On Sunday we went to the NICU reunion at the Santa Barbara Zoo. We were really looking forward to seeing the doctors and nurses again. Before we went to the zoo we stopped by the NICU to say hi to the nurses who had to work that day. We have said before how wonderful and caring the staff is, but there are a few nurses that we had more than others. So we became closer to them and I swear Derby has a crush on some of the nurses! We really need to make an effort to see them more often.
Derby heard Li’s voice and broke into smiles, they have a special connection. When Loen came home we were pleased to hear that some of the nurses would “fight” over who got to hold Derby (Li was one of them)!
Loen smiling at Allison and Tomiko. Allison was Loen’s first nurse.
Martha (a respiratory therapist in the NICU) and Derby. She calls him her boyfriend. Martha has lots of boyfriends inside and out of the NICU!
Katie and Loen. We had Katie more than any other nurse and she definitely holds a special place in our hearts.
Katie and Derby
Dr. Donelly and Derby
Martha and Katie put up the welcome banner at the front of the zoo. Don’t you think the duct tape gives it a little something extra? It would have been funnier if they used medical tape to put it up (I have wrapped presents with medical tape when I ran out of regular)
Tadd, Derby, Vivianne and Katie. The girls look like an ad for teeth whitening.
Katie, Loen and Gail. Gail was Derby’s nurse the day they were born. Guess where Derby was….asleep.
I will say when I dressed the kids that morning it was cooler weather. We get to the zoo and it was warm. I felt bad they were in sweat pants and long sleeve shirts while other kids wore shorts…bad mama.
So this is WAYYYYYY past their actual 11 month birthday but I just haven’t forced myself to get back into posting. If I try and post when the babes are awake A: I feel guilty I am not spending that time playing and working with them and B: Loen crawls all over me and drools on the keys. Ok are you going to buy those excuses?? Anyways on to the…..UPDATES
Loen: At their 11 month check up she weighed 14 pounds 13.5 ounces and was 26 inches long. When I wrote before she was a slobbering mess I had no idea of what was to come. How that child doesn’t dehydrate is beyond me. We soak through numerous bibs and shirts daily. Not to mention all the toys and burp cloths that are dripping wet thanks to Lo. It must be all that teething. She has her bottom two and is cutting her fangs. No words yet but there is lots of baby blabbering going on in our house especially when they are supposed to be down for their nap. Loen went from attempting to crawl to mastering the crawl and pulling up on furniture within a week. I wasn’t quite ready for that learning curve. She also has no concept of danger. I was letting her crawl on the bed and had my hand wrapped around her ankle. I wanted to see what she would do when she came to the edge. She stopped, looked over then attempted to crawl off the edge. Thank goodness I was holding her. She has all these tiny little bruises on her noggin because she is constantly trying to pull up on things then falling. Perhaps I should buy her the thudgaurd. Tadd noticed if she falls trying to get to a toy she will cry but if she falls trying to get to: cell phone, power cords, computer (any forbidden item), she will look at you, act like nothing is wrong and continue her quest for dangerous items. Another favorite item on the forbidden list is my insulin pump. It is like she remembers it is attached to me and will look for it. I have felt tugging behind me only to find Loen pulling on the catheter line. It doesn’t hurt to have the tubing pulled out (it is insert via needle into fat) but it is a pain to have reinsert it.
Derby: Weighs in at 14 pounds 9 ounces and is 25 inches long. They have to be over 15 pounds now. Derby has 2 bottom teeth and is just cutting a fang (perhaps they should ask for their 2 front teeth for Christmas). We still only do the front to back roll. Derby now sees a Occupational Therapist (OT) and a Physical Therapist (PT) to help him work on movement. At first he thought it was fun smiling and laughing but then they started working on his muscles and having him move in unfamiliar ways. Somebody was pretty ticked off, it was sad and funny all at the same time. He is getting increasingly frustrated with not being able to move. He will try and throw himself backwards to move but alas this is one of those frowned upon moves. He has the strength he just doesn’t want to move the proper way. It will be interesting to see where we are in a month after weekly sessions with the therapists. Another down side of spending a lot of time on your back is a flat head. Derby is able to move enough to get himself into a comfortable position so placing rolls behind him so he will sleep on his side no longer works. He does this little butt scoot so he is on his back and he puts his hands behind his head. We took the twins to a orthopedic office for a laser evaluation of their head shape. They said Loen has a classic preemie shaped head but nothing to worry about. Derby’s measurements were just within the range where they would recommend a helmet. His pediatrician and the neonatologist said not to worry about it but Tadd feels if we can do anything to make their life a little better we should do it. We are still discussing what we want to do but I keep thinking how sad Derby would look with glasses and a helmet.
