Boo at the Zoo

We went to the Zoo today, because it was such a beautiful day. They were doing "Boo at the Zoo" so there were tons of little ghouls and goblins running around. We think the boys will really enjoy it next year. This year . . . well . . . we were there for about an hour before the boys had enough. We saw some monkeys, gorillas, and the changing table in the Ladies Room. 10/30 In the parking lot. Alex in back, Nick in front.
10/30 Just inside the main entrance
10/30 Nick waiting for his diaper change

Sigh. . . My week off is over

I had this week off because my next rotation is at OSU and they are on a slightly different schedule than my school. It was a bit of a surprise, but it was GREAT! I was able to stay home with the boys and get lots of Residency interviews scheduled. But, I am a bit behind on photos, so let's get down to business here:

10/29 This morning, Alex (left) and Nick (right) were enjoying some time on the floor. They really enjoy being able to stretch out, kick and roll. Grandma and Grandpa came up from Wilmington to visit today, and this picture was taken right before they arrived.
10/29 While Grandma and Grandpa were here, we tried on the costumes that the boys are wearing for Halloween. Alex is the lion and Nicholas is the lobster.
10/29 Tonight at Aunt Jenn and Uncle Ryan's house. Jenn hosted a Halloween party for the kids. A good time was had by all, and my ears are still ringing from all of the noise! You can see our little lion and lobster in the back.
10/23 Nicholas (left) and Alex(right) in the crib just after diaper changes
10/23. They hold hands all the time. Whenever they are close to each other it seems that one will reach for the other. They try to eat each other's fingers and toes! It's so cute.
10/18 Alex on the left, Nicholas on the right. It was picture day at daycare, and this is how they looked when I got them home. I was quite surprised to see that they made it through the whole day in these outfits! The teachers at daycare went on and on about how adorable they looked for the pictures. I think this was the first time their teachers had seen them in anything besides a sleep-n-play or onesie!
10/18 The teachers said that the boys didn't smile for their pictures - apparently they were saving their smiles for home!

Ahhhh the power of the stroller!

No matter how cranky the babies are, if we bring out the stroller, they become instantly docile. I love this stroller!

Nicholas

Alex

Monkey 1 and Monkey 2

10/15 Nick in back, Alex in front
10/14 Nicholas
10/14 Alexander
10/09 See what trying solids makes me do!
10/14 Mmmmmmm toys
10/15 All the boys

10/9 Nick enjoying some carrots; Alex has once again chosen to pass on the solids. Daycare says he's eating solids for them. What's up with that??
10/9 Clean Alexander
10/9 "Come on and give me a little kiss!" says Nicholas 10/9 Content
10/9 First time in the exersaucer and he likes it!!!

10/9 Nick can't be fed fast enough!

Back up to speed

I tried to update the blog earlier this week, but I think there was something wrong with the site. Anyway, here are some new pics.

10/1 Alex with Nana and Nicholas with Grandma.

10/2 Nicholas in his bumbo chair. They are finally interested in toys - interested in getting them into their mouths!!!

10/1 Alex in his bouncy.

10/8 The boys on the play gym. I can't believe how much of this gym they take up now!!

Just for a trip down memory lane, here they are on the same gym on July 1st:

Trying Out Some Solid Foods

OK. So we got the go ahead to start solid foods last week. Since Alex is always up for eating, I thought he would be thrilled to try some solids. Nick has really not seemed so interested, but I thought, what the heck, we may as well try. 9/22 Alex looks like he is ready to eat
Here's a picture of the boys wearing the outfits that I thought we'd take them home from the hospital in. It doesn't translate well in the picture, but at 4 months old, the boys are still too small to wear these outfits. Perhaps starting solids will help them grow even faster?
Here's Nicholas showing off his bottle skills when he and Daddy were home together.

Well, we tried some cereal on Alex and he was not too thrilled. He will open his mouth for the spoon, but once the cereal hits his tongue he makes a sour face and spits it all right back out.
The same thing happened here with Nana trying to feed him bananas. He opens, tastes, and spits it out.
Nicholas, however, doesn't only look good with a spoon.
He likes it best when that spoon is filled with cereal. Basically from the very first bite, Nick has been a big fan of the solid foods. He's so funny. He'll start to shake his little arms and hands if you don't bring the spoonfuls quickly enough. As you can see, he already likes to try to do some of the feeding stuff on his own.
9/27 Alex today. Again, we tried the cereal, again he spit it right out. But, he did have fun playing with the spoon.

