9 Things About Me - Lela

1. a.k.a. Tree Frog, Mother Theresa, Peanut.
2. I'm little. Maybe you've noticed. Maybe I'll always be little and maybe not... I haven't decided yet. But let the record show that I've doubled my birth weight in only seven weeks. I found this online... "The rule of thumb is that a baby doubles her birth weight in four to six months." Yeah, I'm very advanced. That's how I roll.
3. One theory for why I'm little is that my placenta may not have been attached to it's fullest potential. Just a theory, but we do know that it had nothing to do with Cate. She asked me to tell you that, but I believe that it's true.
4. I've learned that in this big outside world, I have the tools, or should I say lungs, to always get my needs met. I think this has something to do with why I always eat first.
5. I heard a nurse at the hospital say, "Lela is a big baby in a little baby's body." I'm not sure what that means, but I like it.
6. My natural mohawk has led me to start my punk rock phase early. I keep requesting the Sex Pistols, but Mom and Dad's ipods only have folky-pop music like John Prine and the B-52's. Lame!
7. I like to plan my contribution to the world while gazing out the window (or at any other bright light). Still deciding whether to aim for world peace, a scientific breakthrough, or Hollywood. 
8. I prefer to sleep with Dad or Mom if I can, but I hate to leave Cate in the big crib by herself.
9. Sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep. Needless to say I don't appreciate it when my mom gets confused and wakes me up an hour before feeding time and then expects me to let her sleep another hour once she realizes her mistake. It's times like these that I wish Cate ate first.

9 Things About Me - Cate

Mom thought it would be helpful for Lela and I to share a bit about ourselves since we've not yet had a chance to meet most of you. We may have just recently joined you all in this rat race, but we are complex young woman with more depth of character than you may realize. And what better way to illustrate that depth than a list of "Things About Me" like the ones people used to do on Facebook. Here goes...

1. a.k.a. Catherine the Great, Super Weaner**, the Diva.
2. Contrary to popular belief, I was not stealing food from my sister in the womb. That happens with identical, not fraternal, twins. Even the docs confirmed that there was no correlation between my heft and her petite frame.  
3. I ALWAYS wait patiently while my sister eats first. Yes, I'd like a little credit here; I am tired of being the bad guy... er, girl.
4. I can do #3  because I store milk in my neck folds (and sometimes in my ears) for a between-feeding snack.
5. Sleeping is my favorite past time. For real. I know babies are supposed to sleep a lot but I sleep with a passion and style that no baby can match.
6. Even more impressive than my sleeping is the way that I can stretch waking into a lengthy activity complete with back bends, leg kicks, stage-ready arm extensions, facial twists, lip puckers, eye blinks, yawns, and an enviable collection of grunts and groans.
7. Swaddling is for wimps and I'm no wimp. Before long, I'll be working my Houdini moves to sneak out of the house on Friday night.
8. The dark, soft downy fur on my back and shoulders may look a bit gorilla-ish but will be a distinct advantage on those cold camping nights that are sure to be in my near future.
9. My dad is pretty cool but from what I can tell, my mom is just a boob.

** For those unfamiliar with super weaners - http://www.perlgurl.org/archives/2006/02/weaners.html

Feeding Time at the Zoo

Every 3-4 hours. Two babies. Two diapers. Breastfeeding followed by bottle feeding.

With two people and two sets of hands, this is a relatively easy undertaking which takes about an hour (sometimes longer).

With one person, it's a formidable task. I am just one person.

This is what it looked like today.

10:55 - Retrieve crying Lela from crib 1/2 hour before feeding time. Attempt to soothe.

11:00 - Nurse Lela after determining she must be hungry.

11:05 - Mom and Lela fall asleep. 

11:15 - Return Lela to crib thinking she'll be happy while I feed Cate.

11:20 - Prepare bottles.

11:30 - Wake Cate and change diaper.

11:40 - Nurse Cate.

11:45 - Lela begins to cry in nursery.

11:50 - Finish nursing Cate, retrieve Lela (crying) and place in bouncy seat, begin to bottle feed Cate.

11:55 - Interrupt bottle feed to place Lela and seat on bed so I can attempt to calm while feeding.

11:57 - Interrupt bottle feed to retrieve bottle for Lela who is, not surprisingly, still crying. Further attempts to soothe Lela.

11:58 - Call John on his cell phone and hold up the phone to Lela who is wailing. Tell John we need to rethink this feeding thing and let Lela wail goodbye. Hang up.

12:00 - Begin bottle feeding Lela while also bottle feeding Cate.

12:02 - Cate finishes bottle, needs to be burped.



12:03 - Prop bottle for Lela. The experts say not to do this, but they aren't here to help and I couldn't hear them over the crying so I did it anyway.

12:06 - Cate still hasn't burped, Lela finishes bottle.

12:07 - Lela, still in bouncy, spits up. A lot. She cries. Loud. Prop Cate in lap, retrieve Lela from bouncy.

                                                                                                                                                        

12:08 - Attempt tandem burping.

12:10 - Cate burps.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

One satisfied customer.

12:12 - Lela burps. Another satisfied customer.                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

12:20 - Mixed success in my attempt to give the girls some tummy time. More crying.

12:35 - Asleep at last.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

2:00 - Realize I forgot to change Lela's diaper.

2:30 - Start over.

Lessons learned.

1. The current schedule/feeding routine is not sustainable. Change schedule or add more hands.

2. Lela decides she wants something and goes about getting it. Now. In a game of survival of the fittest, she'd win. Hands down.

Escape!

Sure we've ventured out to the pediatrician's office twice and I've had a few solo excursions to the store or to work, but after a cold wintery pregnancy followed by preemie babies born during flu season, a strong case of cabin fever has kicked in. Ahhh, but the clocks have sprung forward, the temperatures are rising and Daddy has completed the final stage of the Chariot infant sling installation.  I could smell freedom!

We were determined to take advantage of Boise's balmy 53 degree temps today. After a few lengthy mommy-flying-solo feedings and a last minute epic spit up/wardrobe change, Cate and Lela and I layered up and loaded up and headed outside. You have know idea how I've missed being outside. And as you can see, the girls had a blast, too.

Necessary Evils

Can anyone walk into a toy store without being completely overstimulated? Or is it just me? All the ring-ding, flashing-light, battery-needing, brightly-colored plastic toys make me want to avoid such places and everything in them. Forever.

I figure when Lela and Cate are old enough to drive and have a job, they can go buy all the toys they want. But alas, we've had hoards of parents of young ones tell us that this stuff is baby magic and that it may, ironically, be the ticket to our sanity.

We're not there yet, but I guess we'll learn to cherish anything that keeps the kids occupied while we empty the dishwasher, even if it has the not-so soothing effect of a life-size fire truck driving through our living room. So while we've accepted that we won't be able to avoid such toys entirely, John and I have vowed to avoid them as much as possible until the girls can ask for them by name.

That said, we have reluctantly adopted some of the standard baby gear items complete with their wide selection of stuffed, dangling, rattle-y safari animals that hang above the girls heads. The floor gym is one of those items. No batteries, no music, and no flashing lights. Yet we've been avoiding it, too. Out of curiousity, I pulled out the floor gym yesterday and much to my surprise, this is what happened...

And we thought all they could do at this stage was sleep.

Rare Live Action

Cate and Lela

Awake 

3.5.11

                                                                                       

Rockin' the Weigh In

Cate and Lela snuck in the special secret entrance at the pediatricians office for their 2nd official post-NICU weigh in Thursday.

Let's review... Four weeks ago on their birthdate Cate was 6lbs,10oz and Lela was 4lbs,1oz. At our first doctors visit last week Cate was 7lbs,13oz and Lela was 5lbs,5oz.

Weight gain being the name of the game for our little birds, John and I have religiously stuck to the NICU feeding schedule, waking them to eat every three hours. And might I add that our girls know how to eat. We've resisted their pleas for steak and milkshakes but their voracious appetites alone seem to have done the trick.

Our heavyweights are now weighing in at 8lbs,10oz and 6lbs,7oz; respectable full term weights if I do say so myself (their original due date was March 5th) and almost a full pound gained by each in just seven days!