Mr. Flat Head
Derbs is my little chunker
Food: I spoke with the pediatrician regarding Derby clamping his mouth shut when I tried to feed him, he said to give them a couple of weeks without any solid food then try again. I bought some jars of organic baby food since a friend told me her son preferred the texture over homemade. We had a few successful bites of peas and pears (lunch is brought to you by the letter P). The Occupational Therapist was asking me questions regarding Derby’s eating style to which I answered ‘no’, then I was thinking Loen does a lot of those things. So I mentioned how Loen eats and how we have had little luck with solids. Oral issues are very common with preemies, she said if I bring Loen in with me the next time she would go over some ideas with me. So that sounds promising, I doubt we will be ready to eat cake at our first birthday but it is a start. But at the moment we are still breastfed babies (via bottle with added formula for calories). How’s the breast milk you ask (and yes I have had the Ben & Jerry’s PETA story emailed to me a few times). Well we are finally tapping into the frozen. Not that I don’t produce enough fresh but I decided to just pump 3 times a day. It has been almost a year and I am starting to loath the breast pump. Not to mention the frozen is only good for up to a year in a deep freeze. Depending on how much milk I get out when I pump I add between .5 to 1.5 ounces of frozen to the fresh milk to make 5 ounces. Derby, my little milk connoisseur, refuses to drink all frozen. I feel like I am sneaking it in. In the beginning he would stick his tongue out because he could just taste the faintest hint of frozen milk in his bottle but he is getting used to it, he still prefers all fresh. Too bad, so sad little man we need room for frozen pizza in the freezer!
Use it before it expires!
After Derby got his glasses I kept thinking he looked like a cartoon character but I couldn’t think of the name. Once again the letter P kept coming to mind but I was drawing a blank as to the character. I thought “Pemberton” (not a cartoon) then someone mentioned Pointdexter, nope that wasn’t it. Then as I started to write this blog it came to me, Peabody! I was close as Mr. Peabody was the dog and the boy was Sherman. Or maybe he looks like Chicken Little or the little kid from “Jerry McQuire”. Anybody out there have any ideas?
I will say he looks pretty adorable with the glasses on.
Rare tandem smiling pics
Ok be honest does this patch make my head look fat?
Loen looks like she is up to something
Grandpa Jim has been a great help with the twins. I manage to get a lot of laundry done when he is around
Checking out the inside of the toy basket
Is she kissing him or trying to lick him? Hard to tell
I was worried about the flight to Michigan with the twins. This would be their first time flying and we would be at the very beginning of cold and flu season. One of the twins doctors gave us a great tip of wiping down the seat area with antibacterial wipes. So we brought a a big stack of wipes and wiped off the arm rests, tray table and sides every time we got on a new plane (the first leg of our trip had one stop over, going home we had TWO stopovers). You should have seen some of the looks our fellow passengers were giving us, but hey germs can live up to 48 hours on a hard surface so why chance it? We did well on the way to Michigan because I opted to fly the red eye. I figured they could just sleep in our arms, which they did. Tadd and I got very little sleep ourselves. Tadd purchased Baby B’Airs for the twins so they could be strapped to us during the flight in case of turbulence. They worked well I guess, but when Derby was having a meltdown I couldn’t get him unstrapped to me fast enough so I could put him over my shoulder. That was a pain.
