Month 2, Part 2

Warning: this post is ridiculously tardy and excessively detailed and long! Here is the 2nd half of Charlie's and Bruno's 2nd month in the world, starting with an all-time favorite...

Milk Vampire

Jan 20: Bruno is a Milk Vampire, as evidenced by this chilling photograph.

Opa can get them to sleep on their bellies, indeed something to be proud of.

Jan 21

Charlie looking at Bruno... but does he see him?  Jan 24

"Hallo Papa" and Charlie at the playground!  Jan 24

Always one of them fussing!  Jan 24

FaceTime with Ambroses on Jan 28

Bruno is patient with his sleeping brother (Jan 28)

Reciprocal sneezing, LOL!  Jan 29

Hi from the parents.  Jan 29

Jan 29: Fun Ways To Arrange Twins

First Public Appearance: CCRi Lobby, Jan 31

Modern Economy

This has almost nothing to do with babies, but I can't resist.

The tweezers actually are precise, believe it or not.

Grandpa with beautiful little Charlie, Feb 5.

Hyperactive parents check out every aspect of their babies' development, Feb 5.

Feb 5: it must have actually been cold that day!

Milo wants you to know that he can be as good a baby as anyone.

Feb 9: just, you know, getting around with our gear.

Lazy Morning in Bed, Feb 8

Feb 10-11

Feb 10

Feb 10 -- a favorite of Mama's

Feb 10 -- a favorite of Papa's

 Hallo from Papa on Feb 11

Oma and Opa love Charlie and Bruno

Feb 11: Visit from Aunt Steph and Uncle Matt

They showed us great tips on how to entertain your baby.

Birthday Glamor Shots

On the occasion of their 2-month birthday on Feb 11.

And with that, we bid you goodbye until the Month 3 update, which will feature the boys' first road trips...

Month 2, Part 1

This Saturday, Charlie and Bruno will reach 2 months old. These guys are surprising and delighting us every day. While they stretch our sanity from time to time, we've been lucky so far that they've remained healthy and that their needs have remained simple and easy to meet -- eating, burping, changing, sleeping, with some walks and play mixed in for good measure.

Things that have changed in month 2: the human child hair is coming in (though still short), their heads have grown much bigger, they reliably sleep 4 hours at a time, and oh -- we've both gone back to work!

One theme of having babies is that you have only small amounts of time to do any one thing. In keeping with that, here's about the first half of the story in pictures. I'll follow up the next time I'm awake and idle... sure to happen soon, right?

First walk "on foot," Jan 12

Jan 12 was also the day the Magic Devices of Soothing were introduced. So much more peace in the house! Just don't try to cover up real problems with them...

Play time Jan 14

 Tranquility on Jan 15

Tandem bottle feeding at its best, Jan 15 9p

Charlie, will you calm your brother down? Jan 16

More tranquility on Jan 16. For a while, they were only this peaceful during the daytime. Look out for the Milk Vampire pictures in the forthcoming Part 2.

I promise the water boiler isn't running! Jan 16

What is Bruno looking at? I find the incessant wiggling fascinating.

Bruno puts his pacifier back in, as it were, Jan 17.

 Just being adorable, Jan 17.

Possibly the last time they slept in these rockers, Jan 18.

More to come...

Plump at One Month

On Jan 11, Charlie and Bruno turned one month old. While they haven't gotten much longer, they have certainly grown much thicker. You can see it in their heads:

You can also see that they're losing their lanugo (downy fetus fur) from their heads, hopefully to be replaced by human child hair soon.

They are drinking ever-increasing amounts. It is now typical to down 120 mL (4 fl oz) at a time. We think our lives are hard, but to put theirs into perspective, I like to consider that we weigh 20 times what they do. Imagine drinking 80 oz (~2/3 gallon) of milk every three hours. I don't wonder that they feel a bit uncomfortable at times!

Tandem bottle feeding is a key strategy for preserving what is left of one's sanity.

One of Katy's favorites. Bruno on Jan 3.

Hiccups & gas on the floor, Jan 2

Charlie lively & hungry on Jan 8

Charlie gesturing & Bruno getting cranky on Jan 10

Happy momma on Jan 10 (though she's pretty much always happy).

Charlie with bottle propped. This is done chiefly so I can hold the camera or type things.

Bruno on Jan 8. I couldn't leave this out.

I would prefer the babies sleep like this, if only the pediatricians allowed!

Play by Day

I wrote that last post first so I'd be forced to follow up with something more positive and appealing. Here's a compendium of recent pleasurable daytime activities:

The boys' first bath at home led to immediate deep sleep:

 Bruno L, Charlie R

The boys enjoyed time together today on their new play mat:

Milo was not to be outdone:

Addled daddy attempts tandem bottle feeding, and the boys sort of helpfully sort of hold their bottles:

Yesterday night and tonight, we're going it alone, without help from parents or anyone, just to see what that feels like. It is going all right so far, but I think I'd better turn in. Thank goodness all I have to do tomorrow is help care for two babies!

The Evolution of Crying

Charlie's and Bruno's cries started off rather inoffensive and sympathetic, a single medium pitch started by a consonant -- either "Mmmaaaaah!" or "Nnnaaaah!" But I've seen enough of babies to know that it doesn't stay that way. They seem to develop the ability to curdle all blood within earshot using only their vocal cords. These boys seem to be headed in that direction. Recently, they have developed what Katy and I call the "Goat" cry. They only use it when they deem it absolutely necessary, so I'm still able to document a comparison. Here is the original "Nnnaaah," courtesy of Charlie:

And here, courtesy of Bruno, though both have mastered it, is the newest weapon in their arsenal. I know it will get even worse, but I would say this is not for the faint of heart:

It strikes me how energy-inefficient this form of communication is. It clearly takes the babies a lot of effort to make such a racket, and it's not necessary. If they just peeped, "Hello, parents, I'm hungry/cold/burpy/poopy" using some sort of brief and gentle gesture, I'm sure that would suffice to bring us to their side 90% of the time. I can only surmise that this type of gut-wrenching crying is left over from the days when there weren't enough resources to care for all the babies. The only equivalent to this in my world is when you're trying to get some approval past a chain of bureaucrats. Too bad this form of communication is not considered appropriate in that case!

Gotta go... I hear a "nnaaahhh!" from across the room...

A Week in the Digs

We had a happy Christmas. Katy's parents Bob and Laura were with us, and we got a visit from my parents and my brother and sister and their spouses. We also FaceTimed with Katy's siblings so that Charlie and Bruno could meet their cousin Hailey. Of course, the boys forgot to pose for pictures amid all the joyous stir. The best they could do was the following feeble attempt on the next day:

A day later, the boys enjoyed their first walk outside. We tried putting them in various wraps, but since they can't hold their heads up yet, they were relegated to the car seat stroller:

Bob and Laura left us on the morning of the 28th to fend for ourselves. We were a little terrified, and sure enough, the boys kept me awake from midnight to 6a. There are just too many reasons to fuss rather than sleeping -- hungry, needs more burping, peed/pooped again. I learned a shortcut: don't try to put him down, just fall asleep together with him on your chest. It is so nice. In the back of my head, a pediatrician was protesting, but at some point the body takes over the mind. Katy practiced this trick a day later:

We've begun giving the boys some play time together on the floor. It looks something like this (Charlie left, Bruno right):

I will leave you with a lovely image of sleep, which is inspiring me right now: