Thursday, January 24, 2013

2 Months and First Trip

Statistics as of 1/7/13 2 Month Check-Up:

Sam
Weight: 11 lbs 5.5 oz, 25-50th percentile for age
Length: 23 in., 50-75th percentile for age
Head Circumference: 37.5 cm, 10-25th percentile for age

Spencer
Weight: 11 lbs 11.5 oz, 50-75th percentile for age
Length: 23 3/4 in., 75-90th percentile for age
Head Circumference: 38.5 cm, 25-50th percentile for age

Wow, between 1 and 2 months babies truly go from newborns to babies.  They start smiling at you and reacting to the things you do.  They become way more active, kicking and punching.  They seem to notice when you are around, so the downside is they know when you are leaving their side for naptime and watch you leave the room with their deploring eyes that makes you want to stay and cuddle all day.  They boys started developing head control during this month and looked like jerky bobble heads.  And they start cooing, they didn't start doing this until near the end of December but it is the cutest thing about the 2nd month.  Once again, my mom took a ton of amazing pictures, here are just a few:

12/9/12, Spencer on left, Sam on right a picture from early in the 2nd month.

Compare that to these from 1/3/13, late into the 2nd month.

Boys first trip to see Santa, super cute outfits courtesy of my sister, 12/13/12.

Lucas stealing the spot Spencer just vacated 12/15/12.  Boys in their jammies 12/18/12, Spencer on left Sam on right.

Boys 2nd bath time in the tub, Sam on the left and Spencer on the right.  Sam passed out post bath, both on 12/18/12.

Their First Trip

The boys took their first trip during their 2nd month.  After much pleading with my HH he agreed to spend the night in Atlanta the night before our flight (instead of doing a four hour drive at 3 AM the morning of).  So on 12/19 we loaded the boys in the car, realized it was feeding time, unloaded the boys, fed, and finally set off on what should have been a 3.5 hour drive to Atlanta.  We would soon start to realize EVERYTHING takes longer with babies, including driving, after a few stops including the boys first meal at a truck stop we made it to the Westin at the Atlanta Airport  in 5 hours.  We deposited our overnight bags in the room and headed to the bar with the boys strapped to our chest to unwind.  The boys hit their 2nd state, Georgia.


The boys slept reasonably well (up every 3-4 hours) and the next morning we headed to the airport.  Grabbed a spot right in front of curbside check-in and proceeded to wait in line to check our 11 bags for 3 people and 2 infants (in my mom's defense she only checked one of those and 2 of them were car seat bases).  Then my mom and I proceeded through security with the infants while HH parked the car.  We made it to the gate as they started boarding but HH was still nowhere in sight.  Finally as they were doing last call we see him running towards us and we settled into our first class seats.


We had heard that the biggest cause for crying with infants on planes is they can't pop their ears but if they nurse during take-off then the sucking guarantees they pop so I was going to try and nurse both during take off.  Once we were on the plane we were notified that you could have only 1 infant in arms per set of seats due to there be only one extra gas mask (I should have known this), luckily my mom was with us so we had 2 together and another seat across the aisle where we put HH with one of the babies and a bottle of formula that we lucked out to have on hand so both ate well during takeoff and didn't cry at all the whole flight.

HH gave the formula to Sam who I changed once we got in the air.  We flew on a 767-300 that had no lavs with a changing table (In my 2+ years as a lavatory DE I never delivered a plane without a changing table, craziness).  So I set up shop on top of the toilet seat lid, opting to not offend the passengers of first class by doing it at my seat or the floor.  As I was wrapping up a very precarious changing in the first class lav Sam turned his head towards the sink and proceeded to projectile vomit all over the sink cabinet, floor and my shoes.  After handing off the baby I sopped up all the puke and apologized to the line of people for the delay.  Other than that the flight was totally uneventful.  HH was quite the multitasker, cuddling with Spencer, eating his meal and cracking up to Ted the movie (highly recommend BTW).  And we all landed in the boys 3rd state, Colorado.

Left: HH holding Spencer, Middle: Sleeping Sam, Right: Smiling Spencer rocking his Boeing hat blinged out with some Delta wings.

HH took the boys and went to get the bags while my mom and I headed to get the rental car.  We were hooked up with a Ford Flex, good amount of room for our 11 bags but the seat between the two car seats was a little tight.  It handled well but definitely lacked some power, could have been a result of being loaded so heavy though.  HH accidentally went to the rental car pick-up spot instead of arrivals so there was some drama getting him, the boys and the 11 bags to an accessible place but we made it happen and hit the road for Carbondale, CO.

