One Year's Eve

This is a spontaneous post because I wanted to share pictures...

Have you ever seen a cuter Mickey and Minnie?  Me neither! 

 but we do have a few items to update:

The helmets are done!  We saw the Orthotist last week who told us they had outgrown their existing helmets.  He measured their heads and said that neither was perfect but he did not think they needed helmets anymore!

Before:

 After:

Scarlett's first tooth finally popped through!  It was her bottom front-right and it looks like the front-left is not too far behind.

For those that follow us on Facebook, you know we are currently battling sickness in our house.  Grayson spent the last 2 nights on oxygen but seems to be doing better, so we will continue to monitor him but hope he is on his way back to health.  Scarlett has a runny nose too but her lungs are stronger so we aren't as worried about her.  She is fighting a lot when it comes to eating, which isn't new but was much better.  I think it is mostly because she can't breath through her nose very well so she doesn't want her mouth blocked off.  Trish did go to the doctor yesterday and was given antibiotics so hopefully she will heal soon, but is going on a week with this cold.

We received a score from their physical therapist and they both tested within the normal range for their adjusted ages!  This means they are showing the same abilities they would be expected to have if they were born near their due date.  Our goal over the next year is to catch them up to their actual age.

Pics from today (Halloween) followed by pictures from "Beggar's Night" on Thursday.  We dressed up long enough to meet a couple neighbors and get these pictures.

*Side note, today is our last "First" Holiday.  But we might cheat a little and celebrate our first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's AT HOME.

This is a regular expression from Grayson.  Not kidding!

"Dad, he's touching me!"

"Fine!  If you won't do anything about it, I'll move myself."  I told you I wasn't kidding about his expression...

"Do you believe me now?"

Except when we get a dimpled grin on camera from Scarlett.  Then, he is mildly amused...

Trish was inside on her own while I was handing out candy, so we didn't have as many props to get them to smile.  Plus I think Grayson didn't like his hands covered up. 

 "Ah, there's the smile!"

"Um, did you know you had mouse ears on?"

"Look who's talking!" 

"Mom, do you see this?  She has another set of ears on her head!  And I think they are from a mouse!!!" 

"Don't worry sissy, I still love you!"

10-11 months

Wow, the time flies!  I know I sound like a broken record lately, but accomplishing ANYTHING takes at least 4 times longer now-a-days!  

On the topic of time flying.... reminiscing is a bitter-sweet experience right now.  A little over 1 year ago, we discovered our twins would be boy/girl!  We had a gender reveal party using cupcakes.  I took one large bite of mine and my heart did a somersault as I discovered pink icing.  Secretly I wanted a "Daddy's girl" but I was (and still am) terrified about what this world does to girls.  The "fashion," objectification of, and cattiness.....  And then there is puberty.....  I will never be ready for that!  Anyway, I watched Trish as she took another tiny nibble, and then another one...  I almost leaned over to bite it but I was worried I would get her finger too.  Finally, she revealed BLUE!  Thank you God!  I had prayed that I would be happy as long as they were healthy (boy was I ignorant!) but I felt I couldn't handle twin girls.  I would have been outnumbered.  Plus a daughter is great, especially if she has a brute of a brother beside her on her dates!

UPDATES:

Grayson weighed 19.62 pounds and was between 26.8 and 28.1 inches long on 10/7.  I saw between because the hospital entered 28.1 in their system on 9/17 while the clinic said 26.8 on 10/7.  Length is hard to measure on babies because so much depends on their cooperation in stretching and whether the nurse has a helper to hold their head...  Scarlett was 16.64 pounds and was 26.8 inches long.

Most of you know that Grayson caught a virus and it put him back into Nationwide Children's Hospital for 5 days.  He has recovered and is back to normal but needed to be back on oxygen which was mostly while sleeping.  He had been off oxygen for about 1.5 months before getting sick. As of 10/7 he came off of oxygen and has been sating above 95% day and night.

Sleep

The twins are still sleeping great at night, but during the day they don’t ever seem to nap at the same time, so one or both almost always require some sort of interactions.  When there is a peaceful moment, we have been focused on unpacking and settling into the new house, which is challenging enough!

