etc - but it will have to wait because it is time to feed babies again!

Here's a couple of pics:

 

4 weeks old!

I can't believe my sweet babies are 4 weeks old today! They are both doing great! They were weighed on Monday when we went for a visit to the lactation consultant and Emma weighed in at 7lbs 3oz and Max was up to 6lbs 14oz! Emma LOVES to eat and Max loves to sleep :) They have both been on a 3 hour feeding schedule since we were in the hospital and it really seems to be working well for all of us. Breastfeeding is going ok - I'm still a little behind on my milk production, but the LC seemed confident that I would be able to catch up in a few more weeks and may be able to drop the formula supplements - luckily neither of them have any latching issues, so fingers crossed it will work out - we shall see. Max is still very laid bad and doesn't seemed to be bothered by much, but he does have some reflux because of his flappy larynx which causes him to eat VERY SLOWLY - which is a pain in the butt at midnight and 3am when you just want to get it over with and go back to bed! Emma on the other hand will gulp it all down and still want more. She really likes her "wake time" and loves looking at her self in the mirror - such a girl! Both babies are so good - we are very blessed!

Here are some pics from the last couple weeks:

Max and Emma meet their great Papa

Max and Emma with their Na-nah (my mom)

My sweet sleeping beauty

Uncle Omar and Max

Emma loves to look at herself in the mirror

Had to throw this one in - gotta love a Lucy snarl :)

Max rockin his Aggie gear - I guess it helped 'cause they won - whoop (strickly for Jason's sake)

Too bad the same luck didn't work for Emma and her Longhorn gear, but we still love 'em - Hook 'em Horns!

Cutie pies

Our little butterball princess kickin it in the bouncy seat

Max and Emma meet Aunt Marcia and their other great Papa