Boys' First Christmas

The babies are 15 weeks old today.  Can't believe how time flies... they are huge!  Here are their stats from Saturday's Synagis injection...

Evan 13#, 23.5" long, head 41cm
Ryan 13.3#, 23" long (don't know if I buy that), head 41cm
Collin 13.2#, 24.25" long, head 41cm

 We had the second white Christmas that I've been able to remember in Oklahoma.  Actually, it was a little more than a white Christmas... it was a record breaking blizzard!  Oklahoma City had 14.1" of snow in less than 12 hours (some reports said 8, I don't know, it was a lot) on Christmas Eve.  Aunt Steph was at our house, Dee and Harold and Mike were driving in from KC, and Grammy, Daniel, Marmee and Bear were at their house.  We had plans to head over there for dinner and church, but then church got cancelled and dinner got postponed.  Sean got the fire going and cooked a lovely Christmas Eve dinner for Steph and I while we sang carols to the boys.

Christmas morning we got up and took photos of the boys with their stockings...

Evan, Ryan, Collin

Then braved the roads to get to Marmee and Bear's and see everyone.

Evan

Ryan

Collin

Ryan

Evan

We had a lovely Christmas and dinner, and the next day got to repeat the festivities when Grandma Susie and Grampa Pat, Uncle Eric and Aunt Kathleen came over here.  Definitely not the usual Christmas celebration, but fun nonetheless.  We can't wait until the boys are old enough to understand the holiday and enjoy the celebration, but on the other hand there were many comments about how different it would be with 3 toddlers...

Collin

The babies are such fun right now.  They are pretty much smiling non-stop, cooing, and even giggling or laughing a little.  I was nostalgic about their newborn stage, missing their tiny sleeping bodies, but I love this stage too!  They are still major cuddle bugs and just melt into you when held, and we still take naps together on the couch or pull one or more into bed with us when they wake up early.  I love the cuddles and snuggles!  And the smiles just melt your heart.

They are getting better at holding their heads up, they can sit when supported, or spend some time in the jumperoos, but it still has a short timespan.  The head issue caused me to pick up on something that I hadn't, Evan has Torticollis.  His head is always to the right.  He can move it to the left, he just doesn't.  And if his head is straight, or he is trying to hold it up, it eventually moves so he is facing right.  He has a very mild case, but his head is a little uneven from it already.  We're very optimistic that now that we have recognized it and can work on it he won't have any lasting effects.  When we went to the doctor about the Torticollis, I also asked him about the puffiness under Evan's left eye.  About 3 weeks ago it came up and looked like a bruise, so we put him on the far right in the crib to protect it from his whacking brothers.  It looked better, then worse, then better, etc. but never went away.  The doctor thinks it is a deep hemangioma, similar to Ryan's superficial one but underneath his skin.  Since it may be obscuring his vision he wants to address it by getting an ultrasound of it and then start him on medication (propanolol) for it.  We go in on Monday at 7:30 for the ultrasound downtown at Children's Hospital.  Good news is that both of these issues are pretty benign and once we address them shouldn't cause him any long term problems.  Especially important is that he is not in any pain or experiencing any discomfort from them... except for maybe now since I am constantly adjusting his head to look left!

Collin

Collin

That's the latest, the babies are enjoying their Christmas presents (thanks everyone!) and we are now officially in 3-6 months clothes and frantically using the last of our Size 1 diapers.  I put together a couple bags of their preemie, newborn, and 0-3 month clothes to take to Mercy's NICU where Collin and Ryan were for 8 and 9 days.  We were so excited when they could start wearing clothes after being under the bili lights and in the bili blankets, I hope other parents will think their babies are as cute in the clothes as ours were!