We're back!

Ok, so we got back from Boston almost two months ago, as scheduled, but somehow the blog got neglected... The trip went fabulously and there really should be a blog about it. Maybe later. Here's a picture of the three of us in Boston.

Anyway, Owen and Liam went in for their 4 month check-up yesterday and the both weighed in around the 50th %:

Owen: 14 lbs. 9 oz.
Liam: 15 lbs. 2 oz.

But as for height, both boys are around the 90th %:

Owen 26 in.
Liam 27 in.

This means that they've grown half a foot since birth!!! It also means that they only have 2-3 inches left to grow before we have to abandon the infant car seats, and since I live in a third floor walk-up, that means I'll have to start carrying the boys up and down the stairs without the car seats. Plus, the double snap n go stroller will become obsolete. Sigh.

In other news, we have started supplementing with formula because the tandem feedings were getting too out of hand. So now I pump several times a day and whatever else I need I just whip up some formula. It seems to be working well, except for the fact that I think the boys are milking (bad pun, I know) the overnight feedings for all they're worth. Hence, I'm getting little sleep. Since we've moved to mainly bottle feedings, we have also graduated to size 2 nipples, which make for somewhat quicker feeds. We tried the size 3, but it was a little too much for them.

Leaving on a jet plane

That's right... if all goes well, tomorrow will be the boys' first plane trip. We're going to Boston to see the family and I'm a little bit terrified about the whole ordeal. First, there's a one hour drive to Richmond, then a shuttle from long-term parking to the airport, then breastfeeding in the airport and getting the double stroller, the two carseats, the diaper bag, my shoes, the two bottles of breastmilk, and the boys through security. If we manage to make it through all of that, then we have to get on the plane. Since the FAA won't allow a carseat in an aisle seat and the plane that we're taking only has two seats per row, I'll have to carry one of the boys on my lap, something I hadn't wanted to do. I'm sure it will all be ok, but it all seems very daunting right now.

In other news, tummy time has taken on a whole new dimension in the past couple of days. Check out this head control! I have been waiting for them to be able to lift their heads high enough to get a good picture on tummy time, and today both boys gave me several excellent shots. That's Liam in the blue (and I think it's Nancy Pelosi in the background), and Owen is in the white onesie. Now that they are smiling and more alert they are really getting to be a lot of fun.

Poor little Owen

Sigh. This is a picture of Owen smiling the other day. Unfortunately, there was little of this today. After a tandem feeding this afternoon, Liam came off the boob content and Owen pulled off at the same time sobbing. It quickly turned into a complete and utter meltdown, worse than either of them have ever been. He just screamed and screamed for about 15 minutes until it wore him out and he fell asleep. That only lasted about 10 minutes before he woke up for round 2. Fortunately, Liam was on his best behavior and didn't let out so much as a peep as he quietly dealt with being neglected for the better part of an hour. Even more fortunately, his father arrived just after round three and entertained him for the rest of the evening while his brother went through a cycle of waking up sobbing, nursing for a few minutes, sobbing some more, and whimpering to sleep. Owen's little rump was violated several times in order to take his temperature but it never went over 100 so the nurse at the pediatrician's office said it wasn't necessary to bring him in unless he kept at it. He finally was so exhausted at 7:30 that I managed to put him to bed, and though he's whimpered a few times since then, he hasn't erupted again (yet). It looks like it might be a long night.

STTP

For those of you not familiar with baby-related abbreviations, the title of this post refers to the fact that the boys can now be considered to be sleeping through the night. Of course, I say this now and I'm sure I'm jinxing it for months to come, but last night, at least, both boys went down at nine and didn't wake up until six. That's nine consecutive hours of sleep, which translates into five consecutive hours for me plus one hour of dozing from five to six wondering if they were ok.

In other news, the boys had their two month check-up today and weighed in at 11 lbs. 4 oz. (Owen) and 11 lbs. 8 oz. (Liam). Liam, though, was cheating by holding in his poop until right after being weighed, thus requiring two consecutive diaper changes on the exam table. I would have liked to weigh him again after pooping, but instead both boys were subjected to four shots a piece, which they did not enjoy in the least. They were a little out of sorts for the rest of the day, very tired and rather cranky, but that made it easy to put them to bed. Speaking of bed...

Pre-pregnancy jeans!

1 week

8 weeks

My, how we've grown!

And still just as cute!

As one might surmise from the title of this post, today was a momentous occasion in that I was finally able to put on a pair of pants from that long lost world of pre-pregnancy. I still officially have 17 pounds to go to get back to my original weight (don't forget that I gained 60) but I'm convinced that a good portion of those 17 pounds is housed in my ginormous boobs. In any case, I was rather pleased that the jeans not only fit but didn't even feel as tight as they had been at times even before the boys were conceived. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the fact that I've lost a good deal of muscle, but that's not the point. I celebrated the milestone with not one but two trips to the park today, and on the second one I even managed to run about half a mile while Jon strolled the babies.

Today was also momentous because little Liam managed to sleep 8 hours straight last night. Unfortunately, Owen chose last night to wake up after only 6 hours, allowing for his mother to only sleep two and a half before going down to feed him. Ok, enough about sleep. No,on second thought, I'll go ahead and answer my loyal reader's question from the other night:

"Do you feel sleep-deprived and grumpy?"

Well, now that you mention it, today I do feel somewhat sleep-deprived, but not really grumpy. It's almost 11 and I haven't pumped yet and really don't feel like doing it, but that's about it. This morning I woke up very tired, but then Liam was all smiles for some reason (maybe because he got 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep), and you can't be grumpy when you wake up to a beaming baby. It's actually rather amazing that I'm functioning so well on so little sleep since I used to cherish a good 8-9 hours a night, to say nothing of 11-12 hours on some weekends. I'm guessing I won't get those days back for a long, long time, if ever.