The Twins Are ONE Month Old!!

Unbelievable!!!  I know that technically they were a month old on Monday and today is Wednesday.  I know today is Wednesday because I text Sid and asked him.  So, don't judge.  We've discussed the judging haven't we?  Ok, moving on!!!

I'll go ahead and post the pictures which are from today, so they are 1 month and 2 days old.  They still should have about 2.5 more weeks before the actual due date.  It's simply amazing to think about it in that way.


I tried to get these two pictures side by side, but these were taken the day we came home.  That night actually, at 2 weeks old (15 days) old.  It is amazing to see how much they've changed!!  Ellie is the top picture and Elissa is the bottom picture.

I took all of these today.  Miss Ellie was wide awake and Elissa had already sacked back out.  I feel like I never get a good picture of them together.

Elissa, sweet girl!!

Ellie is quite possible the nosiest baby I've ever seen, to be so small and early.

This is typical of Ellie.  She does have feet, but her favorite position of all time is to keep her legs pulled up.  

I almost got a smile out of her here. Elissa will flat out smile at you, but Ellie really hasn't yet.

Look at my tongue Mimi.  Mama was patient those 10 days while we were treating thrush with that first medicine.  But on the 10th day, this mama didn't hesitate to call the doctor and ask for something else.  They are to take it for 15 days, but after 3 days of treatment, it's already clear.  Why can't we just start with what we KNOW will work instead of trying things that we think might not first?  Guess that's why I'm not the doctor!

See, feet!!!  And she has loonnnggg feet.  I have no idea where she gets these from. Elissa has the longest legs and feet, too.

I posted about our nap nannies the other day and I thought I'd post of picture.  This is Ellie's, but Elissa's looks the same.  It stays in their crib and they sleep there at night and during their 12:00 nap.  Other than that, they are in the den in the bouncy or swing.  I think they would stay in these things all day if I would let them, but I feel like a change of scenery is probably best at times, too!  This picture does not do it's size justice.  These things are massive and the girls have a hard time really fitting in them right now.  I know I'm not suppose to use blankets right now, but I do keep one rolled up on the side so their head doesn't flop over.  And then I sort of tuck them in instead of swaddle them.  Don't judge!! They sleep good like that and that's what is important to me.  They really don't move much right now either. Once they start moving around, I'm sure I'll have to re-evaluate the blanket thing.

While the girls were in the NICU, a very talented night nurse made these name tags (the small yellowish card with their name on it) for their cribs.  What was really cool about ours is that their bedding has birds and butterflies on it, so these matched perfectly.  Their very talented Mimi then took the name cards and made them into these big canvases that are hanging over their cribs.  I love how they turned out.  And I love how it's something special that they will always get to have.  A touch from the NICU and their Mimi!

And while I was at it, and this is the 1 month post and I guess I'm supposed to tell what the girls are doing these days, I took this.  Both are still on the neosure high calorie formula for preemies.  I personally don't think they need it anymore and think they would be better eaters if they weren't eating high calories.  To me, it's sort of like us over eating or something I guess.  I noticed last weekend that Elissa had developed a bit of reflux and I think I posted about it.  I called the doctor and her recommendation was to do 10 ml's per ounce of rice in their bottles for a week to see if that helped.  If not, then we'd try some medications.  They will both more than likely end up on meds for it because Bailey did and still is.  Sid also has terrible reflux.  So I'm sure it's coming.  Anyway, this has been the major source of stress for me this week.  Elissa is currently taking 4 ounces with 20 ml's of rice out of the Dr. Brown level 3 nipple.  She does great with this, but it has cut her eating down to every 4 hours to about every 5-6.  That's double what she came home on plus rice, so I guess this is ok.  Personally, like I said, I'd rather them be on sensitive formula at this point.  Maybe that will be soon.  Ellie, on the other hand, I can't get her rice/flow combo right and she has literally thrown up twice since starting the rice but I think it's because she gets full and keeps eating.  Currently, she either takes between 3-4 ounces of formula with no rice and a level 1 nipple or about 3 ounces with 15 ml's of rice from a level 2 nipple.  Either way, she gets tired about half way through and sucks more than she swallows.  I have to watch her and make sure she isn't dribbling everything after about the first ounce.    And, all of this adds up to two entirely different eating schedules during the night.  I tried to wake Elissa last night after Ellie was up and she just was not hungry and I ended up sounding like she was aspirating on what she did take. I had to get the suction bulb and it was coming out her nose.  TERRIBLE.  She cried real tears and I felt so bad. I was also panicking wondering how we were going to get to the ER with 3 babies.  Fortunately, the suction bulb did the trick and she calmed down.  But, this eating schedule has me up 4 different times between like 12-6.

In other schedule news, they eat about 5 or 6 in the morning and I put them right back to bed.  So when they wake at about 9, I get them up for the day and we eat and hang out and play.  At 12, they go back to their cribs for their nap time.  They usually nap in their beds until around 2:30 or 3:00.  They get up again and eat and by the time we are done with that, Bailey and Sid are home and we just do what we can to get by until bedtime.  Feeding Bailey, spending time with her, letting her spend time with the babies, bath time for Bailey ( I try to bathe the babies during the day when it's just us but eventually want to move to night time bathing for them because they love it and it relaxes them and puts them to sleep.)  It's generally time to eat again about 7:00 and then I put them down for the night.  There is no rhyme or reason to when they will get up during the night.

As for me, this is day number 8 that I've not been out of the house (other than few hours Sunday afternoon that we went to Nene and Jerry's).  Mom and Dad are coming either tonight or tomorrow and I'm thinking maybe Friday I can get out and have some time to clear my head since they will be here and will be loving on these babies anyway.  It's Sid's weekend to work, so he'll likely be in and out all weekend.  He and Dad are going to the MSU game tomorrow night and taking Calissa with them.  They offered to let me go, but I don't see how that would be possible to do something that would take as much energy as going to the game and then coming home and having to be up all night.  So far, no one else has offered to take any night shifts from me other than the one night mom did.  Too bad she can't live here!!!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to post about this and this is something we all want to remember.  If you know me, you know I'm not very domesticated.  Pre-Sid, I was happy with South Beach Diet Bars and Dr. Peppers from the gas station close to my house.  I can cook and I like to cook, but I just haven't done much since meeting Sid because he loves it more than I do.  The problem is, he is a picky picky eater and I didn't want to have to wait on him to get home to get supper started if I had time during the day to start it since I'm here.   So I decided to make a few meals and put them in the fridge so that I could just put them in the oven before Bailey got home.  Part of this mission was to try and get her back on her night time schedule.  She and I were used to eating by 5 and it was getting closer to 6 and 7 every night, and usually included fast food.  I made tacos, chicken enchiladas, chili mac (or a version of it) and chicken Alfredo.  Bailey loves all of those.  And so far it has made the week easier for sure.  I got it all done during nap on Monday.  I hope to be able to do a little of this each week. I can make lots of things, it's just a matter of talking Sid into eating it.  One day, I'm going to throw his fry daddy away and he'll probably divorce me. haha!

We have taken the girls to eat out once since we came home and I'm hoping tonight we can do it again.  My new favorite place in town is the Coffee Bean.  They do homemade chicken nuggets and fries and I'm loving it right now.  Sid won't eat the chili mac, so I figured we eat that tomorrow while he was gone.

That's about all the news from the Whitehead household!!!