Snappy Happy

Well, I've been taking more photos again..... these poor boys will be seeing stars with all the pics I take. I can't help it, they're growing so fast i need to take pics all the time :)

Here's some naked boy pics . . .

Benjamin (left) and Ethan (right) - for all pics

Benjamin

Ethan was in a very smiley mood today (that we haven't seen in a few days) so we got some nice smiley pics of him.
Ethan
Ethan

Photo Shoot!

We decided to try and take some nice pics of the boys, looking very handsome in their outfits today. Here's a selection of what we got. . . . .

Then Ethan alone. . . .






Then Benji alone . . . .

Pics and Things

All is good with our little family. We are slowly getting more sleep, and it has become common that the boys go 5 hours between feeds at night.
Ethan is losing his hair at the front. See the pic below, he almost looks bald! He still hair at the back, and although you can't see it in this picture, he is getting new hair at the front where the old has fallen out.
Benji's hair is growing more each day. You can see the short spikes on the top of his head. It is very fair.
This is Benji about a week ago, look at his poor skin. . . .
This is Benji today, his skin is looking much better. We think that in this picture he looks like Ethan. I think it's the chubby jaw . . . what do you think?
Here's a pic of Ethan. They have different eyes, but the jaw is the same.We're still doing tummy time with the boys, and their head control is getting very good. In this pic Benji is lifting his head right up. They are also getting good at holding their heads up when sitting on our laps.Below is a series of pictures of Benji, he was in a very smily mood today, so I took lots of great pics. I can't decide which is best, so i decided to upload lots!

You may notice that I dont have many new pics of Ethan on this post. That is besause poor little Ethan hasn't been feeling too well today. He has wind pain in his belly and has been awake and crying on and off for most of the day. He sleeps for about 20 mins, then wakes up crying - sometimes screaming. He has periods when he can not get comfortable in any position and is only happy when you hold him around the chest under his arms and lift him up and down like he's jumping. Nice for him - hard for his mummies as he's getting very heavy! We have given him 2 doses of Infacol (medicine for wind pain) but it doesn't last for long, and he will ba awake again screaming soon - Poor Baba!

Mother Update

I thought i'd let you know, us mums are also doing well.

Tracie is recovering well from the ordeals of the c-section, the bleed and the general stress that having twins put on her body. Throughout the pregnancy she gained 27kg (59lbs) and within 2 weeks of giving birth, she had already lost 22kgs!! (49lbs) At the 6week checkup with our OB, Tracie has now lost 24kgs (53lbs) and is well on her way back to her pre-pragnancy weight. Our OB says that Tracie's blood pressure (that became high during pregnancy) is now back to it's normal healthy range. Her scar is healing well and her uterus is no longer palpable. Tracie also had her blood taken, and her iron levels and Hb (that were low after the birth) were great - the levels were higher that they had been throughout the pregnancy.
All is going well post partum!

Tracie is planning to have about a year off work and look after the boys, so plans for work are not in her future.

Sal has to go back to work soon. As we have moved house recently, she needed to find a new job. She went for an interview last week, and now has a new job! - The very job she wanted, so she's very happy. She will start work on July 1st. Less than 2 weeks away. Sal has mixed feelings about going back to work. She knows we need the money, so work is essential, but she also would love to stay at home and play mummy with Tracie.

We have been able to get out of the house several times, though it is a mission to get everything timed well. We have to get everything ready before the boys wake up, then we feed them, load them into the car (or pram) and away we go. If everything is not ready before they wake up, it becomes chaotic! We are getting better at the whole procedure.

The routine. . .

We have our boys on the 'feed play sleep' routine. Basically that means they have their bottle of milk (feed), then have some awake time (play) then go to bed (sleep) and then they wake up hungry and the routine repeats its self. We are demand feeding at the moment, and the cycle can be anywhere from 2-6 hours long. The extremes are rare, it usually repeats every 3-4 hours.



FEED

The boys wake up hungry, and hungry boys can not be ignored. They each have their own cry to tell us they are hungry. Benji whinges, sucks madly on his dummy (pacifier) and sounds like he's saying "eg eg". Sometimes it's just one "eg" and other times it will be a whole string of about 5-6 "eg eg's"!!
In this video he says only one "eg" in the middle of his whinges.

Ethan says 'eh eh eh' and pants a lot in between cries.

Each boy is given his bottle and is allowed to drink about 40mls (1oz) and then we take away the bottle and give him a burp. If we don't, he'll get a lot of gas, and a belly ache and throw up! The poor little loves don't like to be burped because they are still hungry and they only notice that their food has gone :(

We burp them either sitting on our lap, or over the shoulder. Either way, it's an upright position. Ethan knows that he gets food in a laying down position, so sometimes when we're trying to burp him, he tries to lie him self down, and kisses the air in the hope of getting more food. Otherwise he allows us to burp him while he sighs with every breath out and makes a squeaky noise when he breathes in. Sounds like "ahhhh eh, ahhhhh eh, ahhhhh, eh" It's a funny noise. Benji usually just grizzles and wriggles during his burping procedure Sometimes he likes to have a dummy to suck on while he's being burped. Both boys can make burping very difficult!!

When we lay them back down after their burp, they ask for more food. Watch their mouth. . .

Benji first . . .

Then Ethan . . .

After finishing their burp (which can take 10 seconds or several minutes) they continue to have more milk. Benji is a quiet but messy drinker and will often soak his bib and his clothes with milk and require new clothes. Ethan is a noisy drinker, and pants and squeaks and sighs towards the end of his bottle. He is much neater and hardly even needs to wear a bib. Each boy drinks 100-140mls (3-5oz) each, depending on how hungry they are, and after having several burps, it's on to play time.

PLAY

Play time can be anywhere from 5 mins to about an hour or more, depending on how tired they are. A 5min play time is basically a nappy change and a short cuddle for a very tired boy. A longer play time may be some tummy time, or lying on their back on their floor mat. They may also have a story read to them, a song sung to them, have a cuddle with mum, look at some toys, go for a walk in the pram, have a bath, listen to music or lie in their rocking chair. . . . .or a combination of these things.

SLEEP

We put them to bed when they are showing us some tired signs. Benji gets tired quicker than Ethan. Benji gets very grizzly, he gets the jerky arm and leg movements and clenched fists. He gets wrapped for bed and he likes to be sung the song '10 little ducks' while being held upright and looking at your face and bobbing up and down. After a few verses, he will become more relaxed and can be put to bed. Because it's winter, we warm their bed with hot water bottles before they get in. We put him into his warm bed and usually within about 30secs he will start to cry. All he needs is a dummy and a little pat on the belly and we say "shhhh, shhhh, shhhh" to him and he calms down quickly. He will usually be quiet for another 5 mins sucking on his dummy. He will then spit out his dummy, have a few little grizzles over the next minute (that we ignore unless he really cries) and he will then put himself to sleep.

Ethan is a much more alert baby. He can tolerate more awake time than his brother, and will often go to bed after Benji. Ethan does not have as many obvious tired signs, but will sometimes get clenched fists and start to grizzle. He also gets wrapped for bed and will be put next to his brother in the same cot. He will usually cry after being put down, and will like to have a dummy and a pat on the tummy and a little "shhhh shhhh shhhh" will help him calm down. Often that is all we will hear from Ethan, he will spit his dummy and fall asleep without crying. If Ethan starts to grizzle or cry he needs to be soothed again. He is not as good at self settling as his brother.

In the ideal world, the boys will fall asleep at this point, and not require much attention. They are getting very good at falling asleep quickly after their night time feeds, but in the day, sometimes it takes them much longer to settle and we will have to go and "shhhh shhhh shhhh" them and pat them on the belly and give them their dummy, or a cuddle or whatever they need to help them sleep. It can take anywhere from 5 mins to over an hour to settle a boy for sleep. They will then sleep for 1-5 hours, and the routine repeats its self.

Photos again.

Sal had a great time taking photos today. Ethan was very co-operative, and we got lots of nice pics of him . . .


Benji wasn't interested in having his photo taken today. This is about the only pic of him that he's not screaming!

Our little bald looking baby is getting some hair at the back. It is a very fine strawberry blonde colour. It is longer around the back and very short on top. Each week we can see it's getting longer!

Bath Time

The boys like their bath time. We usually bath one boy each. Today Sal bathed Ethan.

First he gets undressed... Then he has a little swim...
Then he gets dry..
Next is Benji's turn. He was bathed by Tracie today...

After getting undressed he has a good old kick and wriggle in the water...

Then he gets dryAnd then dried again with the next towel (because he pee'd on the first one!)
Next he has a massage on his belly and back.

Bath time happens every 2-3 days. The boys usually wake up and have some milk, then a bath, then more milk then they have a good sleep. Bath time makes them very tired little boys. They always look and smell so nice after a bath!