My Daughter, the Elf

It's amazing the things you notice at four a.m. during a feeding. Mel has pointed ears. She's my little elf girl (as I'm PRETTY sure neither Sue or I have any Vulcan blood in our systems).
Sue says all babys have pointed ears, as they have to fold to get out of the womb, but how cool would it be if they stay pointed? Most of the people I just to hang out with (Science Fiction Fans, Roleplaying Gamers) would be oh so cool with it.

Ok, now this is a scary thought. As I am the primary caregiver and plan on homeschooling, I am the standard that the girls are going to use for what's "NORMAL" .


We have just passed the 12 week mark with the girls. Just a few more days and the kids will be 3 months old. It's odd, 3 months seems such a short time, yet it also feel like they have been here for ever and ever (Hallelujah! Hallelujah!) :) It is amazing how much they have grown. They are beginning to gain weight faster than my arm muscles can adapt. It won't be too long before they out grow the tiedyed onesies :(





This is the first (of what I'm assuming is many, many, many) in a "before" and "after" photos. The one on the left was taken the day the left the NICU and the one on the right was taken today (3/19/2006). Same girls, same outfits. Almost hard to tell that they are the same children.

So what's new?

I try to update this at the VERY least on Sundays, but the girls have been a bit more fussy the last day or so. We have been trying a new formula mix (one that's suppose to help with spit ups) and it caused them to have trouble digesting, so we have switched back to a formulation that we know we can handle.

Rocky's helpful hint #1: If you are expecting, have new babies, etc. and are even THINKING of using formula, then signup for the Enfamil Family Beginnings program.
http://apps.meadjohnson.com/forms/jsp/Efb/Efb.do?referrer=156

So far we've gotten something like $40-$50 worth of coupons for formula and not little ones either I think the smallest one was for like $3 off.

These two photos are from this weekend when our friends Lee and Tina came over to see the girls. I used to work with Lee at Dell (He's one of the few people I knew there that I've been able to connect with outside of work). You should check out their Blogs (There is a link to Tina's blog under my cool links and you can go from there)


"TaDa!"















Happy Girl














"Are we done yet?"













"MINE!!!!!"












Maybe if I smile he'll stop with the flash already.








"I hope I'm as pretty as mommy when I grow up."
















"I love you Daddy"

On an average day.....

The one thing I've learned in my brief time as a Stay At Home Dad (SAHD), is that there is no such thing as an average day. They are all so different and special.
There is a basic routine that we're falling into however. For those of you that are interested, continue reading, otherwise just look at the new photos. Lol

12:30 AM - 2:30 AM: Usually Mel wakes up and needs to be changed and fed, sometime in this period. Libby usually sleeps through the night. If it is just Mel (or just Libby) who is awake, I get up at do whatever needs to be done to get her ready to go back to sleep.

2:30 AM - 4 AM: I spend the time after the girls are back asleep to do some house stuff downstairs. The house is quiet (except for the static on the baby monitor and the TV on low, low volume. I have the sound almost off and captioning on as a rule).

I unload the dishwasher, make sure we have enough formula made up to get us to at least mid-morning, check emails, work on the blog, have something to eat. It's the one time of the day I can usually count on having "Rocky Time". (And they said that having a sleep disorder had no upside, LOL).

4 am- 5:30 AM: With a bit of luck, I get some more sleep, usually at least one of the girls need to be at least changed.

5:30 AM- 7:30 AM: Everybody gets up (whether they want to be or not). The girls get fed, changed, and put into Daytime clothes. Sue gets ready for work, I try to get showered and changed into clean clothes. We all move downstairs. Sue heads to work. Hopefully, Libby and Mel have fallen back to sleep.

7:30 AM- 9 AM Daddy and Girls Nap! (This is optional and hapens not as often as I would like).

9 AM-Noon Girls are up and active. We eat, play, etc. I make whatever phone calls that need to be made.

Noon- 12:30 PM: I get to talk to Sue while she has lunch and pumps (breast pumps). The Girls may or maynot be up. Usually I'm feeding one or the other.
Side note: Sue and I are ever so lucky. There are very few times that both of the babes need to be fed/changed at the same time. I usually have time to tend to one before the other needs me. This has the advantage that I'm not usually stressed out, but it also means that most of the time during the day I'm having to be working on a baby. (Don't tell anyone, but I LOVE my new career. Being a caregiver for these two little ones is SO much better than selling computers.

12:30-3 PM: Freestyle. I may get a nap, I may not. The girls are awake or not. It's kinda fun (more fun if I've had sleep ;) ). I work on what I'm fixing for dinner.


3 PM- 4:30 PM Work on dinner prep, feed/change/play with my angels (all 3 of them).

4:30 PM- 5:30 PM: Sue comes home during this time and gets to bond with the girls while I finish cooking dinner.

5:30 PM- 7 PM: Everybody gets to eat during this time, although not all at once. Sue feeds the girls while I'm serving dinner, then Itake overwhile she eats (I always need a few minutes anyway after fixing dinner to cool off and rehydriate). When Sue finishes eating, she takes over and I eat.
If it's bathnight for Libby and Mel, this gets started in this time frame.

7 PM- 7:30 PM: Start gathering up babies, formula, snacks as we get heady for:

7:30 PM- 9:30 PM: We all go upstairs and start the girl's bedtime routine. They get changed into PJs, get fed, Sue reads them bedtime stories while I go back downstairs and clean up the kitchen and start the dishwasher.

9:30 PM- 12:30 AM: Sleep. On a bad night, just Sue sleeps while I handle the girls. Libby is usally good about falling asleep and staying there, Mel not so much. I've learned that if I feed Mel and then hold her so her ear is over my heart and i recline back in my cool recliner in the nursery, she'll fall asleep. So will I. Hehe.

Well that's a basic day.

By request

This is one of Sue's favorite photos, so I decided to share with all of you. 

Shots are a pain

Today Mel and Libby had their 2 month check up (yes I know they are 2.5 months, but you try finding a baby doc that has 2 slots together when you want them in Roseburg). They are in the 25 percentile (for TERM babies, not Premie) for height and weight. Mel is in the 25 percentile for head size, with Libby (who has a larger head) is in the 50 percentile.

STATS
Libby 10 lb 21" long 15.25" Head

Mel 9 lb 11 oz 20.45" long 14.75" Head

 

9 6/7 weeks

So Here we are, the 1st of March, one day short of 10 weeks as a family. Libby is pretty consistantly sleeping through the night (not the usual infant 6 hour "night", 6-8 hours at a stretch. Mel hasn't quite made that leap yet. So During the day when I'm here alone with the girls, One or the other is usually awake. You can tell which one is awake by the noise level coming from the crib. Libby is our laid back child. She really only cries if something is wrong (needing a diaper change or needing to be fed). Mel, on the other hand, is our little drama queen. She will cry for no other reason (that I can tell) than she wants to. If she's a bit wet she cries because "I haven't been changed in DAYS!". If she is the least bit hungry, she cries, "They haven't feed me in MONTHS!". You get the idea. I used to say that watching the girls would be cool because "I'll just sleep when they do. I love naps." What was I thinking?


Willow has had a hard time adjusting to not being an only "child" and not getting the bulk of our attention.
However, she is beginning to realize that Libby and Mel are part of our pack. More importantly, she seems to understand that they are babies and that she can't be too rough with them. Libby (pictured here) and Mel aren't quite sure what to make of Willow. Yet.