October, 2008

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Snip Snip

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

Today was the big day. The day Shae and I have been (somewhat) dreading for about two weeks. That’s right, today was the day Jack got circumcised. We were hoping to get this taken care of while we were in the hospital, but the doctor wanted to wait until Jack was over 6 lbs before giving him the snip.

The appointment was today, so at 11:30 Shae and I were sitting in the lobby of the doctor’s office waiting to head back to the little exam room. As we were waiting, another set of new parents commented on the twins and made the “wow…I can’t even imagine two” comment (we get that a lot). They were there for their first exam with their 6-day-old baby. I’ve only had kids for 3 weeks and I was already thinking, “I remember those days.” Well, that and “Please don’t wake up babies. Please don’t wake up.”

Eventually they called Jack’s name and we went on back to our exam room. We stripped down Jackson, got him weighed (6 lbs, 11 oz) and then did some more waiting until the doctor showed. up. Without going into too much detail, they threw some disinfectant on his “region”, gave him a painkiller shot (Lidocaine), and then trimmed his junk. Shae and I didn’t really watch, but we did glance over from time to time to see how things were going. The highlight was when the doctor was putting on the little ring thing after the snipping and we heard, “That doesn’t fit. We better get a bigger one. Yeah, that’s better.” Just saying.

After a bit of crying, Jack is doing OK. He still isn’t very happy whenever we change his diaper, but he’s going to be fine. However, tonight during bath time we discovered a serious consequence of Jack’s junk-cut: his range has drastically increased. Before diaper changes were exciting, but the most damage he normally did was to pee all over his outfit (to the extent where yesterday Shae took away his clothing privileges and left him in a diaper the rest of the day because she got sick and tired of changing his outfit every time she changed a diaper), but tonight as he was sitting in the bathtub on the dining room table he let loose and managed to fire a shot that landed just short of our couch (about 10 feet away). A little squirt hit right next to Lunchbox and startled him. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that things are about to get a lot wetter around the house.

Clusterfeed

Monday, October 27th, 2008

A long time ago (like 2 weeks), the lactation consultant at the hospital told us to expect a growth spurt from the babies when they were about 10 days old. She warned us that they would be hungry all the time and not to worry, just keep feeding them. At about 10 days, we noticed they both had started eating a lot more and thought they had hit the growth spurt. We were wrong. At about 2.5 weeks (or a couple of days ago) Ella hit the “real” growth spurt and last night Jack did the same.

This is ridiculous. Pretty much every second they’re awake both of them are crying for food (well, Ella cries, Jake squeaks for a while before giving up and letting us know he’s serious). We feed them, they’re quiet for about 10 minutes and then it starts up again. I feel sorry for Shae’s boobs, and I’m starting to worry about the motor in our pump. There was a span of about five hours this afternoon where both of them were wide awake and hungry. Then they slept for about four hours and then woke up screaming for food again. According to Shae’s Internet research this whole eat for hours, sleep for hours thing is called “Cluster feeding”. All I know is it’s super fun.

Of course, this giant increase in the babies’ appetites comes with a bonus: a matching jump in their diaper usage. I thought these little things were crapping a lot before, but this is crazy. On Friday we bought a new 92-pack of diapers. In under 36 hours they went through about 50 of them. Holy crap! Seriously…that’s a crapload of poop. Costco doesn’t carry newborn diapers, and it seems like they don’t make the jumbo packs of them (or at least they don’t have them at Costco or Babies “R” Us). I guess the logic is that people don’t stock up on them because the babies grow out of them so fast. Obviously they need to talk to more twin parents.

In other fun, we took a little family field trip yesterday. Shae and I, Lunchbox, and the twins all piled into the car and headed over to the dog park to get LB some exercise. Shae sat outside at a picnic table and fed the babies (seriously, they are eating constantly) while I took Mr. Box into the park to have some fun. I’m sure everyone will be happy to hear that he didn’t hump any of the other dogs and got nice and dirty.

Oh, Jack’s diaper rash is gone. I guess Butt Paste is more than just a funny name. That’s about it to report right now. I just heard Ella go through diaper 51 so I guess I better go change her.

Daddy and his Babies

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

Yup, more photos today. This time I wanted to get some pictures of Pat with the munchkins. The full album can be seen here. The ones below are a few of my favorites.

Jack’s Red Butt

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

So, little Jackson has diaper rash. Know what that means? It’s Butt Paste time! I’m way too excited to pop open the tube of Butt Paste.

Babies in Blankets

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Today our babies had their first professional photo shoot. I actually found a photographer on Craigslist who does awesome newborn photos and she was looking for twins for her portfolio. There was no sitting fee and we get a free 8×10. In anticipation for this shoot I figured I should get the babies used to the camera so I broke out my good camera and started doing some photos. Grandma Allen knitted some wonderful blankets for the babies that I used for the backdrop. Both Jack and Ella were a little too awake when I did this, but I still got some pretty good shots. I will try again when they are both sleepy so I can get them both in the same picture. Here are a few of my favorites. The rest can be seen here.

