First Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with our new family. The boys got the Christmas gift that keeps on giving ... circumcisions !!! We had about a foot of snow fall over the course of a week and it didn't start melting until yesterday, so it made for a white Christmas, but difficult driving. Fortunately, our minivan (now affectionately known as The Mule) has all-wheel drive and was able to get us everywhere we needed to get.

Weight update:
Sam - 9lbs
Ben - 9lbs, 6oz

Note: This was as of this past Wednesday. These two were seriously hitting the Christmas cookies, so it could be higher by now. Someone mentioned that you're not supposed to feed cookies to 7 week olds, but I'm pretty sure they had no idea what they were talking about.

Lastly, Ben and Sam (particularly Sam) are starting to smile for other than gastrointestinal reasons. It's amazing.

Here are some pictures ...

This is what I'm looking at right now as I type

This was all Mama's doing

Christmas photos




Makes all the late nights worth it



Tiny hands ... and to think they've already basically doubled in size



The boys love their Grandpa Ron

The boys love their Grandma Jo

The boys love their Grandma Pat

Lots to update

Sorry for the lack of postings lately. Things have been nuts.

As for the boys, they are doing well. Had some drama this week. Sam started snorting on Monday night, which isn't all that unusual. It got a bit worse on Tuesday and when we took he and Ben in for the circumcision on Tuesday, the doctor was concerned about his breathing in the pre-clip evaluation. I gotta admit, I'd be breathing pretty fast in that situation also. So, instead of circumcisions, Sam got admitted to the hospital for observation overnight and Ben got sent home. Mama spent the night with Sam and my Mom and I teamed up on Ben. Strange part is that Sam did great and Ben started having stuffy nose problems, so Mom and I had a long night. Then Sam's issue started up again yesterday and Chris had to take him to the doctor. The doctor said that it's just an issue with where Sam is in his airway development. He'll said Sam will grow out of it in the next few weeks. Aside from the issues this week, Sam is growing and doing well. Ben is doing fine also. He's quite the little chunk. Sam is about 8lbs, 4oz now and Ben is just under 9lbs.

Have I mentioned we have 6 inches of snow and have 6 more coming?

Grandma Pat is still here. She's scheduled to leave on January 11, but we're probably going to extend her stay into February. She's pretty torn up about having to stay and spend more time with her grandkids, let me tell you. I'm looking forward to having the next two weeks off to spend with the family. Been out of my mind excited about it, in fact.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season.

Doctor's appointment

Had the boys into the doctor for their 1 month checkup yesterday. They are doing really great. Sam is up to 7lbs, 2oz and Ben is up to 7lbs, 11oz. Both have gained approximately 2lbs since they were born a month ago. Doc even said we can back off the three hour feeding schedule at night if they are sleeping longer. WOOHOO !!!!

Full-term

This past Monday would have been Sam and Ben's original 40 week due date. We feel blessed that we got three-and-a-half bonus weeks with our little guys. They are growing and thriving and fussing like babies do. We are looking forward to going back to the doctor on Monday to see how much their weight has increased.

Mama went in today for her 4 week post-baby check and got a clean bill of health. Her recovery has gone really well. I'm back to work full-time for a few weeks and then will take the last 2 weeks of the year off. Really excited for our first Christmas together as a family. Our last few Christmases were admittedly pretty rough, as we wanted children so badly and hadn't been blessed with them yet. I'll be decorating the tree this weekend. Can't wait.