Before leaving Denver we stopped to refuel ourselves and the boys, did some good jerry rigging of jackets in windows so I could breast feed in a fast food parking lot, good times.  The road was pretty slick, had to go slower than the speed limit most of the way, and we got stopped at one of the tunnels for about 30 mins due to an accident but it allowed my mom to get some nice shots of the area.
 

 

We had to stop 45 mins from our destination to feed the babies again but we finally made to my in-laws amazing place.  They have a gorgeous house with a beautiful view of Mount Sopris and let their sons talk them into renting a hot tub for the 2 weeks we were there.  My mother in law works for a very nice hotel chain so needless to say all the rooms were very well appointed and beautiful.

 
Left: View from the backyard, Right: HH with his dad and bro soaking.

My whole family (minus Uncle Danger, my sister's boyfriend) arrived the next day and I don't think I touched the babies except to feed them for the rest of the time we were there.  We had a fun filled time.  Lots of eating, drinking, watching college football and exploring the area.  We took a horse drawn sled to a wonderful restaurant called Pine Creek Cookhouse, highly recommend this if you're in the Aspen area.

 

 

The boys hanging out with my family, 12/21 and 12/22.


Our trip to the Pine Creek Cookhouse, 12/22

We had a smorgasbord of appetizers on Christmas Eve and had a relaxing Christmas Day capped off with a lovely dinner.  One day the boys went skiing/snowboarding and the ladies went shopping for cowboy boots (along with the baby boys).  Another day we spent walking around Aspen.  We went out for pizza at the amazing White House Pizza and enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub.

 
Dinner at White House Pizza on 12/23 and the smorgasbord of apps on 12/24.

 
Boys first Christmas, HH has Spencer.

 
Boys first Christmas.

 
HH bro passed out with a sleeping baby.  Me and Sam.

Exploring Aspen.

After a week my family left and my HH's grandma arrived who also greatly enjoyed holding the baby.  It was great having four generations of my HH's family together.

HH's grandma with one of the babes.

On 1/1 we departed for Denver, spent the night in the hotel where the babies didn't sleep at all it seems, and flew out on 1/2 for an uneventful flight on another 767-300, the boys were once again angels.  We managed to convince one of the passengers to take my window seat so we could sit across the aisle from each other.  The man next to me was extremely impressed with how awesome our babies were.  The flight attendant was nice enough to heat up the baby bottle for us and bring it out with the pre-flight drink service.  We made it home safe and sound no problem.  And a few days later, on 1/6/13, the boys turned two months.

Left: Me and Spencer pre-flight, Middle: Bottle Service ;-), Right: Waiting for the stroller to be unloaded onto the jetway before we deplane.

Left: HH likes to rock the boys in VT gear 1/4/13 (Sam on left).  Right: the boys on the day they turned 2 months, 1/6/13 (Spencer on left).

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

1 Month

I'm writing this a month and a half after the boys turned 1 month but I'm hoping I can remember some things well enough for a good post.  It was a haze of lots of breast feeding and very little sleep.

At three weeks we experienced what I originally thought was a growth spurt.  Boys were going 2.5 hours (down from 3-4 hours) between feedings and very fussy.  I noticed they seemed in pain after feeding, were arching their backs and spitting up cottage cheesy looking stuff.  When the 'growth spurt' didn't end after 3 days I took to the internet and sure enough their symptoms seemed right in line with infant acid reflux.  We promptly made an appointment with the pediatrician and got them on Zantac.  Within a week they were sleeping better, eating better and everyone was happier overall.

While at the pediatrician they did an informal weight and I believe the boys were both over 7 lbs so they did an excellent job eating between their 2 week check-up on 11/19 where they were less than 6 lbs and this check-up on 11/30.

My mom arrived on 12/1 to relieve my HH's mom and brought her new camera so I'm having a hard time picking which pictures to include but here are my faves from between 11/19 and 12/6 plus an inglorious one of me with the boys but want to track my weight loss pictorially.

I'm pretty sure this is Sam, taken 11/26/12, almost 3 weeks old.

Spencer in the left photo on 11/29.  In the right photo Spencer is on the left, Sam on the right, 11/30.

The grandmas with the babies on 11/30.  My HH playing with the boys first helicopter.

Twins cuddling on 12/1, Spencer is on the left, this is partially staged by my mom.  Boys chilling in their mini-Boppies on 12/2, Sam is on the right.

The boys on 12/3, one day shy of 4 weeks and 3 days shy of one month old, looking less like newborns already.  Spencer is in the left picture, Sam in the right picture.

Out for a walk as a family, my mom was so good at getting me and the boys out of the house.
Me with the boys on their 1 month birthday, all dressed up to see Santa, but my pregnancy brain was apparently still in effect because I had the date wrong by a week, luckily HH figured that out before we ventured out.