Oh Hi

We are four months old today!

That's right!  These little girls are already four months old.  Wow!  They are old enough to begin eating solids although we're going to wait until they're closer to six months.  With Colin we rushed in pretty early and it seemed to just cause him a lot of middle-of-the-night stomach pain.  Who needs that?

This month they have each rolled over from belly to back a few times (although regretfully I have yet to witness it).  They each laughed for the first time this month too.  Caroline continues to be the more "talkative" one while Julia, a little more reserved.  Caroline laughs when you tickle her which has got to be just about the cutest thing ever!

Sleeping continues to go well.  They get up once a night most nights but we have had a few nights where they sleep until somewhere between 5:30 AM and 7:15 AM for 11 to 12 hour stretches!  We just would like that to happen a little more consistently please.  They are doing well in their cribs and continue to be good about putting themselves to sleep.  Every now and then we have to put one of them in their swings at nap time.  It's good to have those swings in reserve for tough days!  They are really busting out of their velcro swaddle blankets a lot lately.  Soon we'll have to wean them from those we're thinking.

I am down to one pump a day now!  It feels like it has been a very LONG process to stop.  This is the sixth week of my weaning journey.  I call and talk to a lactation consultant every week about the week's plan for stopping.  It has been bittersweet too.  It feels strange to root for less milk instead of more but that was the goal of course.  I have continued to be on antibiotics this whole time but even with those I had some more red, tender spots appear.   I went back to the breast specialists so that they could do an aspiration (in other words, stick a big long needle in my boob and try to extract the bacteria so that they could figure out the right antibiotic to give to me) but it wasn't very conclusive (or fun).  I go back there again on Friday just to make sure I'm healthy.

The weather has turned cooler here and we're starting to dress them in one-piece outfits with feet, nightgowns and socks...all sweet and cuddly things!  We even turned on the fireplace Sunday morning while Keith was making pancakes. I am so happy for fall!

And now for some stats.

Julia:
Weight: 13 1b, 12 oz (50th %)
Length: 24 3/4 in (50-75%)
Head: 41.1 cm (50-75%)

Caroline:
Weight: 13 lb (25th %)
Length: 24 1/2 in (50th %)
Head: 40.5 cm (50th %)

So they are doing great growth-wise.  They got four shots today and I wasn't there with Keith.  Our doctor had to hold and comfort Julia after the shots because Keith could not comfort them both at the same time obviously.  Our doc even dressed Julia for Keith!  We thought that was pretty nice of him :-)

Miss Julia

Miss Caroline