Happy New Year! 9 Months Old

Happy New Year!

We are 9 months old now and getting so big! Our New Years Resolutions are simple. Grow, become more active, and start sleeping through the night. We are looking forward to meeting everyone in the new year and learning more silly things to do to throw Mom & Dad for a loop. We can't wait to start participating in activities outside the house where there are other kids to play with.

Hopefully this year will be a great one for all of us, especially all the preemie mommies and daddies and the pregnant mommies and daddies and newlyweds that we know. We love you all and wish everyone the very best in 2009.
Cameron

Evan

Standing Up

For about three months Cameron has been able to stand flat footed when we hold him up. It is the best way to calm him when he's frustrated, except when he's flinging his head backwards from reflux. For Cameron everything is more interesting when he's standing up. Last week the PT noticed that he's trying to take little steps with his left foot, though not his right yet. He has started taking great giggling joy in locking his right knee when we change his diaper. Today when I changed his diaper each time I had to fight and out smart him to get his knee to bend. And each time my tricks didn't work he would look at me and give a belly laugh (he heh, you fool woman!) and I would try again.

In a leap for Evan, he has begun as of yesterday to stand like his brother! It felt like this day would come. He's only three months behind with his muscle tone but yesterday like magic he suddenly just got that he's supposed to straighten out his back, lower his legs, lock the knees and stand flat footed. And he's so proud of him self he smiles every time. I'm so proud of him and just stunned how the light bulb just seemed to click. It's the first time where something like that has happened for Evan.

Also yesterday Cameron grabbed a double helix shaped rattle in one hand, passed it to the other hand, where Evan grabbed the rattle from Cameron and passed the toy to HIS other hand. Sadly I missed the event, though my mother called me screaming to come quick. Pretty cool. And since that event both boys have been super interested in the baby laying next to them or in the mirror.

But they aren't napping for crap, and if I get one down the other wakes up. Hopefully they go to bed on time tonight. And the dogs have been after me to play and chase them all day, poor things. Once Drew gets home we can do more with them too. Though Mommy's got things to work on that do not require the assistance of babies OR big puppy dogs.

11pm edit - during his diaper change Evan was staring at his feet and grabin them, something Cam has been doing for a week!!

Baby Boxing... Round 1

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a nice quiet Christmas at home and were as usual spoiled by all our friends and especially by our family. Of course the babies made out like bandits on their first Christmas.

The quiet didn't endure for too long however. In what I am sure will become a daily event in our future we had our very first knock down drag out Baby Boxing match.

Mom-mom Judy gave the boys new rattles which they absolutely loved on sight. Both began shaking their respective toys with great enthusiasm. It wasn't enough to shake them from the elbow, which they can actually do sometimes. Oh no! These are cool, new noisy rattles with bright colors and relatively pointy hard edges. Laying on the floor side by side the boys shook the rattles with great enthusiasm, their full arms outstretched. Cameron made a quick switcheroo to confuse Evan by swapping his monkey rattle from one hand to the other. Evan was straight and true taking advantage of Cameron's momentary open weak spot with a lightning fast southpaw uppercut. He hit his unintended mark with as much might as his four inch long chicken arm could muster. Thus resulting in Round 1 completed with Evan whacking Cameron in the eyebrow really hard with the remarkably pointy end of a hard plastic rattle. This caused an instant TKO to Cameron, complete with whales, tears, shrieks, and sobs.

It was really difficult not to laugh, and I have to admit that I am a mean mommy and couldn't help myself by snickering while trying to console Cameron. It was a bit like watching Time Warp to see the thought process go through Cameron's head registering his pain and shock. Evan gave a very heartfelt apology as it truly was an accident that in his excitement Cameron's head got in the way. Cameron has forgiven Evan for this infraction on their brotherly truce (cleverly negotiated by their attending nurses while enjoying their lovely stay in Hotel AAMC's NICU to resolve any outstanding animosity for Evan's necessary forcing of Cameron's early eviction from Mommy's belly.) Cameron doesn't seem to be the grudge holding type, so I think Evan is okay for now. However, Cameron did give the offending toy a very stern furrowed brow look when I later offered his opponents weapon of choice to play with shortly afterward.

