2 month photos

I finally learned how to use our new camera! Since the boys are a week away from being 3 months old I decided it was time to take some 2 month photos.

Calvin (Whoa! Chunky Monkey)

Luke

Calvin and Dad

Big boys in the rocker

Sorry Luke, We're new at this. Love, Mom and Dad

Luke spits up. A lot. Not "wet burp" spitting up, this is silent, projectile, four shirt changes before noon spit-up. Sometimes it was right when he burped. Sometimes it was hours after he ate. We called the area around Luke the "splash zone". For weeks Garrett and I would trade chores to get out of feeding Luke. ("I'll change every diaper today if you feed Luke this one time") He made us so nervous. Garrett and I had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. We talked to his doctor at every visit about his spit-up. We tried burping after every ounce. This infuriated him, which lead to him getting worked up, which lead to...more spit-up! We tried keeping him completely upright after eating. He fussed, cried, and writhed in our arms. He was clearly in some sort of pain. We had to start planning every outing around when he last ate. Garrett and I were so afraid to feed him in public. If friends came to visit the boys we only let them hold Calvin just in case.

I read every infant medical book in publication to find a solution to his spit-up but the only answer I found was that eventually he would grow out of it. Now, if we didn't have twins I probably would have stopped looking for answers. But since we have one baby who can eat without any of it coming back up we knew something was wrong. There was no way we could just wait and watch him cry after eating. So back to the doctor we went.

During his two month checkup we again asked about his spit-up. (Luke ate two ounces in the waiting room and during his exam he spit-up all of it. Finally proof that it wasn't just a "wet-burp"!) We explained to the doctor that this happens every time he eats. Their doctor said that since Luke is growing and gaining weight normally, he would grow out of it. Garrett and I left the doctor thinking we would just have to wait this out.

That night Garrett was out for the evening and I was alone with the boys. Calvin ate and went down for the night at 8:30. Luke who ate an hour before was still spitting up and crying. It was clear that he was in pain and I had no idea what was wrong or how to fix it. When Garrett got home at 11 he made an emergency call to their doctor. Garrett explained everything going on and after 5 minutes on the phone we finally had a diagnosis! Luke has reflux! The arching his back and crying after eating was because his burps burn. To stop the burning sensation, he kept drinking, which lead to over eating, which lead to spit-up! The doctor recommended we add infant gas drops to his formula at every feeding. Less gas=less burps=less burning after feedings...duh!

Since then Luke has been a different baby. He is finally relaxed after he eats. The spit-up we get now (if any) I would consider to be a normal amount. Garrett and I are so glad we pushed for an answer. Luke is finally eating without pain and we can enjoy feeding time without a poncho.

...and Calvin waited

Luke is a true younger brother even if he is only younger by one minute. He is always trying to get our attention away from Calvin. Calvin was born and everyone in the operating room attended to him while Garrett gazed at him and told me how perfect he was. Then one minute later Luke was born. Shrieking. Taking all attention away from Calvin. Luke was warmed, held, and brought to me so I could meet him. Calvin waited. Calvin has been waiting ever since.

At one week old I had just finished feeding Luke and was getting ready to pass him off to Garrett so I could feed Calvin. Apparently Luke was not done spending time with Mama cause he spit up everything he ate all over me. And Calvin waited.

Luke spits-up all the time. To quote our pediatrician, "50 percent of babies spit-up, that is your 50 percent." (great...) Luke also is a screamer. He goes from sound asleep to someone must be pulling that baby's limbs off shrieking in the blink of an eye. The more worked up he gets, the more spit-up I get so to avoid being showered with used food he is usually fed first. And Calvin waits. (In Luke's defense, Calvin takes FOREVER to eat. This kid can make 4oz last 40 minutes.)

One morning Calvin was super fussy and getting all of our attention. To divert our attention from his crying brother, Luke smiled for the first time. Mission accomplished!

I'm already having visions of Calvin bringing home a great report card and Luke sets fire to the kitchen to draw attention away from his brother.

Sorry Calvin, if he keeps this up you may always wait.

I am going to reinstate Team Yoga Pants!

Disclaimer- I can not take credit for this idea. I was inspired by (cough:totally stolen from:cough) my fabulous friend and fellow mommy-blogger Nicole at Much Love, Nicole . She founded Team Yoga Pants after the birth of her fabulous son. Her streak of only wearing yoga-pants lasted well into her sons first year of life. I loved it so much that I am going to reinstate Team Yoga Pants. I think it is a fabulous way to still dress (somewhat) acceptable and be comfortable with my post twin pregnancy body.

Around my 6th month of pregnancy I outgrew the one pair of full panel, super stretchy waisted maternity jeans I caved in and bought. Yes, you read that correctly, I got too big for maternity pants. I started my pregnancy vowing never to own much less wear maternity jeans. That vow lasted until I was 13 weeks pregnant. (A mere 6 weeks after finding out I was pregnant) At the 6 month mark (when a single pregnant belly measures 20-something cm., and mine was well into the 30's.) I gave up pants all together and started wearing nothing but fabrics that were made with some percentage of Lycra. My wardrobe consisted of yoga-pants and leggings (topped with one of Garrett's tee-shirts. Even maternity shirts could no longer contain my belly of boys).

