Babies' First Swim

As previously mentioned, on the day the boys turned 3 months, they had their first trip to Mema's house and their first dip in Mema's pool. Logan liked it right away. 

When Steve put Riley's legs in, he immediately started to cry. Once he calmed down, Steve tried again, but Riley kept holding on foot out of the water.

After a little while, he got used to it. Mema kept putting Logan further and further into the pool until he was all the way in.

Riley eventually joined him and they seemed to enjoy it. Man did their diapers hold a lot of water.

Plum tuckered out after a day of swimming...

Here's the video of Riley and Logan's first swim!

Blogger made me split the video in 2.

 Here's part 1:

Part 2:

3 months update!

Yesterday, 6/21, the boys turned 3 months old!

Size

At one month, Riley was  7lbs 14 oz  according to our scale at home. At two months, he was 9 lbs 14 oz, and now at three months, he is 11lbs 1 oz. He has finally grown out of the newborn pants for the most part (some things run large) and has grown out of the 0-3 Gerber onesies. The 0-3 Carters onesies still fit quite well, and are even a little loose. 0-3 pants are still a little big but no longer go up to his nipples, and the only shorts that don’t look like pants are the above the knee type.

Logan fits the carters 0-3 onesies perfectly at this point, but has the same issue as Riley with pants and shorts. Some newborn shorts still look like pants on him. According to our scale at home, he was 8lbs 8 oz at one month, 10 lbs 8 oz at 2 months, and is currently 12 lbs.

Eat-Sleep-Play

Riley has switched formulas yet again. He is now on the hypoallergenic formula. The Zantac worked for a bit, but he started having trouble eating again last week. We stopped giving him breastmilk yesterday, as we are trying to determine exactly what the problem is. Logan is still on the sensitive formula and breastmilk. They eat every 3-4 hours during the day and typically only wake up once during the night. Their last feed is between 8 and 10, they typically wake up between 3 and 5am and go back to bed. Riley is usually wide awake by 7:30, but they have slept as late as 9 (these days Riley gets his Zantac at 8). Logan eats 4-4 1/2 oz pretty consistently and even eats 5 oz once in a while. Riley is a wild card – he will eat anywhere from 2-4 ½ oz. These new issues are a lot like his old ones, but typically he’ll drink 2 oz and then cry. He doesn’t screech like he used to or bat it out of the way, but it still takes an excessive amount of time and coaxing to feed him. His little belly is so much smaller than Logan’s (but he makes up for some of the weight with his giant head).

The boys love laying in their activity gym and batting at the toys and kicking the chimes. We added toys to their carriers this month since they finally began to interact. While they did not care for Mortimer the Moose or the duck, they both quite enjoy Jacques the Peacock. They love to crinkle his feathers and look at the black and white design on his back. Logan also likes the set of dice one of my coworkers gave him (Thanks Chris!). Both of them also like to hold a set of plastic keys. The ring is nice and skinny so they can get a good grip on them. They will hold anything we hand them at this point (well anything that fits in their tiny hands). This means they also like to grab hair, jewelry, shirts, and occasionally skin.

Personality

Both Riley and Logan are smiley, smiley kids. When they see mommy in the morning they get very excited and start smiling and talking (baby talk) a LOT. Riley makes a wider variety of noises, but Logan talks more often. Logan is a bit crankier than Riley in general, but they are both really good babies. They aren’t usually very fussy and when they are, there is almost always a good reason. Sometimes they are fussy because they just want to lie flat on their backs, and not sit in their chairs or be held. They are easy to put to bed (we put them in bed still awake) and happy to sit and play with us. When they are really fussy, the swing usually calms them down.

Likes:

Riley: His chair, his pacifier, hitting or kicking toys in the activity gym (especially the chimes), being swaddled, the swing, Jacques the peacock, the plastic keys with the skinny ring, being held, laying on his side, having his diaper changed, being talked or sung to, and sleeping with his arms straight up, “talking”, and burping on his own while eating.

Logan: Eating, his pacifier, sleeping with his arms spread out, laying on his side, being held on his side, his chair, being talked or sung to, Jacques the peacock, the plastic keys with the skinny ring, being carried around (he is curious and likes to look around), the swing,  having his diaper changed, “talking”, and being swaddled.

Dislikes:

Riley: Waiting for food, having gas, tummy time (although he’s coming around), being burped mid bottle (back at that waiting for food thing), and not having his pacifier

Logan: Waiting for food, not having his pacifier, tummy time, pooping, and having gas

New this month:

Cooing a lot (makes last month’s noises sound like nothing), smiling in response to things/people, laughing (an infrequent chuckle), rolling on their sides, holding toys, grabbing objects, Riley’s unassisted burping, Logan’s ability to scoot from the top of his crib to the bottom (how does he do it?), noticing each other (as more than something to suck on).

Note: At 3 months and 1 day, Riley rolled over from his belly to his back!

On the 3 month anniversary of their birth, they had a lot of firsts.... first trip to Mema's, first time leaving the state, and first time in the pool! Pictures and video to come!

Security blankets

Go Giants!

Daddy loves this picture of a sleepy Logan

All is good in the hood...

Logan had his echocardiogram on Tuesday, and everything was fine.  He was quite interested in watching the monitor, and was incredibly well behaved. The technician liked how he kept trying to grab the ultrasound wand.  She kept saying that he’s going to be the next famous heart surgeon. He really had a grand ole time at the appointment.  (And Riley was happy to have solo time with Mema)

Next month he will be seeing a physical therapist for torticollis (the muscles on one side of his next are longer than the other, so he tends to look right). Apparently this is very common in multiple births because of the cramped quarters in the womb.

Riley HATES getting his medicine and screams the whole time, but man has it helped! It went from being a struggle to get him to eat 3 oz to him downing 4 ½!  Now maybe he’ll be able to catch up to his brother.  Kind of hard to gain on him weight wise when he wasn’t willing to eat!

The boys are both adorable and are talking up a storm! They have hit that really awesome stage where they smile a lot and are always cooing. The more you talk to them the more they talk back. They are even starting to laugh. They were cute before, but we are really enjoying this age. They are so interactive and so much fun. They love to grab things and have started playing with toys. Right now they both prefer Jacques the peacock and the plastic ring of keys. I am thinking that if they like the same toys at 12 weeks, we are going to have two of EVERYTHING when they are bigger.

Pacifier thief

Talking to Daddy

Just being cute!

2 month doctor appointment

June 6th

At 11 weeks, the boys had their 2 month appointment. (Yeah, scheduling appointments with twins is a pain in the butt.) The good news is that both boys are growing nicely. Logan is now 11lbs 0.6oz and 22 ¼ inches long. Riley is still the smaller brother, weighing in at 10lbs 4.8oz and measuring 22 inches long. Although he still has the bigger head (while his height and weight were around 10^th percentile, his head size was above the 25^th!)

The nurse and doctor seemed very happy with the boys’ development. They’re starting to sleep a little longer at night (6 hours) and vocalizing a lot. Logan and Riley like to smile and coo a lot when we talk to them and sing to them. On the bad side, the doctor heard a soft murmur in Logan’s heart, so he’ll be going for an EKG next week to make sure everything’s okay.

Oh, and the boys did not like their vaccines. Neither seemed to be a big fan of the oral rotovirus vaccine, but that was cake compared to the two injections each had to get. Talk about some big needles! They got the DTaP shot in one leg, and before I could comfort them, they got the remainder of the vaccines in the other. Poor little boys. There was some serious screaming and crying for a good minute or two, but that was about it. They weren’t really fussy at all last night.

Riley got his first prescription for zantac to try to help with his reflux. We’ve been having problems feeding him for weeks, and had been in contact with the office two or three times looking for advice. It’s a bit annoying that it took this long, but my fingers are crossed that this will help him out. He’s definitely not a fan of the medicine, but it’s got to be better than the pain he seems to be in while he eats. 

Baptism

On Sunday, June 3^rd, we were baptized! Our families were impressed with how well we were behaved during mass – we didn’t make a peep! After mass the baptism began.  There were two other babies being baptized, both girls. We totally won baptism…. We had WAY more people there to support us than both of those other babies combined! I guess that happens when you have Italian and Irish Catholics for parents!

We were so well behaved during the ceremony. First this guy put some sort of oil that smelled like salad dressing on our chests. Then he poured more water on our heads than daddy does when he gives us a bath! Riley’s clothes got all wet. We thought it was a little weird to take a bath somewhere other than our bathroom, with our clothes on, while Aunt Lynda and Kimmy held us, but we didn’t complain. Then while Uncle Anthony and Uncle Chris held us, that guy put more smelly stuff on our heads!

After we took a million pictures (because man we looked good) all 46 of us went to a restaurant. We think between both of us, we were held by about 38 different people there. We just kept getting passed from person to person! Everyone loved us so much because we were so relaxed – we didn’t complain once, even though no one gave us a piece of our own cake!

Logan's godparents, Aunt Lynda and Uncle Anthony

Riley being baptized

Logan being baptized

Riley being dressed

Visitors, visitors, visitors!

Found this blog entry  that was written about a month ago, but was never actually posted....

Visitors, visitors, visitors!

We have had countless visitors since we last posted about it. The Spirkos, the Capriolis, the Bradshaws, Jenn Mack, The Dudkowskis, and Mommy’s coworkers Tammy, Maureen, Danielle, and Alayna  all came to see the boys. We got repeat visits from the Hoods, Sarah, Jenn, Michelle, Lisa, and our familes of course. Here are a few photos of our visitors:

Our neighbors, TJ and Emily

Mommy's coworkers (looking at the professional photos of us)

Maureen was the "Riley whisperer"

Our cousins, the Hoods

Mammy, our great grandma

Danny and Jill

Our neighbor Jen

In addition to the visitors, we’ve been getting out a lot! Our first trip out was to the Promenade shops at Saucon Valley. It was a gorgeous day, so mom and dad decided to take advantage of it! We walked around and visited all the stores mommy and daddy normally go to with Penguin. Everyone commented on how cute we are (like we don’t know). Penguin was a very good puppy and we can’t wait to go back!

We have gone with mommy and Mema out to lunch a bunch of times. One time we had a crowd gathered around us at the Olive Garden! I guess we are okay with going, but we still get stuck drinking from a bottle – they never give us any food from the table! We have gone to the mall a couple times too!