1 month stats

It’s hard to believe but my babies are already 1 month old.  To say it’s been a whirlwind would be an understatement, but we are so fortunate to have these little fellas with us.  The love is, in a word, overwhelming.

They went for their 1 month well check-ups today and Dr. Walker found them to be in great health and only got one shot today (Hep B)each.  Here are the stats:

outtake from our christmas card photo shoot – total nightmare btw.

Andres (previously known as “Baby A”)

• Weight: 9 lbs, 4 oz. (50th percentile)
• Height: 19 3/4 inches long (3rd percentile)
• Head Circumference: 14 1/2 inches (25th percentile)

Our main concern with Andres is that he seems very congested all the time and he has the worst reflux of any baby I’ve ever seen.  He seems pretty miserable after eating, spits up tons, and I’m having him sleep in the boppy pillow because when he’s flat on his back you can hear how uncomfy he is.  Dr. Walker wants him to start on baby Zantac 2x/day, .6 ml for a month and see how he does, but she doesn’t think it has anything to do with the formula they’re on.  Emilia has an appointment this week with the allergist so I’ll mention it to him and see what he says. But basically he’s a robust and healthy little boy.

yet another outtake – of javier – do you feel my pain yet?  next year – hire a professional!

Javier (previously known as “Baby B”)

• Weight: 8 lbs, 5 oz. (15th percentile – a full pound less than Andres).
• Height: 20 inches long (5th percentile – 1/4 inch longer than Andres).
• Head Circumference: 14 1/4 inches (15th percentile).

Our little ‘mani’ (peanut) has put on 20 oz. in 2 weeks as he tries to catch up to his big brother.  He’s really doing very nicely and thriving.  He’s also the one who has slept ‘through the night’ (midnight to 5 – 5:30 a.m.) on a couple of occasions now.  Dr. W says to look for them to be neck-in-neck with each other height/weight-wise around 18 months if not before.

playgroup with santa

This past week our playgroup hit the mall ‘en masse’ for our now annual group shot with Santa.  There were no tears but some very reluctant kiddos.  Of course there were some very brave kidlets as well.  All in all, for getting 9 kids in a picture along with the red-suited-one it went as smoothly as could be expected.

mamas positioning babies.  i swear the people in line behind us were cursing our names.

best i got from my angle.  standing behind santa – kate and aston (check out his pose!) second row – morgan, lilly, zoe, and ky.  on the floor – cole, maisie and emi (irritated because mama made her wear a turtleneck).  the twins, brooks, eve, stellyn, and lilly were present but didn’t make it into the picture – next year kids, next year.

because nothing screams ‘good idea’

 

like having 35 people to your house a month after giving birth to twins…

view from above.

Last weekend Marcus and I hosted a “Fiestas de Quito” party for the Ecuadorians.  Basically we had each family bring a typical plate (A made her world famous llapingachos – yum!) and the guys played “Cuarenta” (card game pictured above) while the women chit-chatted and the kids tore apart the playroom.  It was fun but would have been completely impossible to do without A’s help.  But we laughed, talked VERY loudly, shed a few tears (several new moms in the group – hormone overload!) and sang along to Julio Jaramillo songs.  Que viva Quito!

lorraine and her son, nicolas.  one of 4 new babies at the party.  he stared at the fireplace for ages.

did i remember to take a picture of the amazing food? no.  of the ladies?  of course not.  i did remember to take a pic of the cake however.  hana was in charge –she did a great job even if the guys gave her a hard time because it should have read ‘fiestas’ instead of ‘fiesta.’  for a girl from jordan married to an ecuadorian, she did great!

more card playing.  please note my sainted husband in the background.  i believe his behind was super-glued to that chair for the bulk of the evening.

elfin’ magic

The Christmas season has arrived a little earlier than usual this year.  I’ve decided from now on we’ll decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving – otherwise the ‘stuff’ isn’t out long enough to really enjoy.  This year we really had to move as we’re hosting a party this weekend. 

Yes, because nothing says ‘good idea’ like having 18 people to your house with 3 week-old newborns.  Yikers.

We went to our usual tree farm in Lincoln County…

we took the boys out for a second but it was too chilly for them.  thankfully A was with us and waited in the car with them.

after leaving the boys back at the car, i found emi and marcus checking out the massive blow-up santa.

 

cutting down the tree.  look at how emi is laying on top of poor marcus – she’s had a serious case of the ‘papas’ and pretty much sticks to him the second he gets home.

hauling it in.

Note to self: noticed many smart smart families with tripods and all dressed up taking their Christmas card pics at the tree farm.  Genius. 

 

our 7 1/2 foot tree.  smells pine-rific.

our latest ornament – la familia de cinco.

thanksgiving

Shocker.

There’s not ONE picture of us at thanksgiving.  We just couldn’t get it together long enough :(.

Trust me when I tell you the kids looked adorable in their matching turkey shirts with their names monogrammed on them.  And trust me when I say we had a fine time at my friend Tracy’s house and were eternally grateful a) not to have to cook dinner and b) not to have to clean up after dinner.

A few pre-T-day shots…

emilia’s preschool class at their thanksgiving feast – emilia, charlie, ray, jackson j., lake, betsy, jackson h., olivia, haeven, elizabeth and will.

emilia’s headdress and thanksgiving centerpiece.

 

 thanksgiving placemat.

playing in the leaves before leaving for Tracy’s house.

knit with love

I am always so appreciative of hand-made gifts people give my kidlets and these items are no exception.  As a knitter, I know what a labor of love doing something like this is, and I’m also acutely aware that most people who do this type of work have plenty of other kids (namely, their own!) to knit for.

caps by my friend Betsey, sweaters by my tia Fabiola.  my princes are ‘cozy warm’ as Emi might say.

the baby whisperer

The ‘baby whisperer’ arrived at our house on Tuesday afternoon, bearing bags full of gifts for all three kids (much to Emilia’s delight – another baby doll, some books, and a new tea set) and her incredible ‘baby whisperer’ abilities.

That’s the nickname we had for my Tia Marga (or, as Emilia calls her, ‘Tia Manga’ – which is funny because ‘manga’ means ‘sleeve’).  My Tia is a NICU nurse in Northern Virginia and has, as one can imagine, mad skills with little babies.  Kids in general love her – she’s the kind of aunt who will do the wacky crafts with them and will let them go wild with the glitter – but babies – man does the woman know her way around some babies – my little fellas included.  Below are some shots from her stay (since Tia is in the witness relocation program, there aren’t really any pics of her :)

Not only did Tia Marga bring gifts but she also brought her cooking skills (crema de apio here we come!), her wealth of knowledge about all things baby (who knew they were born with important ‘brown fat?!’), but also…

…her talents as a spa technician (the baths that used to leave Emilia screaming are a thing of the past – who knew I had the water too cold and you can swaddle them in the tub too!),

emilia supervising.

javier (don’t you love how he stuck his little foot out!)

 

andres – looking rather grumpy.

…her mad swaddling skills (really, if you think you know how to swaddle, you have no idea – holy baby burritos!),

post-spa-body wrapping.

…and the craziest (but most effective) baby burping method ever (not for the faint of heart).

tia marga burping javier 11/2010 from Denise Glaser on Vimeo.

 lovin’ on javier.

Today (Sunday) was another beautiful Fall day here so we took advantage of the very mild weather and took the boys on a short stroll through the CW ‘hood.

the ‘captain’ was in charge of pushing the stroller.

 looking for leaves (and acorns, and calabazas/pumpkins, and bugs) – in short – a nature walk.

 

we only took their caps off for the picture – javier in front, andres in the back.

los hombres c – and a not-so-fond goodbye to marcus’ ‘vacation beard’ – it’s finally gone now.

stats and such

And to think… one week ago our boys hadn’t yet arrived and now, this is the scene in our house in the mornings…

big sister watching her morning show flanked by her hermanitos – clearly they’re uninterested in “Maggie and the Ferocious Beast”

another of emilia’s famous smirks.  what a proud (and tired!) papa.

we’ve learned quickly (and thanks to Dr. Walker for pointing it out) that the boys sleep much better when snuggled up against one another rather than in separate bassinets.  bassinet bumper courtesy of A of course.

keeping a watchful eye (after offering a ‘bunny goldfish’)

Sunday was absolutely to-die-for Carolina Fall weather – sunny and warm.  Emilia and Papa spent some time in the driveway working on her point guard skills.

she shoots – she scores!

holy sunburst picture

guarding against papa’s shot.

my. best. girl.

Friday was the boy’s first visit to Dr. Walker.  Javier was the one she was most ‘worried’ about since he was the smaller of the two and the more ‘reluctant’ eater.  His stats on Friday were:

weight: 5 lbs, 7 oz.

length: 18 inches (an inch shorter than what they measured in the hospital, but this measurement seems more accurate to me).

Head circumference: 33 3/4 cm.

Dr. W noted that his skull plates in the back were overlapping slightly – a sign we needed to watch his hydration levels.  also, since he’d had high hemoglobin results in the hospital she wanted to see him again on Monday to check for jaundice.  Also, J has a blocked tear duct in his left eye we need to encourage to clear.

Andres:

weight: 5 lbs, 13 oz.

length: 18 1/2 inches long (again, seems more accurate to me).

head circumference: 34 cm.

Overall Dr. W was super pleased with Andres’ progress but wanted to see them both back today (Tuesday).  She recommended supplementing them with a little formula every other feeding just to get some meat on their bones.  In just a few short days Andres’ weight was up to 6 lbs., 6 oz. and Javier is now up to 5 lbs, 14 oz.  Hurrah!  She’s no longer worried about jaundice with Javier and Andres’ umbilical cord finally fell off so the boy can get a bath.  Whew! Until they’re both over the 7 pound mark Dr. W wants to keep watching their weight so we’ll take them back the week after Thanksgiving to see what they’re up to.

wordless wednesday – ya llegaron los hermanitos/the baby brothers have arrived

andres (without hat), javier (with hat).

with andres

with javier

andres (left side), javier (right side).