Babies' first snow

It was a gorgeous day today. The sun was bright and the temperature was about 30 degrees. We have one waterproof winter outfit for the boys so we took them outside in shifts. James was first.

Matthew also enjoyed his time in the outdoors. I touched some snow to his mouth to see what he would do -- there wasn't much of a reaction. I thought about helping him make a snow angel, but that didn't seem practical since he wouldn't be able to make any of the motions himself. So I just sat him down in the snow and took a picture.

Snow Day

Everyone enjoyed the sunny snow day (although the boys had to take turns going outside, since we just have the one snowsuit -- formerly Cousin Daniel's.) Top photo is Melanie with James, middle is Stanley, and bottom is Matthew and Mike.

Brothers in the crib

James and Matthew were having some fun in the crib this afternoon.

It snowed last night. Around 6 inches were on the ground this morning and right now there is freezing rain falling.

Grandma is feeding Matthew (who has fallen asleep in her arms) while grandpa is shoveling snow. And to think they had to drive all the way from South Dakota to find freezing weather and snow!

Last night we played Wii bowling. Grandma racked up the highest score on our machine -- 217 points. The is better than anyone scored over Christmas when we played for hours and hours.

Mama Went to Vegas

(No, really, I did.) I'm here for a conference for work. It's the first time I've been away from the babies since they came home from the hospital. I miss them so much, but fortunately, they're not old enough to miss me yet (or at least, I don't think so). And thanks to cell phones I've been checking in frequently!

This afternoon was the babies' first snowfall. :)

I've been having a good time at the conference; the best part is always catching up with old friends. And it's fun to see the spectacle of Vegas -- tonight we saw the dancing fountains and blown-glass opulence at Bellagio, the surreal painted-sky ceiling and faux old town in Paris, and the neon everywhere. We've also sampled some Vegas buffets. (In case you're curious, the one at the Wynn hotel was amazing. Oh, the desserts!)

One more day, and then I'll be on the red-eye back home.

Reflux Redux

James seems to be increasingly uncomfortable during and after each bottle feeding. Actually, it is worse than uncomfortable. He screams like a pterodactyl, turns red, arches his back, cries, and is just miserable for 10-15 minutes after each feeding. This is what he did before we changed his formula. Luckily he is not throwing up and he is still eating about the same amount during the day as he was 2 weeks ago. But I expected him to start eating more, not stay at the same amount, and I hate to see him suffer. On Thursday we called the doctor to raise his dose of the anti-reflux medicine. He has received 3 doses of the higher amount and it doesn't seem to have had any effect. But I think we need to give it some time to work. If he isn't better on Monday we'll make an appointment with his favorite speech therapist at the hospital.

In cheerier news, grandma and grandpa Barr are enjoying their time with the twins, and they sure do like their grandparents. And mom and dad are sure happy to have the extra sets of hands. Also, it is snowing outside.

In the pictures you can see Matthew wearing his Johnny Cash shirt, a gift from the best man at our wedding. Also, the boys sitting together . And finally, grandpa and Matthew watching the Golf channel.

Rolling Over, Part 1

NOTE -- these videos seem to stop working a few hours after I upload them. But then again, sometimes they work. Good luck!

Matthew was the first of the boys to roll over from his tummy to his back. We thought James might be first, but he was taking a nap while his brother was enjoying some tummy time. Maybe James will be the first to roll from back to tummy, which is more of a claim to fame, anyway.

This is Matthew playing around just before he rolled over.

Tuesday afternoon with grandma and grandpa

Matthew looks more and more like a little boy instead of an infant -- especially in the big-boy chair and overalls.


Grandpa and grandma are having fun with the boys.














Grandma Barr sure has her hands full!

Grandparents Save the Day

So last night both babies woke up -- and woke us up -- multiple times. And today both the morning and afternoon babysitters were sick and couldn't come. And the sink by the washing machine flooded the laundry room. Thank goodness the grandparents were here to pitch in, or we would have been in trouble!

The day ended with peacefully sleeping babies (keep your fingers crossed for us), ice cream, and some Wii bowling.

Oh, and Matthew may have rolled over from his stomach to his back. Mike had him on the bed in the nursery while he was taking care of James. He had put him down on his stomach, and when he turned around a couple minutes later, Mattie was on his back! (So apparently we all missed it -- we're waiting for a repeat performance!)

Who Dat

Who would have predicted that our children would be born into a world where the Saints are going to the Super Bowl? (Grandpa sure is happy!)

Grandma and Grandpa are Here!

And even Stanley benefits -- he's out on a walk with them right now.


Edited to add: They took a wrong turn in our neighborhood (easy to do, as the streets are not in any kind of grid or pattern), so it ended up being a looooong walk! Stanley does not get any points for guide dog ability.

Melanie

We don't seen many pictures of many on the blog because she is usually the one taking the pictures. Since I like this picture of Mel I decided to post it. Sorry, there aren't any babies in this entry.

Always Something New

The boys keep on doing new things. James is doing great with his tummy time -- he's getting more endurance with lifting his head up, and he's using his arms to support himself a lot more, too. And he's soooo close to rolling over (back to front). As you can see in the second picture, he just has to figure out how to get that bottom shoulder out of his way. (Matthew is pretty close to rolling over, too, but I wouldn't be surprised if James beats him to it.)

We took James to the doctor's office for a weight check on Friday. They weren't worried about him, but we wanted to make sure he was gaining again after holding steady between his last two appointments. And he had indeed put on some ounces -- he's now 13 lbs, 13 oz.

Matthew's new trick is blowing raspberries (and smacking his lips). It's hilarious. Apparently this is a five-month milestone. I read this in the baby book and I thought 1) what a weird milestone, what's the point of that?, and 2) our boys probably aren't going to do it because it's not something that they see often. But nope, Matthew apparently came up with it all on his own!

Washington Weekend

The main reason for our trip last weekend was that one of Mike's best friends from high school is currently in the DC area, but will be moving across the country next month. Since I had Monday off, we decided to grab the opportunity to see them while we could. Even for a short trip, packing for travel with babies is not a trivial task! But it was definitely worth it -- we had a wonderful (if too brief) time catching up.

Their son is also named Matthew (and Mike has still not gotten over the fact that he gave our son the same name as his friend's son), so we had a meeting of the Matts. Our Matthew loves dogs, but didn't quite know what to make of their huge Bernese mountain dog. And I didn't quite know what to make of the fact that their daughter, who was the little flower girl in our wedding, is now an amazing teenager who is as tall as we are and getting her driver's license. And she plays the bass guitar, too!

Every time we visit them, they make a meal that we end up talking about for months or more afterwards, and this was no exception -- this time it was delicious chicken wings, crispy and spicy but not too hot. And every time we see them Mike and his friend end up playing music and drinking rum and cokes into the morning hours, and this was no exception to that either. (And I had my first drink since getting pregnant with the boys -- an appropriately-weak Cosmo.)

They had other dinner plans on Saturday night, so we got together with one of our graduate school friends (for some yummy take-out barbeque). His daughter, a first grader, loved being in charge of the boys. At the end of the evening she decided to read Matthew her favorite books from when she was younger. (James had fallen asleep already.) So we had a tour of Sandra Boynton favorites, including several that we'd never heard before. (Barnyard Dance and The Going to Bed Book are on our regular rotation.) Matthew was entranced!

On Sunday we had a long lunch with my college friends, several of whom were kind enough to drive down from Baltimore for the occasion. The boys were very well-behaved! One couple in the group is expecting their first baby (a boy) in a few months, so fortunately I don't think our little guys scared them off of parenthood. :)

We had intended to go back to Nora's place right from lunch, but Mike forgot his jacket at Jon's place. So we went back there, and it was perfect timing -- other friends had just arrived who we hadn't seen in, oh, maybe ten years. It was a lovely bonus to have a chance to see them as well!


Of course, after the long day, the ride back to Richmond was a little rough. There was an accident that had traffic backed up for four miles, but fortunately we were able to take an alternate route and avoid that. It made the drive longer, but I actually found it kind of peaceful to be on regular roads instead of the interstate for a while. But we didn't avoid James throwing up (twice) and Matthew throwing up (once). They were fine once we were out of the car.

We still have a warm glow from all the love and friendship of the weekend. (Thanks, everyone!)

Smiles, Everyone, Smiles

Busy week back at work, but everyone is doing fine. :)

We're Back

We're back from a whirlwind weekend of visits with friends and family. It was a great time and it was wonderful to see everyone (although it sure would be nice to have another day off to recover from all the traveling!)

The boys did very well most of the time. We cannot say the same for Stanley; he stayed with Auntie Nora and he was Not a Very Good Dog. His list of transgressions was numerous and varied. He ate two (or was it three?) crayons, a wooden block, a rubber ball, a stuffed duck, and a stuffed candy cane. ("That night he had a stomachache." *) He barked at the neighbor dogs. And he knocked down Cousin Daniel with his exuberant greeting. Fortunately Aunt Nora was willing to forgive him for all those things!

More later when we've gotten some sleep. :)

* Bonus points for getting the reference -- and if you already know the next line, you're probably the parent of a young child!

Eight Months

The babies had their Nephrology appointment today, and they both had good blood pressures -- hooray! (We were especially happy that Matthew's was normal, since he was fussy just before the doctor took it, which could have caused it to be higher.) They both have to stay on their medications for now, but the doctor is optimistic that they'll be able to wean off them within the next few months. That would be nice! Overall, she was very pleased with how they're doing.

Matthew is now 15 lbs! James was at about the same weight as last week (13 lbs, 6 oz). We were a little disappointed that he hadn't gained weight, but the doctors weren't concerned; his growth is still on a good trajectory overall.

James also had a speech/feeding appointment today, and his therapist was also happy with how he's doing. After a nice upward trajectory, the amount of food that he's taking during the day had gone down recently, most likely due to him having a cold. The therapist said it's very common for kids to eat less when they have a cold, and that it can take a couple of weeks for things to get back on track. So, hopefully he'll start working back up soon.

Poor James was the victim of bad parenting this evening. At the Nephrology appointment, the nurse put a urine collection bag on him, but then it turned out that they didn't actually need a urine sample. After we'd been home a little while, he started to get fussy when we put him down to play. So we fed him, we gave him his paci, we read him stories...and we couldn't figure out why he was still unhappy when we put him down. Well, finally it dawned on us that the collection bag was still on! (We hadn't changed his diaper because Matthew was sleeping in the nursery, and we didn't want to wake him up. And usually wet diapers don't bother our boys, unless they're really soaked.) Oops!! The poor kid was getting sloshed around in pee -- no wonder he was unhappy! Fortunately, the problem was easily solved. :)

We're visiting friends and family this weekend, so there may not be new posts for a couple of days.

[Top photo is Matthew, bottom photo is James.]

Sweet Bathing James

Isn't he cute?

One of my colleagues (also a mother of twins) gave me some good advice yesterday. She said, "Watch your speed on your way home!" She said she always wanted to get back to her babies so much that she ended up going faster and faster before she realized it. I know what she means!

Happy Mattie

Matthew and James both like seeing the baby in the mirror.

Busy Monday

James went to the second eye doctor today, the one who checks vision. (Mike took him, since I had to be at work.) It all went well -- it doesn't sound like he'll need glasses right now, which is great! I was hoping I wouldn't have to figure out how to keep glasses on a baby or toddler. Heck, the way these little guys are grabbing things right now, I'm lucky to keep my own glasses on. :) The doctor does want to see him again in three months, because James still has a slight tendency to cross his eyes when he's looking at something close to his face. Hopefully he'll grow out of it, but presumably there are ways to treat it if he doesn't.

It was very hard to walk out the door for my first real day back at work, but it went well, too. Efficient meetings, friendly colleagues -- I really can't complain. When I arrived back home, the babies were both in the crib with the lights down low. James had just woken up from a nap and Matthew was apparently resisting taking one. James gave me a big smile, but Matthew was too busy chewing on a toy to say hello. I got some smiles later, but I think Mattie was saving his biggest grins for Stanley today!

Boys in Bumbos

The boys have been enjoying their Bumbo seats (well, technically, Daniel and Charlotte's bumbo seats) combined with the activity gym -- they get to grab the toys from a different angle.

Bottom picture: Watch out, Godzilla! James can eat airplanes with the best of them. :)

I go back to work tomorrow (Monday). Wish us luck!

Foot in Mouth

A new snack for Mattie...toes!

ROP Free

Ah, I fondly remember the days when the boys would fall asleep on their own and sleep through anything. Now, in the first few minutes after he falls asleep, Matthew is far too easy to wake up -- the phone wakes him up, the dog wakes him up, someone talking wakes him up. (Two out of the three of these happened this afternoon, so the nap I thought he'd take at 1:30 didn't happen until after four!) I think these days the world is much more interesting to him ("Look! I can grab some things! And put them in my mouth!"), so he doesn't want to miss anything.

James went for an eye exam today, and he was officially pronounced to be out of danger of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a condition where the blood vessels in the eye develop abnormally. (As we may have mentioned before, ROP is the cause of Stevie Wonder's blindness, but these days they can treat it with laser surgery if it's detected in a timely manner.) We weren't too worried about it, since the blood vessels in James's eyes were almost fully developed when he left the hospital, but it's good to have it all confirmed. He goes back to a different eye doctor next week to test his vision (nearsightedness/farsightedness).

[Photo is Matthew.]

Hmmmm

I can't decide whether having the funeral home advertisement on the prescription bag is brilliant product placement or just plain tacky. ("Hey, they need prescription drugs, so they must have one foot in the grave, eh?")

Odds and Ends

We had a quick but enjoyable visit from Grandpa last night -- we were the first stop on his road trip to see family and an old college friend. (The babies were asleep when he arrived, but then Matthew was up in the middle of the night -- this was the second night in a row that we'd been up in the middle of the night with a stuffy-nosed baby. The night before James had woken up at 4 AM, so now we're dragging a bit! I thought they'd be over this cold by now, but it seems to keep hanging on.)

