America's Next Top Baby Models

The twins are getting bigger and growing out of their preemie clothes. Well, Gavin more so than Evelyn, but she's getting bigger too! Gavin has also grown too big for preemie (up to 6 pounds) diapers and has moved up to the newborn (under 10 pounds) size. Evie could also probably move up soon, but we're trying to finish off what we have. It was Murphy's Law that we bought 240 diapers right before we decided that Gavin was too big for them and that Evie was on the cusp.

But I digress, back to clothes (Sharon's favorite subject). So this past Sunday Uncle David was over to lend an extra hand, and the twins were relatively calm, so Sharon decided to bust out some new outfits to see if anything new fit; especially sleepers. They've both been too small for newborn sleepers, but too big for preemie sleepers, so we were hopeful some stuff would fit now, and luckily it did.





New sleep sacks for Evie! These look cute, but there's no snaps or velcro so sometimes it's a bit hard to pull them up for changing. I like these zip-up onesies for Gavin; it makes changing him very easy.



This Winnie-the-Pooh stuff from Target is great. I don't have a photo of it, but the Pooh onesie has a single large velcro flap at the bottom for super-easy changing.





Here's Uncle David with the twins in some of their new threads.



Here's Gavin in one of his new onesies. He has been developing heat vision lately, and I got a picture of him warming up right before he set the curtains on fire (click on the image for a larger version to see what I mean).



All this new trying on of new clothes got the twins a bit riled up and they didn't want to go to sleep, so we all took turns holding them while eating our Sunday night steaks. I should write a book entitled, Things You Never Knew You Could Do One-Handed (because who would be dumb enough to try?). I think it would sell.



Dad needs a little self-medication to make it through another night! I would later go on to get just two and half hours of sleep that night and was a zombie on Monday morning. The twins haven't been napping or sleeping well lately, but more on that for the next post.

First Thanksgiving

Happy Monday! The twins are 7 weeks old today! We just finished a long Thanksgiving weekend and I've got lots of stuff to post over the next few days, but let's start off with dinner at Grandma Cordes'! The twins' first Thanksgiving started off great, but all the commotion seemed to send them over the edge and led to a very loud car ride home (from Evie)! Grandma Cordes has been reading Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving to the twins this month, so they were ready to go! The ride to Grandma's was the first time we've had them both in the car at the same time. It was very cold, so we broke out the Posh Pouches for the first time on the car seats. (I don't know why they call the blue one "periwinkle").

For some reason Evie was not happy during the car ride and she cried most of the way there; Gavin was passed out though. There was a big crowd, with my parents joining David and Brad and Diana and Kevin. Grandma and Grandpa Cordes set up a beautiful little nursery for the twins in Aunt Diana's old bedroom, with a crib and changing table from Sharon's cousin, Susan. I forgot to snap a picture of it, but I will on the next visit.

Here's Uncle David with Evie and Grandpa Cermak with Gavin:



We fed the twins and put them down right before dinner, but they both started cry right after the food was served. Uncles Kevin and David graciously fed the kids, allowing Sharon and I to enjoy an uninterrupted meal! (Grandpa Vic cooks the turkey on his Webber; yum!)

Evie's a bit of a spitter so David is all suited up! (Although it does look like he's wearing something that he stole from a barber's shop!)




Aunt Diana with Gavin:




Aunt Diana and Uncle Kevin with Evie (aren't her little socks cute?!)





Kevin, Diana and David:




Grandpa Vic with Gavin:




Grandma and David with the kids:




All the commotion and the late evening led to fussy and overtired babies. The car ride home knocked Gavin out cold, as usual, but Evie let us know how irritable she was for the entire 30 minute car ride home. We were able to calm her down when we got home, but then she got the hiccups for another 20 minutes.



The twins' first Thanksgiving had its up and downs, but overall it was alot of fun taking them out together, and it was great having everyone together. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Payback

The twins were six weeks old as of this past Monday, and they to celebrate by punishing Mom and Dad. Monday was a tough day all around, but it ended up good, resulting in their longest nighttime sleeping stretches yet... but it was a heck of a time getting there. The twins continue their daytime fussiness, which leads to them being overtired at night.

You know the day is never going to go right when it starts off like this (below). I came downstairs ready to go leave for work, only to find Sharon having to dual-feed them because they were complaining in stereo. I took over feeding Gavin, which of course, made me late to get out the door.




Here's the conspirators right before I left. I suspect they're thinking, "How can we really mess with Mommy and Grandma Cordes today?"



I arrived home from work to screaming children and barely had my coat off before Sharon handed off Evie to me. Sharon recounted the days events while I tried to soothe Evie, and told me how they had barely napped all day, and how Evie would just not stop fussing. Gavin was a a little better, but still a mess as well.

After a while, they were starting to calm down until Evie decided that months of being kicked in the womb by Gavin deserved a little payback and so she hauled off and slugged Gavin when I had them both on the couch. I saw the wind up, but she had clocked him before it registered with me as to what she was about to do. I already had the camera in my hand so I did get some pics of her follow through. I have to say it was a beautiful right hook! And Gavin took it like a... well, like a baby. But hey, he's got a legitimate excuse, ya know?

Boom! It took Gavin a few seconds to figure out what had just happened.



"Did she hit me? Hey, I don't like that!"



Apparently Gavin can't take it as well he dished it out. Payback is a pain, Gavin.



So Gavin went from "zen" to wailing (hit the video below). Look who's the Zen master now! Evie looks like she's ready to follow through with her left hook! This is Evie's version of "taking back the crib."



Sharon tried to get some dinners in the microwave for us (luckily our friend Laura had brought over some baked ziti the day before! Thanks Laura!). I couldn't calm one while the other screamed, so I tried walking both of the twins around to try and calm them down. By this time it's almost 8PM. As you can see, I still haven't even changed out of my suit yet. I was just slowly stripping off parts of it as the night wore on.



So they're quiet now, but they don't look tired yet!




8:30PM. Wide awake. Yay. I'm holding Evie on the couch, Sharon is holding Gavin in her left arm at the kitchen table while eating with her right.



A yawn! (see the video below). Maybe we're close.




She would go from staring at the ceiling, to crying and back to staring again inside of 30 seconds. It went on like that for half an hour.



Gavin finally, finally! when to sleep, but Evie was still up. We decided to give her a bath as that has put her to sleep before. In an odd turn, she cried during most of the bath and afterwards. I was still partially in my suit, by the way, when I gave her the bath. I was down to my undershirt, suspenders and suit pants.



Sharon was dismayed that the bath didn't work, but I held onto hope! After getting Evie into her clean outfit, I walked some laps around the first floor of the house and remarkably, she fell dead asleep in about five minutes. We put he down in the crib and she ended up sleeping until 2AM for a feeding, and slept until about 7AM; her longest sleeping stretches ever. Gavin was almost exactly the same, but he slept even longer during his first stretch. Of course, it couldn't be perfect: he peed through is onesie and sleep sack at 2AM and I had to do a full change of clothes on him.



I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! We're packing up the kids and heading to Grandma Cordes' house. It will be the first time we'll have both kids in the car and their first group trip outside of the house. We have the cutest "My First Thanksgiving" outfits too. Hopefully Evie won't spit up all over hers before the group photo!

Evie would like to say a special Holiday Hello(tm) to Katie Leslie! "Thanks for reading the Legendary Twins Blog, Katie! Don't let your brother, T.D., eat all the turkey! Happy Thanksgiving!"

Godfathers to the Rescue

Sure, they look all cute and innocent now, but the twins have been quite fussy during the day and not napping much for the past several days. Luckily, Uncles (and Godfathers) David and Brad were able to come over last Sunday for a few hours in the afternoon so that Sharon and I could get a bit of a break, run some errands, and also enjoy a Sunday evening dinner together of grilled steaks (I can't believe I used to take the simple pleasure of eating at the same time for granted!).



Brad (left) and David upon arrival with the twins. They were very good for about 1 hour, and then they let Brad and David really have it!



Here's Brad enjoying some of the recommended "tummy time" with Gavin. Gavin is able to pick his head up and "clear" the floor by moving it back and forth. Evie doesn't like tummy time so much right now, but she is able to pick up her head.









Thanks for letting us enjoy a meal, Godfathers!

Evie's Busy Day

It's Sharon blogging! I haven't learned how to add pictures and video but I have to take baby steps. Today I took Evie to 2 doctor appointments. First we went to the pediatrician for her latest RSV shot. She will need this every month til the end of flu season in March.

She was very calm until the shot (of course) and then she screamed her head off. I got her to calm down pretty quickly though. She also was weighed and she has bulked up to 6 lb 9 oz - a gain of a pound in 2 weeks! That is her job right now - to gain weight prior to her surgery.

The next appointment was at her cardiologist. We don't have a date for the surgery yet - we were hoping the cardiologist could tell us that but we are still waiting. Her blood oxygen levels were good and her color is good. Surgery may be in 3 to 4 weeks.

We are back home now and she is sound asleep. Keep those prayers coming!

Two Fresh Little Ducks

Now that their umbilical cords have healed up, the twins can be submerged in water. They upgraded from their sponge baths and had their first stints in their baby bathtub. The bathtub has a little hammock for newborns, and fits in the kitchen sink. The drain plug changes color to tell you if the water is too hot or not.

To our great delight they both loved their baths! We had heard horror stories that some babies hate their baths, but Gavin and Evie were all about the bath. I got a little over zealous with the bubbles once or twice, but hey, who doesn't love bath bubbles? Their love of the bath came in very handy last weekend when we endured several crying marathons. More than two hours of crying meant a dip in the tub, which worked wonders.

Here's Evie (in a bath bubbles bikini):

Here's Gavin. Look at that gargantuan cranium! It seems to get bigger every day! It's like an orange on a toothpick!

Here's a short video of Evie enjoying the tub. That crying you hear in the background near the end is not Evie, but Gavin (who was being changed).




Evie loved sipping the water from sink hose, which I used on very low pressure to rinse them off.




Here's Gavin's turn in the tub; he liked sipping at the water from the sink hose too.




All fresh and clean like two little ducks! (and tuckered out too! Yay!)

When Doves Cry

Sorry about slacking on the posts but it's been an exhausting week. I'll try to be more regular this week. " The twins are 5 weeks old now, and several noted authorities tell us that babies are at the height of their crying/fussy season right now, and that it will (slowly) decline over the next several weeks. We're keeping our fingers crossed because these babies go up to 11.



I had two work-related meetings in the evening last week (Wednesday and Thursday). Sharon's sister was coming over on Thursday, but we thought Sharon would be okay alone on Wednesday as my meeting was supposed to be shorter. But 15 minutes before I was about leave they both erupted in high chorus and the frantic calling of family and friends began. Luckily, Uncle David could come over immediately! Here I am trying to console the both of them.



Here's Sharon feeding Evie. We have tons of bibs, but most of them are much too large for her. But she's been a spit-up machine lately so we've been trying to make-do.



Trying to burp Evie in this position is almost impossible, she's just too tiny. But trying to burp her over your shoulder is also tough to as she's always scrunching up her legs.



Here's Grandma Cordes with Gavin after a feeding. He's really been packing it away lately. The doctor said it was fine to feed him when he was hungry (he makes cute little hunger cues with his fists to his mouth), but to just keep a feeding under 5 ounces. He's been pushing the limit!

Gavin saw the pediatrician last week for his one-month check-up. He's growing like a weed! He grew 2 inches in a month, and is now 21.5". His weight has also shot up to 7 lbs., 4 oz. He feels a lot heavier now, especially if you hold Evie first (who still feels like a ball of fluff, even though she's gained more weight too).



The twins had their first baths in the baby-tub and I've got some great pics and video to post later in the week. They love the bath tub!

Zen and the Art of Parenting

The last couple of days have been pretty good, but Sharon and I have been going to bed around 8:00 PM so that we're not such zombies the next day. A friend from work made Sharon and I a delicious Cesar salad and pasta dinner on Monday night (thanks Beth!) that was a life saver the last two days because of our early bed time (but I'm up with Gavin right now around 2AM).

Poor little Gavin has been quite fussy lately because he's so gassy. He's on his special formula, but it's hard to say whether it's working or not. I picked up a gadget for mixing formula in the pitcher. Sharon thinks it's "just one more thing to wash," but how can you argue with superior technology? Plus, I've discovered several other creative uses for gadget that the manufacture never dreamed of.

Other than that, the twins are both eating well, despite the occasional fussiness with the bottle (described last post). Gavin will sometimes take up to 4 oz, and Evie will occasionally take 3.5 oz, and there haven't been any major spit up marathon evenings like there were last week. They'll also sleep for 3-4 hour stretches at a time, which makes Sharon and I hopeful that they'll transition to sleeping through the night well. Gavin's godmother, Robin Flory, turned us onto this book and we're trying follow it closely, as she had success with it and her second child.

The full set of photos from the weekend and the last few days is here.