Let us do the fast rundown. Landed in Traverse City, Michigan and lo and behold who should be waiting for us? Mima T and Papa Don, I should have expected that. From here on out the twins were going to be ruthlessly spoiled. I told Jim (Tadd’s dad who also flew with us) that he probably wouldn’t be able to hold the twins while in Michigan. They were hot commodities those two. We got to the hotel, pointed out some big lake to the twins and then settled into getting the twins down for a nap so we could get some shut eye ourselves. It was pretty lax for the rest of the day. Saturday we went out to lunch and walked around for awhile . We went to this great kids store Bugs and Butterflys . We got a few new things that I have fallen in love with, I will also say the prices were better than in Santa Barbara. I got a new red sling from Sprout Pouch (since my other one that I got from our friend Michelle was too small now that the kids are bigger) a teething necklace that both of the twins are really into but you have to be ready for a boat load of drool down your chest and some new blankets that are the perfect weight for Santa Barbara. We got to meet our cousin Parker at last, but what is that? No pictures? Yea that sounds like us. (I’m sure someone has pictures but not us). After all that it was time to go back to the hotel for naps (of course) and to get ready for Dave and Lisa’s wedding.
In downtown Traverse City. Loen tried a high chair for the first time. Derbs was asleep in the sling.
It should be said that we have made it a habit of forgetting the camera as of late. Or should I say thought we forgot the camera. I was annoyed I wouldn’t be able to take any pictures only to find the camera the next day in the stroller under some diapers where I had stashed it for easy access. So the following wedding shots are courtesy of Grandpa Jim’s camera. Also at the wedding Tadd and I forgot the following: pacifiers, slings, extra diapers and wipes. Thank goodness we were staying at the hotel next door to the reception hall.
Self portrait of Grandpa Jim
Here we are the happy family (though I was cold because I forgot to bring a sweater. The kids are warm though). This was before the start of the wedding. Before Loen decided to loudly talk through all of it and I had to sneak down the center aisle to stand in the back.
Ahh, a picture of Loen showing how she can effectively make the most noise
The piper and Dave. Every wedding should have a piper. I tried to get the piper at our wedding to play “If You Want My Body” ala ‘So I Married an Axe Murderer‘. He said it couldn’t be done but I saw it in a movie dammit!
Lisa and Tadd’s cousin Dave
Ring bearer Reece and flower girl Hanna
Tadd’s Uncle Dave & Aunt Mary
Hey Derby, wake up before you miss all the fun. I’m not napping so why should you?!
I swear the kid had pants on for the majority of the wedding.
Tadd had a great time with his cousins Reece and Hanna. Here he is teaching them YMCA. Reece wants Tadd to move next door. Tadd is like the crazy Uncle that does all the dangerous circus tricks why others gasp in horror, but the kids love it
I love how Reece is having a great time.
(From L-R: Don, Tamie, Loen, Reece, Hanna, Derby, Jim & Tadd)
Reece and Hanna got some of the disposable cameras and were taking candid shots with Tadd’s encouragement. I would love to see how those pictures turn out!
Next day: Road trip!
We got to Michigan right before the big color change
At a winery by some lake..
Art shot of the grapes
Loen LOVED this swing ( and Derbs was asleep. Imagine that)
Loen and I at the LAKE FRONT. Tadd states Michigan has the most coast line of any state in the continental United States and great beaches. I say for it to be a beach it has to include an ocean not a lake. Ah our birth states clash (can you tell where we were born? Little hint I was born in: aliforniacay)
This was a special moment during our trip, the 45th parallel.
So that is about it. We flew home and had to change planes 3 TIMES. From Chicago to Denver the woman sitting next to Derby & I puked. I will say she was kind enough to turn her head from us and puke all over her husband. I felt bad for them and gave them a clean burp cloth and a stack of antibacterial wipes to try and get the majority of upchuck off of themselves. I had to turn my head from the sight of puke dripping off the phone in the middle headrest before I got sick myself. Then of course there was the incident where I almost gouged out my daughters eye on the way home. Point is were home and still recuperating. After I post this I might get around to emptying out our luggage…..
