... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : May 2014

Over the last few weeks the house has become a much “noisier” place! The sounds of tiny little hands smacking on the floor, the THOUSANDS of toys that sing the alphabet (in both English and Spanish), the constant baby babble, the happy squeals, and the other random noises they are learning to make. There is also often music playing so I can see their other new “trick” –dancing! The babies love to dance and bounce. They have officially hit the double digits and we have only a few of those little stickers left! I can hardly believe how fast the last ten months has flown by. I feel like they have made some major changes over the past few weeks and life around here has been all the more interesting as a result.

The biggest news of all is that Landon no longer has to wear his DOC band. :) He was becoming overwhelmed with it and we were taking it off for longer stretches of the day the last few days – not to mention that we had a few 90 degree days mixed in there. Imagine wearing a toboggan on a 90 degree day! We go back next week for the “Exit Appointment” and the new scan so we can officially see all the progress. I notice major changes! In the beginning they had said there may be a need for a second band, but in my non-expert opinion he does not need a second band. Landon is such a popular patient at Carolina’s Rehabilitation that we are going to twice a week now in order to get some time with the Occupational Therapist. It is common for babies with Hypotonia to need a little extra help from the OT as well for the hands and tactile strength. We continue to work with him at home for both his OT and his PT and are constantly impressed with the strides he is making. It is only a matter of time before he his “caught up” to other babies his age.

Physical Therapy

We took them for their 9 month appointment a few weeks ago. Landon weighed in at 17lbs 15oz and Riley was 16lbs 12 oz. She was about a quarter of an inch taller than him. Overall the appointment went well – no shots! We have already been back there twice since though! Last Friday Riley was running a fever (since Thursday) that would not seem to stay down for long and she was SUPER fussy. She was diagnosed with a viral infection (grrr). She did pretty well over the weekend, but developed a cough and then on Tuesday Landon started with that tell tale cough from January- you know the one, sounds like a barking seal. (grr again). Back to the doctor for both of them. Landon received a steroid for the croup and Riley’s sore throat/viral infection had progressed and she now had sores in her throat – unfortunately not a whole lot you can do for a viral infection. They both seem to be doing better now and hopefully this will be the last trip to the doctor for awhile.

Now on the milestones and accomplishments – Riley is “cruising” around, walking by holding on to the furniture. She pulls up on everything that she can get a hold of, including legs. She has become a very quick crawler and a few weeks ago learned to put herself into a sitting position as well. She loves to play with toys and is constantly pulling toys out of the various baskets and bins. Just in the last few days she has started randomly raising her arm in the air and gets a big laugh if you raise yours back at her. Riley did finally get her first tooth, shortly followed by her second, and she now has to bottom teeth. She loves to laugh and giggle and climb over anything that is in her way (including Jasper).

Landon is making strides daily. He is all over the place with his army crawl. He likes to get up on all fours for moments in time, especially when he is in bed because it gives him a little extra cushion. I caught him one time getting himself into a sitting position in his bed as well – that must be the place for all his tricks! He is starting his attempts to pull up on things and loves to stand. He can pull himself into a standing position, but in the words of his therapist it is an “ugly” process and we are working with him to “pretty” it up. Landon is up to four teeth at his point – the second top tooth is so close to coming through that you would swear it is there!

They have both started eating more “finger foods” like cheerios and puffs at this point. They love to eat fruit in those Fresh Food Feeder things (looks like a mesh bag attached to a pacifier.) They are officially eating three meals a day and a few snacks here and there – still getting plenty of formula though as that is the most important at this point. They are now taking baths together as well which is a lot of fun to watch! Landon sits in a bath chair and Riley just rolls and crawls all over the tub playing with the toys. I am sure that I am forgetting something, seems like things change daily around here!