Medical billing continues to be a hassle. The company that provides the babies' RSV vaccine sent us a bill for...wait for it...$500 more than it should have been. Ugh! When I called to ask about it, the customer service person said that it looked like a mistake and that it had been referred to accounting for review. I hope that fixes it, but we'll see. I also submitted a claim for my health savings account, and I picked a hospital bill that was closest to the amount I had in my account. Well, they rejected it because the bill "does not show the date of service." The bill was for a couple months of doctor charges for James's hospital stay, so I guess those idiots want me to fax them all 26 pages of it! It seems crazy to me that they would deny a hospital bill for that reason, especially since this is MY money that came out of MY paycheck -- they're just administering it. It's not like I submitted a bill from Crazy Ed's Ointment Factory or some other possibly non-health-related expense.

And in other news, at the risk of giving too much information, I think the babies' breastmilk days are coming to an end. It would have been nice if I'd been able to do more "normal" nursing and keep it up for longer, but seven and a half months of pumping will have to be good enough. I'm more sad than I expected to be about stopping, but between starting back to work again and diminishing supply, it doesn't seem worth continuing. (And because Matthew is now in a stage where he wants to bite whatever goes in his mouth, I am not highly motivated for more nursing!)

[Photo is from our road trip, during our surprisingly-challenging search for a family friendly bathroom to do a diaper change. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel, but there was a huge line for the restroom, so we trekked across the parking lot to the almost-empty "American Style" restaurant next door.]

Shots and Surgeons

Today's lesson: if the baby falls asleep at a good time, don't wake him up just to change a pee diaper. (Because if his name is Matthew, he then won't want to go to sleep again!)

The boys had to go in for their Synagis shots today. Matthew weighed 14 lbs, 11 oz, and this bumped him up to having the medicine administered in two shots instead of one -- poor kid! (We think Matthew might have gone through a growth spurt in Florida. He was eating up a storm, and he felt noticably heavier.) James was 13 lbs, 6 oz. Both of them did fine with the shots; the usual bit of upset when the injection happened and then a quick recovery.

Then we had to go over to the hospital for a surgery follow-up appointment for James. Everything still looked fine, and the surgeon is planning on May for the reconnection surgery. (It's funny; the way he said it was as if he expected us to be pushing for an earlier date. But we figure that he knows best about what will give the best chances for a successful procedure.) Here's the difference between me and Mike -- Mike thinks that having the reconnection is a good birthday present, whereas I think that having to have surgery and then be in the hospital for 7-10 days to recover is a pretty crappy birthday present. Since James is stuck with it either way, I suppose it's better to look on the bright side.

James was giving the surgeon nice big smiles -- which was kind of funny, since usually James smiles at people who are smiling at him, and the surgeon was all business.

While we were there, the nurse practioner put in a new Mickey button (the g-tube apparatus that sits on the outside of his skin and has the tube going into his stomach). We didn't realize that this was going to happen, but we're glad it did. His original button was getting a bit gunky looking, and when she looked at the water in the balloon, it was a bit discolored, which suggested that it might have a leak. (The tube is held in place by a tiny water-filled balloon that's at the end of the tube inside the stomach; when it's inflated, the tube won't slide out the hole in the skin.) It took her all of about ten seconds to whip out the old button and put in the new one. "Next time, you'll do it and I'll supervise," she said. (Ack!) She asked how we would know that it was in the stomach, and we gave the answer we'd learned in the NICU for if the button falls out -- "X-ray!" Nope, she said, you know it's in the stomach if you put a syringe on it and stomach fluids come out (which she did and they did). I suppose in her case you also know from replacing about a zillion of them. :)

Afterwards, we went upstairs and got to visit with two of James's (and our) favorite NICU nurses. Even though James was overdue for a nap, he was very happy to see them! One of them even made him laugh. It was a great way to end the day.

Home Again, Home Again

We're back from our holiday travels. The first leg of the trip home was supposed to take 5-6 hours, but ended up taking more like 9 or maybe more, due to the holiday traffic. Ugh! So our visit with Uncle Isaac and Aunt Erin was cut short, but at least we actually made it to Charleston this time. We enjoyed our brief time there! (Their house is on James Island, so it was kind of fun to see James in all the names of the local businesses and neighborhoods. I told James it was an island special for him, and he said that he wanted to share it with Matthew. I told him that was very nice of him.)

After a delicious breakfast, Isaac and Erin sent us off with maps of the back roads in case we needed an alternate route for the second half of the trip, but fortunately the traffic wasn't as bad today.

And now we have a week with lots of appointments, and I'm getting ready to go back to work. (I miss the little guys when I just go to the grocery store, so this probably won't be a fun adjustment!)

Top photo is Matthew enjoying his first Rose Bowl game (go Buckeyes!), and the bottom photo is Grandpa bidding bon voyage to the babies.