Last week I ripped a corner of my thumbnail. It was one of those snags where it would be really hard to cut your nail because it was almost to the skin (shudder). In a recent copy of Real Simple magazine they said that super glue is a great quick fix for a ripped nail. I went downstairs to get some but of course our super glue was totally hardened. Later that day I was running errands with the twins and stopped by a drug store. I saw they had super glue single use packages, so I threw one in my cart. Now I would never have to deal with another useless tube of super glue, I would have simple easy single use! The way these little darlings work is you just screw down the top and you’re ready to go. I was so fired up about this that I decided to try it in the car. The kids were strapped in their seats in the back and I was ready for a fixed nail, YEA! So I screw down the top not realizing there isn’t a cap and super glue gushes out over my hands. I realized in a second that my hands were sticking together and to the stupid tube. I splayed my fingers out and held them in front of the air vent to try and quickly dry the glue onto my hands. All I could think about was what if my hands had been glued into a fist or better yet with the tube stuck to a finger. Then I thought of having to call Tadd to try and rescue me, so embarrassing. Long story short the glue dried into a hard glove across half of my fingers and palm and I was safe to drive home without the threat of having my hands permanently affixed to the steering wheel. After all that I was able to fix my fingernail but I don’t know if I should be allowed around super glue single use tubes again. (Hey that wasn’t as bad as a friend who glued her hand to her desk…I wont name names)
Now here is the part of the story where I talk about how I am a danger to others. Namely my daughter. (some may remember that I had almost asphyxiated my son when he was just weeks old) On the flight home from Michigan the nail that I glued ripped off. It was now a nice jagged little edge, but there wasnt anything I could do about it on the plane. We drove home from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and stopped midway to get something to eat. I was holding Loen in the restaurant (and she has become quite the wiggle worm) when she was whipping her head around and I somehow managed to scratch right under her eye with the ragged nail. At first I thought I had gouged her eyeball and felt horrible. Then I saw the scratch right under her eye and the blood looked worse when mixed with her tears. I felt so bad. We finally got home and got the twins ready for bed. Lately I have been giving Loen a toy to play with while I change her diaper otherwise she tries to roll over and crawl away. So I am showing her this rattle when it slips from my hands and whacks her in her other eye. Worst mom award moment. I am feeling even worse and explaining to Tadd why she is crying when he says “At least I have never drawn blood”. Thanks dear for trying to make me feel better.
I need to write a HUGE update with the amazing advances happening in our home, but seeing as I need to finish packing for a wedding we are flying to TONIGHT it will have to wait. I will say that Derby had his one month eye recheck. Now his right eye is turning in, the doctor had said that could happen. My poor little Derby. So now we have to patch his left eye for an hour a day to help strengthen the muscles in his right eye and he has to GET GLASSES. The glasses are not for any vision problems more to help correct the strabismus (lazy eye). We went to 3 different optical stores and looked online. Obviously stylish cool infant eye wear has yet to be invented. We tried on a cute pair of the flexible wire frames but we had to keep in mind that Loen will inevitably pull them off his face. So we went with the pair the doctor recommended as being the best and safest for a baby. They are so UGLY! The look like Mr. Potato Head glasses with a strap attached. I kid you not they don’t even have hinges. If you don’t believe me see for yourself.
I don’t understand how Loen was the one who had to come early but Derby is the twin who got the most problems. You would think it would be the other way around. I cant complain because the issues that they have had to deal with are small compared to what they could have been.
Ok I should sign off as I doubt the twins will pack their clothes themselves. They are so LAZY!
Loen crawled to her father last night. Guess it is time to invest in the kiddie korral. (though it does make them look like they are in a supermax prison)
The twins have been trying my patience as of late. They have been so needy and are so very active! I can no longer multitask with pumping and feeding the twins at the same time. I had perfected my method of propping them in their boppys with their bottles while I pumped, but not anymore. It has become a challenge to even feed them at the same time. Loen feels that the bottle should follow her as she moves all over the place. Derby in turn gets annoyed that I have to stop paying attention to him to take care of Loen. There have been times where I have felt like pulling my hair out. Should it really take almost an hour for them to eat 5 ounces apiece?? By the time they are done and put down, I pump, clean everything up only to have to start the process all over again in an hour. It is like the whole day revolves around food, making food, changing dirty diapers that are the result of the food, cleaning the bottles that held the food. It can be a little tedious and mind numbing. Which is evident whenever I try to hold an adult conversation lately. I’m all over the place and cant keep on a train of thought. Perhaps it is just a phase, right? Or is this a precursor for the mayhem to come with twins?? Today was especially bad because I think Derby may have some kind of stomach bug, stuff keeps coming out of both ends. I change a diaper, go wash my hands and come back to find he has spit up all over himself. Wash his face, go wash my hands again….what is that smell?? Yup that would be Derby in need of another diaper. Being a mom is soooo glamorous. Did I mention that Tadd has been putting in longer hours at work due to some kind of tax deadline. I know he is devastated that he cant be here to help with Mr. Poop. Is there any chance he could be making up tax deadlines just to stay at work? I should really check that out.
Loen has almost gotten crawling down. She will move her legs forward then lie on her belly so she can move her arms. The coordination required to move both arms and legs isn’t there yet but it is sooo close. Loen has also shown her preference towards ANY TOY that Derby has in his hand. She can be surround by $200 worth of toys but if Derby has one tiny plastic ring in his hot little fist she has to go forward and take it from him. I swear when she thinks we’re asleep she is whispering over to Derby’s crib:
Loen: You know why they call ME Twin A? Because I am the Alpha Twin. You know why they call YOU twin B? Because you’re here to do my bidding. And don’t you forget it little brother.
Derby: Sheesh. I cant wait till I’m big enough to sit on you. Don’t think Uncle Iain didn’t give me some sibling torture tips when he was visiting. I’m just biding my time…..
I believe that Loen will become the motivating force towards Derbys developmental progress, merely to get away from her slobbering ways. Speaking of progress the specialist was here this week and said she spoke with the head of the Early Start program, she felt we should give Derby up to 3 months to see improvement from his eye surgery. When I think it through only giving him a month to catch up wasn’t feasible. I guess I need to have more patience. He tends to favor his right side so we have been working with him by giving him toys to hold in his left hand, he is getting better. Mari said she understands how it can be hard for us regarding Derby because Loen has been making such progress. She also said that in her experience she has had only one other preemie hit milestones as quickly as Loen. That made me feel good for Loen.
Tadd updated WordPress so I am finally able to embed videos. Just to play with this new feature I thought I would embed a few.
What I am greeted by in the morning. Don’t let the adorable angelic act fool you, they can quickly morph into terrors!
The alpha twin assesses the situation and finds it not to her liking. After stalking the prey she attacks.
Both of the twins are enamored with this spider rattle. They don’t get that from me. Lately I have had some real issues with spiders. Last week I was walking down the stairs and saw a big black spider on the wall. I got a little freaked out and was thinking about what I could use to kill it. That is when the brown recluse (I swear it was) decided to jump from the wall TO RIGHT BY MY FEET. That caused me to run down the stairs screaming. Said spider met his demise via vacuum. Then yesterday I went into the garage, barefoot, and walked right by a black widow (that is for reals. Tadd confirmed it after he killed it.) Spiders are going to age me worse than the twins!
Look closely and you can see his teeth
Loen’s “Super Excited” smile
Derby’s “What you talkin’ bout Willis” face
Perhaps I shouldn’t use the flash
Enjoying some quiet time while Loen was asleep
Just checking that you don’t have anything else that I might want
Whatcha doing Mom? huh huh huh?
My secret is I slobber on every toy in a 10′ radius
All that slobbering makes me tired
Well I should go as Derby just spit up, again, and it is in his hair. Clean up on aisle one….
So I have a good excuse for not blogging as of late. Babies….yes the babes. I have barely checked my email let alone trying to put a few sentences together. But as they are sleeping at the moment I will try and post.
So we are teething with a vengeance. When Loen’s two bottom teeth cut it wasn’t that bad. I thought she took it very well. I guess that was a teaser as the real grouchy, crabby teething was yet to come. Derby as well isn’t too into the pain. Whereas Loen loves the taste of Tylenol we have to work to get it into Derby. He ends up looking like Bozo the clown with red goo all over his lips and chin. Derby has two teeth that have cut through, just the tiniest slivers can be seen through his gums.