One Week Home

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

Yesterday marked one full week since we brought the babies home from the hospital. It’s been an eventful week, but we’re finally getting into some sort of routine. My mom and Shae’s parents were here through Thursday, so the last couple of days we’ve been trying to figure out how to do everything on our own. We’re actually getting quite a bit more sleep than I thought we would, even if our kids have their day and night confused (as Shae detailed in her post). The first few nights were rough, but the last few we’ve been able to sleep most of the night (with the obvious breaks for feeding and changing). We had their first doctor’s appointment (well, first one outside of the hospital) and they are both doing great.

I think the most interesting part of the week is how different our kids are. I’ve never been a fan of babies, especially newborns. They just seem to eat, sleep, and crap. Everyone told me that I’d feel differently about my own kids (and I do), but I still figured it would take a while before we’d get a feel for their different personalities. Boy was I wrong.

Just looking at the twins it’s obvious they’re very different. Ella is covered in her dark hair and darker complexion, while Jack has about as much hair as I do (and his skin color is about the same too). However, it’s their personalities that are completely opposite.

Jackson is the sweetest little thing. He lays next to us on the couch (or in his bouncer, bassinet, crib, car seat, whatever) and makes the cutest little squeaks. The few hours a day he’s awake and alert he has some great little expressions and faces, including one that looks like Zoolander’s “Blue Steel”. Of course, I never have a camera handy when he’s making his faces so all the pics we have of him are when he’s asleep. With the exception of the first night home when he didn’t have enough blankets Jack has yet to let out more than a one or two second cry, just enough to let us know he needs a little attention. Then it’s back to laying there and looking cute.

Then there’s Ella. I love my daughter, but she is not quite as quiet as my little boy. She is quite the crier. If she’s unhappy she lets everyone know about it. She’s a little colicky and it seems to hit her worst as soon as we go to bed. We feel so bad for her because we can tell she’s in pain and her stomach hurts. We’ve been using some anti-gas drops that seem to help quite a bit, but she still has her bouts and there isn’t much we can do except try our best to help her feel a little better. On the bright side, when she sleeps she’s really cute and has some funny little snores.

That’s about it for now. It’s time for bed so I’m looking forward to the next round of Ella’s crying. Tomorrow is football day, so I better go get some rest. I’m sure tomorrow will hold more fun with diapers and bottles.

Night and Day

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

Time for an update from mommy. There are things people seem to leave out while describing what it’s like to enter the adventure of parenthood. We learned at our classes that babies will be changed on average 8 times a day. What they don’t tell you is that each changing can take up to 4 diapers. I always figured you take off the diaper, wipe things clean and then put on a new one. Nope. I was wrong. It’s more like take off the diaper, wipe things clean, try and put on a new diaper only to have the baby pee or poop all over the place ruining the new diaper and their outfit. So then you have to start the process all over again and then once the new diaper is on they decide to poop all over it again. Start the process over and go through another couple diapers before things are finally nice and clean. On this same subject, people don’t tell you about the projectile pooping. Our little girl managed to spray the wall 3 feet from the changing table. Our precious baby boy decided to spray my arm, but at least he missed his diaper. Our diaper genie seems to get filled up way too fast.

Another thing people tell you is that babies need to be fed. Well yeah, everyone knows that. But why does it have to take an hour to feed them. You have to get the bottle filled, heat it up and start feeding them. Jack does OK with the whole eating thing even though it takes a while. Ella on the other hand seems to forget how to eat. she will suck on the bottle for about 10 minutes and then I will check it it only to find out she had not sucked out a single drop. It can take her an hour to eat 2 ounces of food. Do you know what that does to my TV watching time?

Night and day. I know newborns keep parents up at night, but I think ours have their nights and days all mixed up. during the day all they do is sleep. We have to force them awake just to eat and even then they never fully wake up. Right before we go to bed they seem to know what time it is because they decide to wake up needing attention. Do you know how hard it is to get them back to sleep after having slept all day long. Very.

I guess other then that things are going well. I am recovering pretty fast so I can actually get up when my babies need me. I am sure Pat will be givin his perspective on things soon.

Mr. Box’s Babies

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

One of the things we were kind of worried about while Shae was pregnant was how Lunchbox would handle the babies. We know labs are great with kids and he has always loved being around kids, but we were still a little anxious about how he would handle having his world rocked. Until last week, LB was pretty much the center of our world. He was our little puppy and didn’t have any competition for our attention. Obviously that’s not the case anymore.

It turns out we didn’t need to worry about Lunchbox. He was a little hesitant about the babies at first, but within a few minutes he got over that and moved on to being a protective older brother. It’s really funny/sweet to watch. The other day a door slammed and startled the Box. He jumped up and immediately ran over to the couch (where the babies were sleeping) to make sure Jack and Ella were OK. Whenever one of the babies (Ella) has one of their (her) screaming fits Lunchbox goes to check things out. At night, he camps out in front of their bassinet to make sure no one hurts his babies. Well, he starts out there; eventually he heads over to his bed. He might have babies to watch, but that doesn’t mean he has to sleep on the floor. Lunchbox may not be an only child anymore, but he’s still our spoiled little puppy.

Also, we uploaded some more pics of the kids so check the gallery.

First Night Home

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Last night was our first night home with the twins, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I kind of miss the hospital. Don’t get me wrong, we’re very happy to be home. The food’s better, the bed’s more comfortable (mine at least, Shae misses her adjustable hospital bed), the TV’s a lot bigger, and the Internet access isn’t restricted to Gmail and CNN (in other words, I can access my fantasy football teams). Still, it was kind of nice to have nurses around to help with the babies and take care of Shae. Also, last night we really could have used the 2-hour break when the nurse would take the babies out to run tests on them.

I don’t know if it was because we had both babies back together, or that it was a little cold in our room last night, or some other reason, but last night was not what I would call super. Jackson is usually pretty mellow, but last night he was a very unhappy baby boy. Combined with Ella’s standard fussiness the babies were screaming most of the night. Shae was in quite a bit of pain, which didn’t make things any easier. Eventually the babies settled down for a couple of hours of sleep and we survived, but it was the longest night yet (out of a whole four).

Of course, the night wasn’t all bad. It started of with a chain of events that was just ridiculous at the time but probably should have foreshadowed the night ahead.

We set up the twins’ bassinet in our bedroom about a week ago and had it all ready. It’s not the easiest thing to get the mattress set up, but we had it all made up with new sheets just waiting for the babies. Of course, the second we put Ella down in her bassinet we heard the all-to-familiar explosive sound of my daughter ruining a diaper.

Going into this whole baby thing I was under the assumption that Jackson would be the baby to pee all over the place. Boy was I wrong. Jack does his part, but Ella seems to find a way to pee on everything around her every time her diaper comes off. This time was no exception as she found a way to soak her new diaper, her sleeper, the pad we put down to keep the sheets and mattress dry, and she somehow managed to make a mess of the sheets too. After going through the entire process of changing the sheet on the bassinet (which is a lot more work than I expected), it was time to try again to put the babies to bed.

Now it was Jack’s turn. As soon as I put the babies down on their fresh sheets Jack started fussing. A quick look verified that sure enough he had made quite a mess down there. Not to be outdone by his older sister, just when I was almost done changing him Jack followed Ella’s lead and peed all over his sleeper and new diaper. After another change of sleeper and diaper, Jack took things to the next level by exploding all over yet another diaper. Now, I’m not sure where he stores all the urine in his little tiny body, but somehow he manged to pee all over yet another sleeper during the third change.

At this point, Shae and I were pretty much on the ground laughing. Of course, Shae’s still recovering from her surgery so every time she laughs it hurts. You know how Ella responded to our laughing? I’ll give you a hint: it rhymes with “schmit her schmipers”. Basically, every time we touched one of our kids they pissed or crapped all over themselves. By the time this whole thing was over, we had a pile of filthy diapers, a bigger pile of pee covered clothes, and a wife in need of some percocet. Good times.

Jaundiced Jack

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Well, apparently Jackson’s bilirubin levels (thank you Google) were too high on his jaundice test so he had to go camp out in a blue tanning booth for a while. They tested him a 4 a.m. yesterday, and then re-tested him around 11 and his levels were still a little high so they took him upstairs to the pediatric hospital around 4 p.m.. I know this is pretty common (both Shae and I cooked under the lights for a while when we were babies), but it still isn’t fun to have him in a different part of the hospital and it’s still kind of sad to look over at his empty little bassinet.

I spent most of last night feeding/changing Ella, then heading upstairs to feed Jack. He’s definitely got a nice little setup upstairs, and he’s pretty cute in his eye covers. He looks like he’s just lying in a tanning booth (except for the fact that it’s blue). The nice part about the whole thing is that they take a plate of food to his room each meal so I get some of the awesome hospital food that Shae has been enjoying for the past few days.

It’s about 10:30 on Friday morning right now, and Shae and Ella both have discharge papers (for whatever that’s worth), so they should be able to leave soon. I’ve already packed up all the extra diapers, wipes, burp rags, blankets, etc. (they’re lucky I left the towels) so we’re just waiting for the OK and then we’ll be gone. By “be gone” I mean that we’ll head upstairs and camp out in Jack’s room for a bit. The doctor is supposedly stopping by sometime around noon to take another look at Jackson (he checked in on him earlier this morning) and hopefully he can be discharged shortly after.

So we should be heading home sometime this afternoon, and then the fun begins. There will be some more pictures uploaded once I get home.

Here’s a pic of my little boy in his blue tanning booth: