Six Month Appointment... and more shots!

This morning was our first official appointment at our new doctor's office.  Dr. S was great and Ben and I both really liked her.  She took time to talk to us about the twins birth and history and then she did her exam on each of them.  Josh and Savannah both passed the six month developmental screening and she said she didn't see any reason for them to see a specialist unless things change.  They are continuing to make adequate growth and everything seems to look good!

We did ask her about Josh's hearing (we have concerns about him hearing us when he isn't looking) and she did a brief exam.  She thinks he may hear fine out of his right ear, but have some trouble with his left.  She put a referral through to have him seen by a specialist and we will see what they have to say.

Here are their latest stats:
Joshua: 15 lbs 3 oz which is 8% for weight
He is 26 1/2 inches long (37% for length)

Savannah: 14 lbs 14 oz which is 21% for weight (woohoo!!!)
She is 26 inches long (56% for length)

After their appointment we took them to get their shots (we agreed to 2 of them).  They both cried for the 30 sec they were on the table and then promptly stopped.  We gave them bottles and they fell asleep on the way home! 

**They were awake from 6:30-10:30 which is definitely the longest stretch of "awake" time that they have had so far. 

Here are a few facts about my sweet babies...

We have teeth!

We woke up this morning to find that Savannah had a little tooth poking through the bottom of her gums.  I wouldn't have even known if she hadn't been gnawing on my finger... she was in such a good mood.

By the end of the day, there were TWO teeth poking through the bottom of her gums.  What a champ!  Off to take a few more pictures of her toothless grin, before the toothless smiles are no more.

A Fun Photo Shoot with Beka!

So this past week Beka did a fun photo shoot with the twins... here are some of the pictures she ended up with!

My little angels!

He's going to be a charmer... just like his daddy... loves his sister!

Can you tell which of my children are teething? 

Savannah does not care for headbands these days...

 

Six Months Old Already?

The twins hit six months old this past Monday.  It is hard for me to believe that we have had these amazing blessings for six months already.  Our lives are so full of joy and I can't imagine a greater love than we have for them. 

Time definitely seems to be flying by for us, and I am ready for it to slow down!  I have loved every stage of life with them, and am in no hurry for us to move on from this one.  I am trying to savor every feeding (and cuddling session) because I know they won't be still enough for them!

We have not scheduled their six month checkup yet, so I have no stats to report, but here are a few pictures that we (Thanks Aunt Beka!) took to commemorate the special milestone :-)

Coming soon: their six month photo shoot with Aunt Beka!  And milestones update!

Too late for a nursery?

Well, it's official, the twins FINALLY have a room of their own.  They are out of the pack-n-plays and we have two cribs put together for the first time.  As many of you know, I was very disappointed to not be able to set up a nursery before the twins were born, but it didn't make sense to set one up when we were leaving NY so soon after their birth. 

So, the first room that I wanted to set up in our new home was the twins!  We painted it early last week and when the new carpet came on Friday, Ben put the two cribs together and set up the furniture.  Here are some pictures of their new room all set up!

We have a few more things to put on the walls on Josh's side of the room, and I have to find a place for their quilts, but other than that their room is complete!

Savannah's half of the room

Their cribs set up... sleeping in separate cribs for the first time.

Josh's half of the room

Let's Eat!!!

I have been asked over and over by family and friends what I feed the twins, how often, and when I would start giving the twins solid food, so I thought I would do a blog about the joys of feeding twins!

The original goal as many of you know was to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months; but after 2 weeks in the NICU, Josh was still having a hard time controlling his tongue to suck properly and we made the decision that I would continue pumping until they could both breastfeed properly.  We continued to supplement with premature baby formula as recommended by the doctors so that the twins would gain enough weight; but not without the hopes that we could fully make a transition off of formula as soon as possible.  We made countless attempts at making this transition and around 3 months Josh was finally able to bf. 

Around 4 1/2 months Josh really started watching us while we were eating and acting like he might want some.  However, the twins still seemed to be getting enough to eat with just milk, so I decided to hold off on giving them solids for as long as possible.  I had read that when adding solids you don't want to lose a milk feeding and both babies were still taking in less than the doctor's recommended (with only 5 5-6 ounce feedings a day they were averaging about 29 ounces when we do bottles and still sleeping 10-12 hours at night). 

With the upcoming move, I was hoping that we could hold off on solids until getting settled in the new house (this would be around the time they would be turning six months old which was my original goal).  Plus, one of my major goals after supplementing with formula for so long was to make all their baby food so that I would know exactly what they were getting. 

However, about two weeks ago (while we were in Ohio), Savannah started acting like she wanted to eat our food AND waking up in the middle of the night hungry.  So, in an effort to see if we could get her back sleeping through the night, we decided to go ahead and try cereal.  They both struggled with the cereal and when we got to the new house last week we started with some pureed baby food.  We did four days on sweet potatoes in the afternoon and are currently trying some pureed squash.  Josh loves everything he has tried and is doing a great job of swallowing now.  He opens his mouth wide for food and inhales everything we give him. We just can't feed him fast enough!  Savannah on the other hand still does not seem happy about eating and spits out everything we give her.  We have decided to give it a break for a few days and then try again with her.

As for milk, they are now eating 6 times a day and we are waking them for a feeding right before we go to bed (around 11-12) and they are sleeping until 7-8 in the morning again.  I am continuing to pump 5-6 times a day and am planning to continue to do so as long as I can. 

Here are a few pictures of the twins eating:

First time trying cereal, yummy!

"I think the spoon tastes better than this stuff"

Savannah's first taste of cereal.

What she would prefer...

What we would all prefer :-)

More sweet potatoes please!!!!

Get that stuff away from me!

The Fourth of July! And more milestones!

The five of us (Ben, Beka, the twins & I) had a very uneventful fourth of July.  With temperatures over 100 degrees our downstairs air conditioning decided to join the upstairs one in taking a break from the heat.  So instead of dressing the twins in their adorable matching Fourth of July outfits, we let them run around in diapers all day (this is a first for me :0).  We accomplished painting the spare bedroom after the air conditioning got fixed, and Ben painted a purple band around the top of our bedroom ceiling.

**Milestone of the day (July 4th): Savannah sat up for over 30 seconds all by herself!  I was so proud of her.


**Milestone of the day (July 5th): Joshua sat up on his own for about 10 seconds.  He was trying so hard, and completely made my morning!

Our new home!

Last Thursday we closed on our new home in Tennessee and I (Tricia) got to see it for the first time.  Ben did an awesome job picking it out.  As he had mentioned, it needed new carpets and the entire house needed to be repainted; so we immediately set Beka up with the twins and went shopping to pick out paint, and carpet.  Ben's goal was to have the entire house painted before the carpets come so that we can move our stuff in right afterwards.  In the meantime, we have been sleeping on air mattresses and working nonstop to clean & paint throughout the house.  The kitchen is now green, the nursery is tan, the master bath is purple, and the living room is gray.  Tomorrow, we have to paint the guest room and master closet and Thursday all we will have left is our bedroom!!!  Beka has been a tremendous help with all of this.  AND, this Friday, our new carpets will be installed.

Here is the twins new toy that I purchased to help with keeping them entertained while we work (of course, only for brief spurts of time).  Savannah absolutely loves it, as she is happiest when she is standing, and we have a hard time getting her to "sit" still these days.  Joshua likes it, but would much rather be held with something to chew on then be left to self entertain for longer than 10 seconds. 

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Savannah's favorite part of the toy...

Another one of Savannah's new chew toys!