So the last month has been a busy one for us, mainly because we moved closer to Cheryl's parents in Long Beach. When Cheryl goes back to work, the child care will be left to her Mom and Aunt, so we initiated the move to make the logistics of offloading our babies on the work days is a little faster. Our move was a tough one, not only for the fact of having to do it while taking care of twin newborns (often with the help of her mom), but also because we reduced our living space by nearly half. By now we're mostly settled in and liking our new house, but we still have a ways to go on some projects needing the final touches. I have tried to take as much work off as my work will allow, and Cheryl is keeping herself busy with the twins and getting back to the gym. She's going to return back to work sometime next month, so we're trying to take advantage of the opportunity to get as much bonding with the babies as possible, as well as prepare for the rigors of full-time working with 2 babies.
The grind continues at home with Austin and Malia thriving like normal month-two month babies. This is roughly their corrected age figure, but we often see them hitting milestones much earlier than their corrected age would dictate. So they are staged somewhere between their corrected and true age, due in part to the fact that they have been accelerated on calories (and also fighting gravity since May 11th, which plays into their muscle development). We took the the babies in for their 4 month checkup on September12th, and Austin weighed in at a hefty 12 lb., 15.5 oz.; Malia was 9 lb., 1 oz. Despite the nearly 4 lb. difference in size, they are both doing well in the doctors' opinion. Austin finally made the growth charts for his true age, meaning that he ranks among the statistical percentiles for babies his age, and yet he is really only about 1.5 months old in corrected age. So his catch-up calorie plan is working quite well, but the doctors are going to continue his formula regimen through at least 6 months. Malia, despite not making the charts quite yet for her true age, is doing well for her corrected age. She has grown in length quite clearly, and is a mere 2 inches shorter than her brother.
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| Austin is a smiley boy... |
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| ...and an entertainer too! |
What we have seen in the last couple weeks is a noticeable increase in responsiveness to visual stimuli for both twins - one of the benchmarks for a 1 to 2 month baby. Austin is a little ahead of his sister in this department, and he frequently smiles back and is generally curious about his surroundings. Malia started smiling back at us sometime last week, but still occasionally prefers to gaze intently at lights and other inanimate objects rather than us.
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| Malia's first bikini, bright-eyed and ready to show off |
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| Cheryl has amassed a huge collection of headbands and bows for Malia, so she accessorizes her all the time |
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| We took the babies by to see their great-grandmother again this weekend |
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| The babies are catching lots of ZZZZZZ's these days |
Our little chubster, Austin, has grown so much, that he's now nearly outgrown 1-2 sized diapers, so we're upgrading him to size 3. He's filling out his 0-3m clothes, so we have his next sized box on deck. Malia is filling out her newborn clothes and is close to wearing her 0-3m sizes. She's still a skinny-mini... but it's nice that she's filling out more these days.
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If it weren't for her brother, I think Malia would be sleeping through the night already. Must be growing!
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The nights have gotten easier, somewhat. We're seeing the babies stretch out longer intervals between night feedings, sometimes as much as 5 hours (although rare), but usually we're only waking up to feed about twice a night. This should improve with the next couple of months, but compared to the 3 hour routine, it's refreshing. During the day, Austin is like clockwork. Every 3 hours on the dot, and he's pissed if you don't have his food ready. Malia is usually a little slower coming around to the feeding interval, but she's usually belting it out once her brother wakes her up. And if only I could convey the urgency of hungry twins crying in unison...
With the heat wave earlier this month, it became abundantly clear that Austin is not a fan of the heat. Poor guy isn't built for those extremes; he's built like Pavarotti and overheats like a Pinto heading up the Cajon pass in mid-summer. But when he's not sweating it out, he's a happy kid! It will be interesting to see what kind of personality emerges in the next few years.
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| I tried to snap this picture in the dark, but unfortunately I couldn't use a flash. Nonetheless it was too cute to pass up. Malia was sleeping while signing the "double shaka," the ultimate sign of surfer stoke. Maybe our little wahine will become a surfer like her namesake, Malia Jones... |
