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They have now hit 9 months. The babes are growing up so quickly. The NICU is feeling farther away everyday.

UPDATES

• Loen: Weighs 13 pounds 8 1/2 ounces and is 25 inches long. She is now the proud owner of 2 bottom teeth. Her hair has had a major growth spurt. It is like she is a Chia Pet or one of those Play-Doh heads that you squish the hair out of.

  

  I went and bought her baby barrettes the other day. So cute and they are made to hold only a few pieces of hair. You might think I dress her up like a little doll….and you are correct. I love picking out outfits and getting them ready. Tadd wont even put pajamas on them now without asking what they should be wearing. She is a baby on the move. What with the rolling and squirming she can effectively move herself all over her crib. Tadd and I often find in her in a different place and position every time we go check on her. We spend most of our day on a big sheepskin rug that I covered with a quilt. Why a quilt you may ask? Two reasons, one Loen likes to take handfuls of the fur and put them in her mouth, I’m sure that cant be good. Two they both still spit up. I would rather wash a quilt versus a $150 cleaning bill for the rug. But like I was saying about the moving, the other day they were playing on the rug so I went and put their bottles in the dishwasher. The kitchen is steps away from the front room and I could see them. In a matter of seconds Loen rolled off the rug. When I went to put her back on it, I found her face down….licking the wood floor. I freaked out a little bit. NICU cleanliness habits die hard. She seems to have survived though. Loen was assessed by the NICU follow up team and the Early Start program last week. The NICU physical therapist said she felt Loen was closer to the 1-2 month mark in her milestones. I had a hard time accepting that. Can you really assess a child in 15 minutes, a child who needed a nap nonetheless? Early Start felt she was hitting all the milestones in the 3-5 month range. Still delayed but doing well for a micropreemie.

• Derby: Weighs 13 pounds 8 ounces and is 23 1/2 inches long. We thought for sure he would weigh more than her this time around. He feels so solid and compact. Maybe the key word there is compact. I guess 1 1/2″ makes a big difference in weight distribution when your only 2 feet tall. Still no teeth. I can see the pearly white buds glistening just under the surface of his gums. It is hard to check if they have actually broken through because he likes to stick his tongue out when you open his mouth. Derby is so much like his father. He is awake and smiling at 6 am.  You look at him and he gives a happy little squeal and smiles at you. He is ready for whatever the day has to bring. He will go back to bed if you snuggle him or lie him beside you. Loen is like me in that she will sleep much longer. We wake them up at the same time just to keep them on the same schedule. But she wakes up with the biggest grin and sleepy eyes. Derby has really been more social in the past week. Lots of smiles, even for strangers. He also has been “talking” a lot. Yesterday at Costco I don’t know what his deal was but I’m pretty sure it involved the words “Hey, Mom. Hey Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom can I have that??” At the NICU followup Derby decided he would have none of it. I take that back, he had a great time seeing Martha and Katie. He was making lovely cooing noises for Katie. When we switched to the physical therapist room Derby was done, D-O-N-E. He fell asleep and could not be woken up for the assessment. I handed him to the therapist and his head just fell forward still asleep. We tried talking to him…nada. We get to the car to go home, and yup, you guessed it. Awake, smiling, ready to go have some fun. Mari, our child life specialist, has said before that when things get too stressful he “checks out” by going to sleep. She has seen it in other preemies who have had a rough start. He is more delayed then Loen but again it is felt to be due to his vision problems.

Loen is so very animated. I swear she is trying to tell me things

Loen also likes to taste everything

They were enjoying a little naked time (with a diaper on of course, I’m not that carefree)

Working on their wrestling skills

Passed out during play time