It's rough being a baby.

Out of my way Mom! I'm driving like Daddy!


You're so silly Daddy!


Ewwww Chewie! Your breath stinks!


Happy Holidays Everyone!

Today

Today I saw Cameron pass a toy from one hand to the other, not once but three times.

Today I saw Evan staring at his open right hand while sitting in the bath. I poured water over that hand and he turned the hand palm facing up with fingers splayed open to "catch" the water. He did this about six times.

Today Cameron spent half his bath time sitting in the upright seated position side of the baby tub with my hand gently holding him in place so he would not tip over to the side. It's a long way from not even fitting in the newborn sling so his butt floated around in the water.

Today they were both able to eat MOST of each bottle with minimal screaming, though it did take at least two hours to eat each of their bottles and required that we get them to fall asleep to drink it.

Today the boys have slept remarkably well, probably because they've eaten so well.

Today I got to sleep more than 4 hours thanks to my wonderful husband and mother for giving me the break I needed.

Some silver linings for my holiday.

Update on Evan's RSV and Camerons stuffy nose

Evan is doing remarkably well. He's not having any problems with his breathing though Friday, Saturday and Sunday were the worst of his congestion. I barely slept more than a cat nap over those three days. As of Tuesday things started looking better during the day with the worst at night. We had three different humidifiers going in the bedroom at one time, but it works. And we did a few steam showers during the day and evening and used Viks Baby Rub to loosen things up. It seems to have worked like a charm.

Cameron's symptoms are totally different and we're still not out of the woods. He first had a stuffy nose for a couple of days starting on Saturday, but by Monday it turned into a snotty runny nose with some minor coughing. Then just yesterday his cough turned more violent enough to make him throw up most of one bottle, but otherwise he seems fine and is in great spirits. We are still hoping that he doesn't catch RSV but it's still a probability that it will happen.

Here are some of our recent photos that we took this week. We are VERY behind on holiday cards, but still trying to get them out though it may be more like New Years cards instead.

Evan


Cameron

Cameron has a stuffy nose....

Ugh! This virus moves so quickly! Yesterday Cameron was his usual happy go lucky self but as today has progressed we've seen a clear decline in his mood and as of tonight he has a wet stuffy nose that I've already had to suck clear so he can breathe. And I already have to do it again. I'm watching the guys like a hawk because I'm so scared I'll miss one of the symptoms that means we have to rush to the ER.

Evan has RSV

It's official. Evan has RSV. We almost went to the ER at 3am because he was wheezing so bad but the on call pediatrician told us to get him in a steamy shower and then see how he does after sucking the snot out of his nose and he was quite a bit better. He can barely lay down for diaper changes because he gets all stuffed up again. We went in to our regular pedi first thing this morning and after having an albuterol nebulizer treatment to dry up his congestion he was still wheezing. Our fear is that Cameron will also come down with RSV very soon too, but he seems to be having no problems at all.

Poor Evan won't eat more than an ounce every three hours. The pedi wasn't too worried about that but she said that if he stops eating all together for 24 hours or has any further signs of breathing problems or a high feaver come in to the office or just go straight to the ER. We're looking for signs that his respiratory rate is higher than 60 breaths a minute. We are very familiar with counting respiratory rates because of Cameron's PLD (Pulmonary Lung Disease).

Ugh! I was hoping we'd make it to their 1st birthday in March, the end of RSV season before their first cold but at least we made it to 8 1/2 months old. The boys have been moved to seperate cribs for the first time. We've seperated their toys and anything else they usually share just in case. Everything has been washed and sterilized and wiped with Clorox wipes over and over. The only thing not spotless in this house are the dogs. We just don't have the energy to wash them too, and boy do they need it.

Oh! And when I got home the power company was at our house to cut down two trees. They were supposed to call me a day in advance to let me know they were coming out so I could keep the dogs in the house. I wish they had so I could have asked them to come another day because I had to walk the dogs so they could go to the bathroom and since I can't walk them together on my own I had to do two walks in this cold windy weather.

Ugh, so tired. We're all so very, very tired.

Cross Your Fingers: Evan's first cold!

Evan has his first cold. The poor little thing is struggling with his reflux and now this cold. It started yesterday with his being very irritable, the reflux at an all time horrible where he hasn't been able to eat more than an ounce or two every three hours. His little nose is dry and packed with boogies all the time and shrieks when I try to clear it out. We had an all night scream fest with him last night, and Cameron was not going to be left out of the fun so he joined in too. They ate horribly all day today and this morning Evan's little nose was runny with thick boogies and he hasn't slept hardly at all. Then tonight at the 7pm bedtime bottle he threw up a lot with a lot of mucus in the spit up.

I was hoping our first day in the newly converted den/playroom would be a lot more fun but it was overshadowed by his crumminess.

I'm obsessed, terrified, and freaked out. I'm scared to death that this little head cold will become RSV. It can happen so fast and it's so easily spreadable that it wouldn't take much for Cameron to catch it too. I really hope this little cold goes away as fast as possible. If Evan continues to eat poorly overnight I will take him in to the pediatrician first thing tomorrow morning. If he's lost too much weight and if they test for RSV comes back positive they may decide to admit him to the hospital.

Cross your fingers for Evan and Cameron. My little babies need all the luck they can get. They haven't had too much this year and they deserve so much more.

8 Months Old!

I'm very belated in getting this posted but things have been a little hectic what with living from one feed to the next.

The boys turned 8 months old on November 30th and they are doing pretty well developmentally.

Cameron is now 12lbs 6oz and performing at the level of a 5 or 6 month old in most things and is almost ready to roll from his back to his belly. He can also lift his head from a prone belly position but not for longer than a couple of minutes. He can hold two objects and clang them together, almost passes one toy from hand to hand, and loves to bang toys against his bottle while eating or on the tray on his swing. I have just given him his first 3" spiked sensory rubber ball and he's almost able to hold it with both hands which is a big deal.

Evan now 10lbs 11oz and is still fairly behind Cameron and doesn't like to hold his head up but can and will do it and will even look to his left which was once almost impossible for him to do on his own. He will tolerate holding his head up for tummy time if he does it on my chest or against my legs or while playing Super Baby in my arms. He can not hold two objects at the same time very well but he's getting there.

As for our Failure to Thrive and Reflux issues I have managed to get us another appointment with the GI specialty clinic at the University of Maryland. I have many choice words for Johns Hopkins GI clinic. We missed the first one last week because the battery died in my car just as we'd piled everyone in to go there. The next appointment was for January 21st but I managed to score a spot that someone canceled on January 5th. I will call every day to see if I can squeeze the boys in earlier. They are still struggling to eat and we have met with a physical therapist who has extensive experience with three children of her own who have severe reflux and she could not find any other tips or tricks we haven't already tried. They eat about 1tbsp of rice cereal mixed with formula, and have made it through YoBaby yogurt with prune juice, and are currently working on avocado. We also use a Nuk gum brush to desensitize their mouths before spoon feeding the rice cereal because they don't like the texture. We are looking at buying their high chairs very soon so we can feed them in a chair other than their bouncy seats. It will be easier on our backs too.

There was a four day period last month where the boys slept from 10pm to 4am but we have since reverted to waking every four hours to eat. We are also struggling to stick to a schedule because feedings throw everything out of whack. Thankfully it is a particularly bad RSV season, so I'm told, so we can't go anywhere. Now I need to work on my personal anxiety because everything seems to get me amped up or set me off and the boys are picking up on that.

We are working on our Holdiay photos but with limited success so far. And we are very slowly converting our den/storage room into a play room but it is posing quite the challenge as the boys are not leaving us much time to get anything accomplished. We are also stimied by the fact that the electric base board heater in that room is not strong enough to warm the room which was once a garage and does not have insulated walls.Aside from that things are going about as well as can be expected. I wish I could say that I have been enjoying this babyhood time of my boys but it just seems like it's one thing after another and I'm so exhausted and ready for everything to catch up to "normal", whatever that means. I feel like our whole household is burning the candle from both ends and from in the middle as well.