Developmental: Loen is trying to crawl (GASP!). She gets on her hands and knees then rocks. She gets around just fine by scooting. I find her all over the place with her little slobber trail behind her (like a slug). Tadd keeps working with her but I tell him to let her figure it out on her own. Not to sound mean but I don’t want her crawling yet, I want Derby to catch up a little more before she starts cruising the house. Derby can now roll from front to back. We think he is only doing that to try and escape Loen who’s life mission at the moment is to torment and lick Derby. He is “talking” and likes to chew on his hands and binker. He still wont pick up toys which drives me nuts but he does seem better since the surgery. Not the big turn around like I was hoping but he seems happier and is able to focus better. It has been hard for me to come to terms with how delayed developmentally Derby is. I kept banking on the fact that he was having trouble seeing but now that he has recovered from the surgery I can tell he doesn’t do things the same as Loen. We know of the many different problems that micropreemies can have. I often shunted that info to the back of my brain but it has been rearing its ugly head as Derby gets older. Yes he could just be a slow starter, he could grow out of this and catch up or he may have some disabilities. The other day I was so depressed and feeling like crap thinking of it when lo and behold California Children Services called. They said they had a referral to assess Derby. He went on to tell me that for insurance to pay they have to give either a diagnosis or what they call a “rule out”. So it sounds like they might use “Rule out cerebral palsy” to get the proper authorization to treat Derby. He will be assessed and will work with therapists in addition to Mari (our child development specialist) who comes weekly. I am grateful that California has so many services that we are eligible for. Having physical therapy for Derby is one more tool to getting him on track. With all that said Tadd and I have been fairly blah this week just thinking about it and worrying about the future. I will end the developmental chapter by saying Derby is so happy when you walk into the room to pick him up from his crib. He gives the most excited gasp like he cant believe you came back! They have us in the palm of their hands.
Food: I have tried bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots. Loen just isn’t into it. She will eat a couple of bites but will spit most of it out and then make a huge mess. Occasionally she will try to lick some off of her bib but it is a lot of work for what I believe to be 1/2 teaspoon of food going down.Derby seems to be on some type of food strike. He has been clamping his lips shut and you cant get the spoon past. I have tried making him laugh then putting the food in when his mouth is open but he spits it out. I don’t push it, they drink enough breast milk and solid food will be waiting when they’re ready. They have been working on holding their own bottles though. Loen can do it all by herself (of course) and Derby is getting the hang of it.
We tried them in a swing recently. Loen seemed to like it. Derby wasn’t too sure of it…as usual.
My family came out to visit last week. Being a part of a big family there is lots of joy and some frustration. But what do you expect when you have your brothers around, you fall into some of the old patterns of when you were younger.
Derby hangin with Uncle Guy
Loen thinks Uncle Iain is a crack up
Derby decided he would rather sleep on his mother
The twins are so cute they have to shop incognito
Loen and her Meemaw. Notice the super cute new barrette
I have a post in the works but some people who I wont name (I’ll give you a hint:they are under the age of 1) have been monopolizing my time with their grouchy teethy demands…sheesh. But since it has been so long I thought I would throw up a few pics to string you along.
Testing Grady’s birthday gift before I wrapped it.
“Alright Dad now push me down the driveway as fast as you can”
Yup this here is Tonka Tough
My favorite Derby smile, he likes to show you his tonsils. If you look at the roof of his mouth you can see how the 9 weeks on a breathing tube molded a “trough” into his soft palate
Loen modeling the latest in “Too Cool for School” eye wear
She also has no concept of danger. I was letting her crawl on the bed and had my hand wrapped around her ankle. I wanted to see what she would do when she came to the edge. She stopped, looked over then attempted to crawl off the edge. Thank goodness I was holding her. She has all these tiny little bruises on her noggin because she is constantly trying to pull up on things then falling. Perhaps I should buy her the 