Here, Gavin is meditating in his Zen/Buddha pose (while being held by Grandma Cordes). He needs to keep his cool when he has his cranky sister around. Check out the video below to see the Zen master in action.



Aww yeah... cool like Lando.



Here's Gavin getting ready for the neo-featherweight championship. I can hear Mick (from Rocky) now, yelling at Gav that he's gotta "Eat lightning' and crap thunder!" Well, Gavin's got half of that down pat. I think he got his training inspiration from this baby. (watch the trailer that comes up at that site; hilarious!).



The real story behind this photo is that it's 8:30AM and Gavin has just peed all over one of his outfits (again), and Sharon had to find something for him to wear so she placed him in the pack 'n play for a while. Evie has her "frog" bean bag on here too.

Here's Mommy and babies, in a remarkably calm state. We took this photograph as evidence, otherwise no one would believe us.



See Evie, it's not so bad here! Much better than the hospital!



Evie and I are having a very important conversation here. Of course, her rebuttal to my position was to spit up on me (notice the double layer of protection I have on there... it wasn't enough).



Gavin will often get this look on his face as if he's saying, "Who the hell are you?"



Aww, holding hands (kinda).



The full set of photos from the last few days is here, including more of Gavin in his baby boxing gear!

Twins 2, Parents 0

Sorry about the lack of updates but I'm back at work now and the last few evenings have been "All Twins, All The Time." Sharon is going to be hitting the blog sphere though shortly and will be able to give you more updates. I've posted several sets of pictures for your viewing pleasure:

• Baptism in the NICU


• Evie's Homecoming from the Hospital


• Twins First Day Home Together


• Twins with Visitors (Nov. 1st, 2nd)

Evie had her first pediatrician appointment and her first followup with the cardiologist last Thursday. The pediatrician's scale showed that Evie had gained some weight and was 5 lbs., 5 oz., but the cardiologist's scale showed 5 lbs., 11 oz. We'll just say she's "bigger," which is good progress, and call it a day.

The cardiologist said that Evie's numbers were good (good heart rate and good oxygen saturation levels) for the time being and that he thought she was doing remarkably well right now considering her condition. Her color is great and even her fingers and toes show good color. The doctor feels that she is right on track for an early December surgery for the unifocalization procedure.

Bottle feedings with Evie have become quite a battle lately, so any parents out there: feel free to post a comment at the end of this post with some tips. Sometimes she'll be completely calm and take the whole bottle. However, most times she's very, well, combative and fussy. She'll take the bottle for a few seconds, then push it away and whine, then want it right back. It takes forever to get her to swallow 2 ounces of formula.

Evenings have been hit or miss with crying bouts. She's only be super-fussy and crying two evenings the past week, and both nights she spit up all over me several times, so perhaps it was some stomach upset. Gavin has been so easy lately, and he's eating a ton; sometimes 4 1/2 ounces a bottle. He has his one month check-up later this week (can't believe it's been a month!). He looks bigger and feels heavier; he's got to be 6 1/2 lbs. by now. However, he continues to pee through at least two or three outfits a day (no matter how tight I make the diapers).

Sharon was able to get out of the house on Sunday afternoon for a bit and hit Target with another mom from our twins' parenting class. I was home alone with the twins for about two quarters of the Packers-Eagles game, and all hell broke loose 5 minutes after Sharon left. Gavin decided it was a good time to have his first "diaper blow out" (and it was so loud the neighbor's had to have heard it).

After I went through a half package of wipes cleaning him up and changing his outfit, both of them decided to be fussy and want a bottle at the same time. So I laid Gavin on the couch cushion next to me and fed him with my left hand, while I propped Evie up on my lap against a pillow and fed her with my right hand. Thank God that it was not a "fussy feeding" and we got through it okay. Here are a few pictures around Halloween and the end of the week. I'll get weekend pics up soon!

Here's Grandma Cordes reading Gavin the Legend of the Great Pumpkin.

I wish Evie was this calm all the time!

Nana Cermak has her hands full here. I'm not sure what's off camera that is sooo interesting to Gavin. Evie is passed out her, but ten minutes after the grandparents left Evie fussed for hours. She must have missed Nana's magic touch. Grandpa Cermak picked up the Art of the Bottle right away (first time bottle feeding a baby ever!)

Here's Uncle Kevin and Aunt Diana keeping the kids busy so that Dad can blog!