8 months!

Sorry for taking so long to update the blog.  I had intended to post a while ago, but never got around to doing it.  The girls are almost 8 months old (almost 5 months adjusted age)! They have been doing well and making good developmental progress. Here's the most recent picture I have of the two of them, Aubrey left Paige right.

They're both a bit more chubby from last post, and they're both kind of bald around the sides of their head where they rub from contact with whatever they're lying on.  You'll also notice that Paige doesn't have the nasal canula tubing on her face in the picture above. A few weeks back we did an overnight oxygen saturation study, and we were given the OK remove the tubing during the day as long as we put it back on at night.  We hope to soon be done with the oxygen for good. Here Paige is all smiles the first day she got the canula off her face.  The redness on her cheeks is caused by removing the tape that secures the canula.  It usually goes away after a few hours.

After posting the two previous pictures, I noticed the girls are wearing the same outfits, just swapped, haha.

The girls' eyes are doing great also.  Aubrey was given the all clear for ROP in July, and Paige got the all clear at her next appointment in August.  The girls will have a different eye exam in November that will measure how well they see, kind of the same exam that you or I get to determine if we need glasses.

Here are the girls after a rough morning, Aubrey left, Paige right. This shows the side baldness pretty well.

We started introducing solid foods to the girls about a month ago.  Aubrey really enjoys most of the foods and will eat a lot.  Paige just tolerates it for the most part and doesn't seem to get much down.  Here's Paige getting a spoonful of sweet potatoes.

Here's Paige after one-too-many spoonfuls of sweet potatoes.

Here are both girls during feeding time, Aubrey is the one being fed.

Here they are after a hard-fought spinach battle. Paige left, Aubrey right.

Here's a video of the girls (mostly of Aubrey) eating bananas a few days ago.

For now, the solid foods are meant to be exploratory and not for nutrition.  The girls are still getting fortified formula, and they eat between 20-25 ounces each day.  Aubrey is very easy to feed most of the time.  Paige is still a struggle to feed; she can get really worked up and mad, and then it takes a while to calm her down enough so that she'll eat.

Aubrey starting cooing about a month ago, and occasionally babbles. Paige just started cooing a couple weeks ago, so she is not quite as vocal as her sister.  Both girls have been giggling the past couple of weeks.

Both girls have discovered their hands and feet.  Paige plays with her feet all the time.  They also have very basic reaching, grabbing, and putting things in their mouth skills. When we lay them next to each other they'll try to grab each others arms or legs and put whatever appendage they managed to secure in their mouth.  It's funny to watch until one gets a fistful of the other's hair and screaming ensues (I guess that's kind of funny, too). Paige is a little more adept at the reaching and grabbing skill than her sister is. She even has a favorite rattle, and whenever Aubrey starts playing with it, Paige will stop whatever she's doing and just watch Aubrey play with it. I suppose that's the start of some sort of sister rivalry. Here's a video of Paige during the first couple of days that she discovered her feet.

Neither one of the girls is rolling over yet, and they have both decided that they don't like tummy time very much anymore.  Aubrey is pretty good at pushing herself around using her legs.  The other day, we put her down on a play mat.  When we checked in on her after a few minutes she had pushed herself halfway across our living room floor and got herself stuck against the couch.

The girls love it when we sing songs that have some sort of hand movement along with the song, like the Itsy Bitsy Spider and 5 Little Monkeys Swinging In A Tree (or whatever those songs are called).

They also really enjoy being outside.  Sometimes they'll be crying for who knows what reason, and as soon as we step outside with them they'll calm down, and just quietly look around.  They seem to be espcially interested in tree leaves.  Stroller walks in the morning have been one of Andrea's go-to actions in the battle against cranky babies.  Here's a happy Aubrey.

We've taken the girls to the zoo (Paige left Aubrey right)

And to dog beach with our dog (Aubrey first picture, Paige second)

The girls attract a ton of attention everywhere we go due to the novelty of being twins.  We went to the zoo with some friends that have a baby boy about the same age as our girls.  As always happens, random strangers would stop and look at the girls and ask us all about them.  Our friends were surprised at all the attention our girls were getting.  We laughed about it and said that happens everywhere we take the girls together.  When Andrea or I just take one of them out (while the other stays behind at home with mommy or daddy), we don't attract any attention.  Kind of funny.

Another milestone is that the girls are now sleeping in their own room and each in their own crib.  It seems like almost everyone sleeps better with this arrangement.  I say almost because my sleep has not improved.  The girls have never been able to wake me up at night, so I still sleep good (Andrea not so secretly hates me for that).  Andrea sleeps better, Paige doesn't feel Aubrey kicking the mattress anymore, and Aubrey is further away from Paige when Paige cries. Paige on left, Aubrey on right.

Aubrey sleeps through the night every night.  Paige still wakes up most nights because she gets hungry, so I usually feed her around 1 or 2 AM.

Andrea and I are excited because we have a high-risk follow up appointment this week with one of the NICU doctors.  This will be the first time they are officially assessed (being a special education teacher, Andrea has been assessing them since they came home) for developmental delays.  It will also be nice to see everyone at NICU again.

Weight time! The girls are still pretty small. They wear size 1 diapers and 3-month clothes.

Aubrey:
     Day 1 -     2 lbs 2 oz     14 inches
     Day 8 -     2 lbs 7 oz
     Day 17 -   2 lbs 11 oz
     Day 27 -   3 lbs 1 oz
     Day 36 -   3 lbs 4 oz
     Day 46 -   3 lbs 7 oz     16 inches
     Day 56 -   4 lbs 0 oz
     Day 62 -   4 lbs 9 oz     16 1/2 inches
     Day 72 -   4 lbs 14 oz   17 1/2 inches
     Day 80 -   5 lbs 5 oz
     Day 88 -   5 lbs 14 oz   18 inches
     Day 102 - 6 lbs 6 oz
     Day 110 - 6 lbs 15 oz
     Day 118 - 7 lbs 6 oz     19 1/2 inches
     Day 126 - 7 lbs 8 oz
     Day 134 - 8 lbs 0 oz     20 1/4 inches
     5 months - 9 lbs 2 oz
     6 months - 10 lbs 6 oz   21 1/4 inches
     8 months ~12 lbs 12 oz (bathroom scale method)

Paige:
     Day 1 -     1 lbs 13 oz   14 1/2 inches
     Day 8 -     1 lbs 12 oz
     Day 17 -   2 lbs 2 oz
     Day 27 -   2 lbs 10 oz
     Day 36 -   2 lbs 13 oz
     Day 46 -   3 lbs 5 oz     16 1/2 inches
     Day 56 -   3 lbs 10 oz
     Day 62 -   4 lbs 1 oz     17 1/2 inches
     Day 72 -   4 lbs 4 oz     18 inches
     Day 80 -   4 lbs 14 oz
     Day 88 -   5 lbs 0 oz     18 inches
     Day 102 - 6 lbs 2 oz
     Day 110 - 6 lbs 7 oz
     Day 118 - 6 lbs 12 oz   19 inches
     Day 126 - 7 lbs 1 oz
     Day 134 - 7 lbs 4 oz     19 3/4 inches
     5 months - 7 lbs 14 oz
     6 months - 9 lbs 1 oz     21 1/2 inches
     8 months ~11 lbs 3 oz (bathroom scale method)