Since the boys were born I have not attempted to wear "real" pants. You know, the kind with a zip fly and without a forgiving stretchy waist. Even though I am only 5 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight, things are a bit different. My midsection should be wrapped in caution tape. I have a fabulous "twin tummy" and a still slightly tender c-section scar. The thought of putting on jeans makes me sweat.

Unlike the original Team Yoga Pants, I will not limit myself to only yoga pants. I will also wear black leggings. But that's it. Yoga pants or leggings. So far my streak has been going strong since June. That's almost 6 months of never wearing "real" pants. I'm pretty sure Garrett is supportive in my decision. It saves him from listening to me struggle to zip jeans. Everyone wins!

(This post has little to do with Calvin and Luke. Except they were the direct cause of my "twin tummy")

"One baby would be boring" - Garrett Fuller

Garrett says this once a day. Now, I'm sure having one baby is not boring. But Garrett and I will never know what having only one baby will be like. We will never fight over who gets to rock the baby to sleep, we each rock one. We will never argue over who changed the last diaper, there is always another baby to change. We will never draw straws to decide who gets up for night feedings, there are two babies to feed. Some days only having one baby seems so much easier. There are two parents and one baby. The parent is never out numbered when alone with the baby. One parent feeds the baby while the other has dinner. Then you switch. One parent gets up at night to feed the baby. The parent never has to make the choice of which crying baby to soothe, feed, change first.

With all of the difficulties that come with having infant twins there are many more joys. We NEVER have to fight over who gets that cozy-after bath-snuggle time with the baby, we each get that. There are twice as many smiles and one day twice as many hugs. We will get to watch them grow and develop together as more then just brothers. We get stopped everywhere we go so strangers can fawn over "the twins". We get to be part of the secret club only parents of multiples have access to.

Garrett may be right. One baby would be boring.

Happy boys

At 6 weeks old Luke smiled for the first time. Ever since Garrett and I spend every moment of every day making silly faces and noises to see as many gummy grins as we can. At 7 weeks Calvin teased me with a smile that I didn't see again for 9 days. What a tease. Now at 10 weeks old they smile at everything! It's the best reward.

Happy Luke

Happy Calvin

Finally a new computer! Oh, and two new babies!

I can't believe 2 months have flown by. The week the boys were born our computer crashed. Perfect timing. Now we have a fabulous new Mac and working wireless internet so we can keep family and friends up to date with our family of 4 (sorry Jack, 5).

Calvin Dennis and Luke Forman are finally here! After making it to 38 weeks and showing no signs of going into labor my doctor went ahead and scheduled a c-section for October 4th. I had a wonderful experience having a C-section. I was taken to the O.R. at 7:30am, Garrett was brought in at 7:50, and Calvin was born at 8:00 am at 6lbs 7oz and Luke was born at 8:01 at 7lbs 3oz. Our doctor could not believe how big they were! Both boys were healthy and loud! One nurse said the room sounded like a bag of cats. (ten weeks later I'm still trying to figure out what that means and why were the cats in a bag?) Neither required any extra medical attention and got to come right back to the room with us. All before 8:45am!

When choosing baby names Garrett and I had a very hard time picking a boys name we could agree on. I have always liked the name Luke and Garrett was set on the name Calvin. (reason: Cal Fuller sounds like a baseball player's name. Seriously, that is why he picked the name...) When we found out we were having two boys we decided that we each get to use the name we liked. Middle names were easy, Forman is my Dad's middle name and Dennis is Garrett's and his Dad's middle name. While pregnant we never decided who was who. We decided that when they were born Garrett would decide who got which name.

Garrett deciding who was getting which name.

Meeting Calvin

Meeting Luke (who looks like he has something very important to tell me)

Already these two could not be more different! Calvin is completely content watching everything going on around him. He spends his awake time watching the world with his huge eyes. He is very patient and it's very rare that he gets too loud. Calvin looks just like his Aunt Graak when she was a baby. Luke has been loud since the minute he was born. (he's the bag of cats) He is the screamer. If he needs something we only have a 3 second window before he looses it! To make up for being so loud, he was the first to smile! Luke looks so much like Garrett! So far he has only Fuller features.

Calvin watching the world

Our first night with the boys. Luke has gotten his hat over his face and looks like he is robbing Calvin. Luckily we had a nurse with a sense of humor who took the picture for us.

In two months (now almost 3, I started this post awhile ago and am typing with Luke on my lap.) things have changed so much for the Fullers. We are now a cloth diapering (Hey, BumGenius hire me as a spokesperson!), baby-wearing, Raffi-singing, caffeine fueled, family of four! (again, sorry Jack, 5) It's wonderful!