Reflection

As I prepare to return to work I am reflecting on my time spent home with the babies. It seems to have gone so fast and yet so much has happened since the beginning of June. I decided to make a list...in no particular order.

• Ada and Emmet had their first trip to Nebraska
• They have increased their feeding amounts from 4oz to 6oz and now are moving on to 8oz.
• Lots and lots of smiles.
• They are giggling. Not the full fledged belly laughs but it's darn close.
• They are both rolling from back to tummy - but very rarely tummy to back. (Not so good when they wake up in the middle of the night and find themselves on their tummy and are not happy)
• They moved upstairs into their own room.
• They are no longer sharing a crib, although they don't sleep well unless their cribs are right next to one another.
• They LOVE to play with "stuff"...anything really - toys, mommy's hair, faces, daddy's facial hair, their own and eachothers hands.
• They are trying to feed themselves - "trying" being the operative word here.
• They JUST started rice cereal, which Ada loved and Emmet gagged through.
• They are (most days) on a pretty regular schedule.
• SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! This is huge, obviously!
• They're showing interest in books (really just to play with them and eat them)
• They love watching the dog.
• Ada loves to stand up now and is working hard to sit on her own.
• Emmet has pretty good head control now (that darn Torticollis) - in June he was still so floppy.
• They're into (and growing out of) 3-6 month clothes and are wearing size 3 diapers. We had just started wearing size 2 at the end of June.
• It appears that they are remembering faces...they solemly stare at new people and just LOVE their Nana and mommy and daddy of course.
• Everything (and I mean everything) goes in their mouths.

I know there are more items I could add to the list but I will stop for now. They never cease to amaze me. My little miracles. Looking at this list makes me so happy and yet incredibly sad too. It's just a reminder of how much I will miss when I return to work and am no longer home to see it all happen! Good thing I have a job that completely consumes me when I'm there - I'd be a sobbing mess otherwise.

2nd and probably last attempt!

So, here are our 2nd attempts at a 5-month picture. I think they're adorable, however, they are not usually this serious. Honestly, they smile, smile, smile until I pull the camera out! These will probably be our last attempts at 5-month photos as I will be returning to work tomorrow (unofficially) - Friday is my official start day. Roger will be Mr. Mom during the day and working evenings and weekends. I have had 3 meltdowns already...I'm enjoying my time at home so much. Going back to work at the end of the summer is always hard, but this year is something else all together! I keep reminding myself that I am lucky that my career allows me to have 2 breaks throughout the year and the summers...it doesn't make it any easier but it helps!

1st Attempt at a 5 month photo

This is my first try at a 5-month picture of Ada and Emmet. Obviously they were not phased by my numerous and truth-be-told wacky attempts to get some smiles. I often times crack myself up with the silly antics I engage in just to entertain my babies. For example, this afternoon I put on an exhilirating and exhausting dance routine, complete with flowing receiving blankets (similar to those ribbon things in the olympics) to several Jackson 5 songs. If you can't laugh at yourself, who will? Oh, and 5 MONTHS!!! Can you believe it?

Exercising in our exersaucer!

Ms. Ada Lee


Mr. E-Man

Look what we're trying to do!

Ada and Emmet have been trying to feed themselves lately! It's too cute!

Our first swim!

Today we had an opportunity to take Ada and Emmet swimming with my best friend's family! The weather was perfect, not too hot and overcast - so no sun in the babies eyes! They didn't have a strong reaction to the water either way. We got some smiles and no screaming...so I'm counting that as a success! It was so nice to spend some time with friends and all of our kids!

It's mine...no, it's mine!!

Just can't stop...

I had to post this picture of Ada as it is SO typical. She will play, play, play until she just can't play anymore. Here she fell asleep with her hand on the toy in the swing!

Ada trying to roll

Ada has been trying to roll over...hasn't quite gotten there yet but she's working on it!

Morning Acrobatics

Last night we swaddled Ada and Emmet and put them in the crib in the usual way - heads in opposite corners of the crib. This is how we found them this morning. Completely turned around and sort of snuggled up together. Needless to say they are unswaddled from here on out as these loose blankets freak me out. Ada was scratching and sucking on Emmets head - the evidence was a red and slobbery head!

Sleepy Emmet

Happy Momma, Sleepy Emmet & Cranky Ada

4-month Appointment

We had our 4-month appointment today. Overall it went well. Ada is 14 lbs 4 oz and 24.25 inches - both measurments are in the 50th percentile. He head measurement however is in the 75th percentile...big noggin! The pediatrician was very happy with Ada's progress and body strength.

Emmet is 13 lbs 7 oz (25th percentile) and 24.5 inches tall (50th percentile). For a while now we've had some concern with Emmet's head, neck, shoulder strength. Although he's gotten much stronger he continues to be floppy and always has his head tilted to one side. I had read about a condition called "Torticollis", which as it turns out Emmet has.

CMT (Congenital Muscular Torticollis) is caused by damage to or a shortening of the Sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle in an infants neck. Sometimes, but not in all cases, there is a hematoma (lump) in the muscle where it was damaged. That lump will eventually go away as the muscle heals and is stretched. The most common causes of CMT are inutero positioning, lack of space inutero (big baby or little mom), a traumatic birth, multiples (lack of room again!), and low amniotic fluid inutero.

In our case they think it's due to how he was positioned in utero - sideways and squished! So we have to start going to physical therapy to work on his neck strength. The pedi seemed fairly confident that it will correct with the PT. In extreme cases surgery would be needed to lengthen the muscle in the neck - but Emmet is not an extreme case. She also said that we can see an ENT about his congestion issues, which seem to happen after eating and sleeping.

The shots (3 this time) almost seemed worse this time. Maybe it was because they are smiling and more social now. Emmet was smiling away at me until....OUCH!!! The crying starts, which is heartbreaking. They both did well though and stopped crying when picked up and cuddled. They were both really fussy this evening but I think that had more to do with missing their nap than the shot!

The pediatrician suggested that we wait on the solid foods, especially with Emmet due to his lack of head control. She said they really don't need it until 6 months. She did say that if they start showing readiness signs, showing interest in us while we're eating, grabbing etc that we can start slow.

On the sleeping front.....we offically moved them upstairs to their room this past Monday. Last Friday started sleeping through the night...well, for the most part. They have however stopped needing a middle of the night feeding. They do (especially Emmet) need some assistance (pacifier, re-swaddling etc) falling back to sleep after waking up sometimes. Of course now that I've written it here...they will wake up to eat tonight! Typically though they go to bed between 6:30-7:00pm and sleep until 6:00-7:00am. Not too shabby!!!!

Speaking of sleep...it's time for me to hit the sack!!!

Precious! Ada (L), Emmet (R)

Ada's Noggin

We received good news from the neurologist today about Ada's head. As many of you know Ada had an enormous hematoma on her head when she was born. It has since decreased quite dramatically but her head is still a little lopsided and the peditrician felt that we should see a neurologist because some of the blood has calcified. The neurologist feels that it is not large enough to require surgery, will not interfere with brain or skull growth and may even decrease some more yet. We were very happy to hear this as the thought of our precious little girl having to have surgery on her head did not sit well with us. Oh and we also found out that she is 14 lbs and 23 inches long. Takin' after her momma with those chunky monkey thighs!!!

Reading with Daddy

Kisses from Nana

Ada and Nana

Ada's new discovery...hey these hands actually do stuff!

Really rollin'

Emmet managed to roll all the way over yesterday morning while trying to get at his favorite yellow lion! He still had his one arm stuck underneath him but I was so proud. Now, if only I had seen it! I was talking to Gina on the phone, looked away for a second when I hung up and when I turned back around there he was on his tummy! Figures!!!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'... or trying anyway - Emmet