The Pool is Open

Today the babies are 5 months old. Hard to believe.


Sean and Aaron put on their board shorts and wanted to go surfing. I convinced them we better start slow and our whole family headed off to the pool that we frequent instead. Marcus and Will were so excited to get back in the water. Aaron was content splashing his toes in the water a little bit. Sean was not amused by the cold water.

While the big kids splashed around, the little kids hung out in the shade.


Looking cute wore them out so they took a little nap.


Marcus was a little wild man, as usual. He was all about heading out of the "baby pool" and into the "big pool". He even ditched his life jacket this year for the little arm floaty things that people call lots of things but we always called "water wings". Marcus insisted that he go off the diving board, something that he only did once last year. I couldn't believe it but he did it! Of course I had to catch him and make sure that he didn't go under water. (Making sure he didn't go under water required me to go under water.)


Will was a little more reserved about swimming, as he usually is. He was excited that he could go all the way to the deep end of the little pool this year. He did a pretty good job in the big pool, but preferred to be holding on to someone. He opted to skip the diving board but did love floating on his back, with the help of his life jacket. I was pretty bummed that when I tried to take a picture of him in the pool, my card in my camera was full. By the time I cleared off some pictures, he was out of the pool so I just got this photo of him and his crazy hair.


Speaking of his crazy hair, it was hair cut day around here. We thought maybe we would give Will a cool summer cut since his long mop just ends up sticky and gross in the heat. This is what he looked like before he faced the clippers:


And then after:


Greg, Will, and I all agreed that he will be growing his hair back to his shaggy mop style.

I thought I would try to recreate this photo that was taken in January, when Sean and Aaron were 3 weeks old.

I got out the outfits and there was no chance they would be wearing those clothes anymore. Guess these little guys grew a little over 4 months.


While I was going through all the preemie clothes, I got out the first clothes that Sean and Aaron got to wear. For some babies, their first clothes probably weren't that big of a deal. However, with NICU babies who are too sick to wear clothes because the doctors and nurses have to have access to all the wires on them, seeing my babies in clothes for the first time was huge.

Aaron's stylish monkey onesie is so narrow I can't believe that any child could ever fit in there.


Sean's first outfit he wore now only comes to his knees.

SCREAM!!!

"Okay Aaron, now for this next photo I want you to pretend you are watching a scary movie!"


In all seriousness though, you have to admit that this kid is super cute.

4 (and a half) Month Stats

Sean and Aaron had their 4 month checkup today as they are now about 4.5 months old. Both were as healthy as can be and the doctor might have even called them perfect. Sean is 12 lbs (2%), 22 inches long (not on the growth chart), and his head is 39.5 cm around (1%). Aaron is 10 lbs 3 oz (not on the growth chart), 21.5 inches (not on the growth chart), and his head is 39.75 cm around (2%). The most important thing is that even though they are still quite tiny, they are growing steadily. They are also generally very happy babies! (Although their shots today turned them into beasts.)

Sean isn't too keen on tummy time but he is tolerating it better. He prefers to be sitting up so he can see the world and can support himself in that position by just holding onto my fingers. He talks and talks all day long, saying things like "ahh", "ohh", "goo", "egg", and "yeah". In the past two weeks his ability to reach and grasp things has taken off. He loves hugging his stuffed cow, who we have named Bartholomoo. He gets mad when he drops Bartholomoo, prefers being held all the time, and smiles whenever he sees his big brothers.

Aaron is more of a fan of tummy time than Sean. He goes through phases of being able to roll from his belly to his back for several days, and then the next several days he doesn't roll. He is reaching for objects, grasping things, and bringing his toys to his mouth. When he started babbling, he didn't stop for a few days, then gave it up mostly. He like playing with his plastic keys, shaking them around, and sometimes passing them from one hand to another. He is such a sweet baby and is really smiley and happy. Then he gets hungry or tired and has one hell of a temper. He is a rather independent guy and will just hang out awake and happy on a blanket on the floor or in the swing.

One Minute

I was busy cooking dinner recently when Marcus and Will told me they were playing dinosaurs with the babies. Okay, sure. They told me to come look.


You don't have to tell me that these are the best big brothers ever. (Nor do you have to tell me what an awful blogger I have been. Yes, Marcus is wearing his birthday crown because this happened back at the beginning of April and I never blogged about it.) I went back to cooking. For just a minute. Seriously, I was only gone a minute before I decided to peer back over the couch to make sure everyone was still playing nicely. And this is what I saw:

Those palm tree things by Aaron's feet were originally on his belly but I moved those before taking the photo because they looked like they were stabbing him in the face.

This reminds me of the website http://stuffonmycat.com/ . Maybe we will start stuffonmybaby.com.

Extreme Couponing

I used to cut coupons. It really saved some money. I wish I had the time these days plan my grocery shopping around the deals at the store. These days I don't even have time to grocery shop. I make Greg do it.

I did a little research back in my bedridden pregnancy days. It turns out that lots of companies have "multiples programs", or are at least nice enough to send you things if you take the trouble of contacting them. A couple months after Sean and Aaron were born, I sent out about 60 letters to companies asking them if they had any deals or programs. Many of the letters got sent back undeliverable. However, lots of companies sent me coupons. They weren't just your regular Sunday paper coupons. The coupons were for things like FREE packs of diapers or FREE baby food or FREE wipes. I still have a stack of coupons for baby food that I figured I would hold on to since Sean and Aaron aren't showing a bit of interest in food yet.

The result of my shopping was all of this.

The total came to $93. I whipped out my coupons. I had so many coupons that a manager had to come over to approve my purchase. The end result, just $25. I realize it was a far cry from the awesomeness of the people on that couponing show on TV, but for me, it was a very successful shopping trip!

Bunked

I think my kids have had more sleeping arrangements than any kid out there. There have been cribs and cosleepers and toddler beds and more toddler beds and cribs turned into toddler beds and inflatable mattresses on the floor and pack 'n plays and twin beds. Finally I think Will and Marcus are in their long term beds. When we moved into our house, two of the bedrooms had built in loft beds. We ripped one of them out and made the other into a bunk bed. At some point last year Marcus moved into the bottom bunk. The deal was that when he turned 5, he would be able to move up to the top bunk. We figured we would move Will to the bottom bunk and do something special for him with the added bonus of hoping it would help him stay in his bed. What we ended up with was two very satisfied customers.

Good-Bye April

I really sucked at blogging in April. Most days it came down to living life instead of writing about it. So in April, it rained here. A lot. We could have just hung out inside and bored as we waited for the world to dry out,

but we managed to keep busy.

Sure, there was some times we didn't do much but sleep though.


There was some thumb sucking (and fist sucking) going on.


The babies tried out the Exersaucer which was once Marcus's and then loved by Will. It wasn't such a hit at first.


It got a little better.


Aaron is a big fan too. The Exersaucer wasn't made for 8 1/2 lb babies though. We've had to prop the little guys up with some towels and added a step underneath so their feet can touch.


There was some TV watching while we waited out the rain.


There was reading.


Lots of reading.


Sometimes there was nothing much to do but lay around and look cute.


Lots of laying around.


No matter what we did during April, we were happy.


We stayed pretty busy but found time to say "cheese" while eating... cheese.


There might have been some eating of sticks too.


The babies discovered this month that they like dangling things.


And for the first time they actually were in their crib. In case you didn't know, spinning little bugs hanging above your head are the bomb.


I discovered this month the best way to bathe the babies - in the bathroom sink. Marcus and Will think it is hilarious that the little guys take baths there.



And here is a random picture of Marcus sticking out his tongue.


We were all glad to see April come to an end. We were tired of the rain and ready for the sunny spring time of May to come to light. Finally May is here. And it is rainy too. That makes us mad.