It just goes to show that these boys are always going to surprise me. I'm looking forward to the next surprise!

4 months old = more shots!

The dreaded Pediatrician office visit was yesterday. Actually, I love our Pediatrician to pieces; I worked with her during my Pediatrics rotation for 3rd year, and she is absolutely wonderful. She would have to be in order to deal with nonstop crying which culminated into a screaming frenzy when it was time for the vaccinations. But enough about how I handled watching my little guys get shots.

At first, the Pedi was a little concerned because Alex has had a dip in his growth curve. He had been cruising along at the 10th percentile, and is now below that. This has occurred even though he is eating a TON (4 oz every 2 hours at daycare and nursing every 1.5 hours at home, which is much more than the average baby eats). So where the heck is it all going????? Well, he is exhibiting many signs of reflux, so she wrote for some Zantac for him (which Nicholas has been on since our last visit). We also got the go ahead to start some solid foods, and we are going to keep an eye on his weight. After examining him, Dr. Kumler felt much less concerned. He is very proportionate, strong, and developing perfectly. He has also been wetting and soiling the correct number of diapers each day, so he is definitely taking in enough.

Nicholas is looking great. He still isn't on the growth curve chart, but he is paralleling it perfectly on his own little curve. The doctor is very pleased with his growth and development. Actually, there has been a lot of discussion and disagreement in the Pediatric community about the amount of emphasis placed on the growth charts and their validitiy/accuracy. They have never shown any benefit for babies who put on a bunch of weight in infanthood versus those babies that put on weight more slowly yet are properly nourished. In fact, babies who have doubled their birth weights by 4 months are far more likely to become obese by age 7 and remain that way through adulthood. It just underscores how we still don't know jack about medicine. Good thing I'm shelling out a ton of cash to learn so much about so little! Oh well.

Nicholas was up first for shots, and I was feeding Alex when Nick got his first of four. Nick SCREAMED like I have not heard before, which of course freaked out Alex, David and me. It went about as well for Alex. I wish I could take the injections for them!

Poppy's pics part deux

We went to Nana and Poppy's house yesterday, after Poppy had finished a photo shot for a high school senior, and he took some GREAT pictures of the boys. He took over 230 pics and about 215 of them are keepers!!!!!!!! Since it will be so hard to decide which ones to print, I think we'll just have to mount a plasma screen tv and show a continuous slide show of them! Alex, pumpkin, Nicholas
Nicholas and Alex in super fancy black and white, except for their blue eyes Nicholas and Alex All of us
Halloween Alex
Halloween Nicholas
Nick
Alex

Wow, it's been a more than a week since my last post?!? Time does fly. The other part of the problem is that my camera needs new batteries (again) which I have in the bedroom. But, every time the boys are being cute , which is whenever they're awake and not crying, I don't want to leave them to get the batteries. When they're asleep, I forget we need the batteries! I'd get them now, but, I'm trying to let David get a little extra sleep this morning.

The boys have been great this week! I soooooo wish I could post video on this site, because Alex had his first giggle fit this week. Nana was getting him ready for a bath and was giving him razzy bellies, and he really let lose with the laughter. The hilarious thing was that in between the giggles, he was almost crying (his chin was quivering, tears forming, etc). It was like his own laughter was scaring him!!!!!! It was the sweetest thing! Alex even briefly sat up unsupported last night! I could have let him go longer, but I was shocked and afraid he would topple over. We'll practice that one more today.

Nicholas has been cooing and smiling like CRAZY! Right now, he is looking at me and the ceiling fan and just smiling as big as possible! SOOOOOOO cute. He is also rolling from back to side and from stomach to back now, too.

They are both just taking off, developmentally.

I will be posting more pics before the end of the weekend, so come back and check when you have time!

Drop us a comment if you can! We'd love to hear from you all!

TGIF

I know it was a short week, but I'd just really rather be home with the boys. I bought some hats for them today, so that daycare wouldn't cake anymore sunscreen in their hair before going outside. We thought they looked adorable!Nicholas and AlexanderAlex has been really trying to stand up a lot! Of course, he's nowhere near ready for this, but he loves to stand up and support a little of his own weight when we hold him. His trunk control and head/neck control are on the money! Big boy standing





This was on Wednesday, David's Birthday. As you can see it was party, party, party at the Blum house.