In the past month, Grayson has stayed off Oxygen 100%!  We still have a monitor on him at night to be safe.

Sitting
We aren't crawling yet.  Both twins can role over but Scarlett is more likely to, and mostly only when her helmet is off.  She does manage to "spin" a 180 almost every single night, as her head is at the foot of the bassinet when we retrieve her.  When Grayson is laying on his back, he has about as much chance of rolling over as a turtle in the same position, but when he is doing tummy time he can roll onto his side and back pretty easily.

Standing
Grayson LOVES to stand.  You put his feet flat on a surface and he gets the largest grin you have ever seen.  It's not the most developmentally appropriate activity so we aren't supposed to encourage it, but it comes in very handy when he is upset.  Scarlett wants no part in standing.  If you try to set her feet on the ground they withdraw so quickly you would think it was boiling water you were trying to dip her into!  However we are getting instructed by our Physical Therapists to avoid standing.  I guess one of the reasons are we want them to move on their own, and us giving Grayson that enjoyment encourages him to rely on us.

Crawling
We are not crawling yet, but Grayson is close to army crawling.

Helmets

We painted their helmets!  The talented Aunt Becca was in town from LA and decided to help us out.  We used regular acrylic paint from Jo-Ann's and Trish and Becca "free-handed" all of the paint.  We tried to use tape to make the lines crisp but it wouldn't cooperate very well with the round surface.  The Buckeye leaves are stickers.  If you are not familiar with Ohio State football, they have a tradition where players "earn" Buckeye leaf stickers for accomplishments on the field.  We decided the twins earned their leaves for each week in the NICU, so Scarlett has 18 and Grayson has 19.  After the paint and stickers, we used modge podge.  Our only complaint is the cleaning solution we use daily seems to take the whole finish off.  Trish cleans the inside daily so as hard as she tries, it is difficult to keep them looking pristine.  They HAVE to be cleaned daily, because as cute as they look, these guys sweat and they start to smell like feet!

We have gone into public a few times, and the reactions are very mixed.  We spent Labor Day weekend in Marietta, OH, and went out to eat a couple times.  I don't think many people in that Ohio/West Virginia river-town area have seen Plagiocephally (head-shape) helmets, so the assumption (based on the facial expressions) was that we were crazy, Buckeye loving hillbillies who were torturing their kids.  One person did ask about them about 10 mins after he walked by shaking his head.  I was pretty upset at him from his first pass-by and should have been more gracious:

Stranger: "Where did you get them helmets?"
Me: "The Orthotics Center..."
awkward pause...  silence...  painful silence...
Me: "They are medical helmets.  These guys were born 3 months early and spent a long time in the hospital.  These helmets are custom made to fix the flat spots they have from laying in hospital beds."
Stranger: "Oh, them are medical helmets.  OK."

I think I would prefer to have the conversation than the silent judgement so I feel bad about being a jerk.  I will try to be much nicer next time...

The helmets are working great!  They give them a rating based on how asymmetrical their head is.  0 would be perfectly round and less than 3.5 is considered within normal limits.

Scarlett started at a 19 but at her last checkup was at 10!  The Orthotist said the amount of correction she had in her first 3 weeks typically takes 3 months!!!  Because she started with such severe flat spots, we don't expect to get under 3.5 and are hoping to get to around a 5.  The Physical Therapist we use has noticed her ear has "moved" quite a bit and at this point most people would probably not realize there were issues unless it was pointed out or their job was in this space.

Grayson started at an 8 and was a 4/5 at the last checkup.  Because he was less severe when he started, his goal is to get under 3.5.  Grayson's head is now round enough that he would not have warranted a helmet even if we wanted one.  We can still wear it to try and get to "perfect."  Plus, now that he is moving around it will help us prevent some bumps and bruises!

Teeth
Grayson has his two front-bottom teeth and his upper left.  Scarlett's teeth haven't made an appearance yet. I should have announced Grayson's first tooth last update... sorry!  I do wonder if his teeth have anything to do with the fact he is eating baby food almost daily now.  Does the body say, hmm, this soft flavorful stuff is mushed up fruits and vegetables.  I better get ready for some real stuff?!  There is probably a study on this already, but I wouldn't be shocked by anything the body is capable of now.