Catching up on Cub Central news

It's been a week since I've posted a detailed cub update, and people are letting me hear about it, so here you go:

We'll start with the bad. Zach has been throwing up at least once per day since last Monday, so Steve and I have decided to restart his Prevacid on Tuesday to see if that might help. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Emily has found a new way to let Mom and Dad know that she is finished eating. Instead of turning her head or pushing the food away, she has decided that spitting it out is her preferred way of expressing herself. She slowly oozes it through her teeth. YUCK! Mom is not very impressed. I'd prefer a head turn or a push away. This is a real adjustment because Emily used to always eat everything, so it was quite a shock for her to refuse food. I guess she's in that stage.

Emily and Zach have both managed to take head-first tumbles off of the couch. The couch is for sitting...it is NOT a trampoline. Try telling that to two 16-month-olds. Sorry Mom, it's a trampoline! Thus, some falls, some bruises, and some heart attacks. I'm sure there will be many more for years to come.

Now some good news. Zach had a nutrition visit on Monday. Considering that he has been throwing up more than usual lately, plus he has been sick twice since the Nutritionist's last visit on July 10, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. He is now 30 1/4" tall (previously 29") and he now weighs 20 lbs 14.3 oz (up from 19 lbs 1.5 oz on 07/10/08.) Whoo hoo. Mom is doing the happy dance. We are so proud of our little man. Keep it up Zach! So these latest stats put him at the 8.58 percentile for weight (previously 3.93), and 28.68 percentile for height (previously 18.31). PROGRESS!

On Tuesday, I escaped Cub Central for a few hours to attend a going away dinner for Sally at Uncle Julios. I met Sally through my LCMOM group. She and her family are moving to Japan, so I'm glad I was able to see her before she left. Steve didn't mind even though it was our eight year wedding anniversary. He was fine with it since we had our big family day planned for Saturday, which has now been cancelled thanks to Hurricane Ike. I guess we'll have to plan our anniversary/family fun date for another weekend....minus any hurricanes.

Emily and Zach both have started twirling to music. Very cute, except it knocks their equilibrium off balance, and therefore creates more bruises for them and more skipped heartbeats for mom. But it's still very cute.

Our friend Donna's dad passed away this week, so our thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.

That sums up this week at Cub Central. Now we're just awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Ike. I'm getting ready to claim my all expense paid trip to the coast, courtesy of my favorite bear. Yeah, right!!! I feel the love!

Randomness

My Uncle from New York state used to send emails sharing the prices of the basic necessities, such as gas, milk, bread, etc. and I was always fascinated by how things were always so much more expensive there. Tonight was one of my girl's night out and on my drive home I noticed that the price of gas was only $3.34 at our local station. I'm already pocketing my savings. So to all our out of state readers, you are always welcome to come to Texas!

Last night was my LCMOM (Mom of multiples) meeting. Another chance for Mom to enjoy conversation with people not under the age of two.

Steve and I have given great thought to whether or not we should continue with the Nutrition visits for Zach. In all honesty, the only reason that I have kept doing them is to keep up with his weight, and he's really been doing pretty good. At our last visit, the Nutritionist said to just keep on doing what we're doing. Most of the things she's recommended haven't really worked anyway. (I think I sound a little frustrated.) Her visits have been so sporadic, and she's missed three already, plus I just found out last night that apparently we had an appointment for this morning. NICE! Sure wish someone would have told me. Luckily, the message last night was to cancel this morning's appointment. Go figure! I think we'll cancel it permanently.

I also have decided to let go of some of my OCD issues. I have been keeping track of every milliliter of formula that Zach has eaten. I've done this since the first day we brought him home, when he weighed less than four pounds. I have been totally trained by the NICU and I've been so concerned about his weight gain (or lack thereof) that I haven't been able to let it go. Every doctor appointment or nutrition appointment, the first question is "How much is he eating?" That's a hard question to answer when you are in a "twin fog". So I kept track all this time. Last Thursday I let it go. I don't really think my OCD was helping anyone. Zach is a happy, active little guy and I need to worry less about his eating issues. I guess it's ok (for now) that he doesn't eat solids. The Doctors don't seem to be concerned even though I bring it up at every appointment. I'm sure he won't enter Kindergarten without knowing how to eat, so he has 3 1/2 years to figure it out.

And the winner is....

It looks like the oranges have it, by a whopping one vote (11-10). Wow! We will be placing our order tomorrow (hopefully). We appreciate everyone who took the time to vote in our very scientific survey. Steve originally selected the orange one, so I'm sure I'm going to have to listen to him bragging about being the winner for quite some time. Lucky me. I must admit, after talking with some of the people who voted for the orange one, I can see some benefits to it that I had not thought of before, so I'm really not too disappointed about being the (dare I say) LOSER.

Today was a typical Monday, except that it was really Friday. Zach had a nutrition appointment scheduled for 10:00. I received a phone call (at 10:15) from the Nutritionist telling me that she was ill and wasn't going to make it. This is her third missed appointment, but who's counting? At least this time I received a phone call. **SIGH**

For lunch today, Emily and I shared a can of Chef Boyardee's Cheese Ravioli. She didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it, but she didn't refuse it either. Zach even tried two very small bites, and I was met with his usual gagging reaction, but he managed to swallow and keep it down. For a special treat they had some chocolate pudding. Emily really liked it, but what girl doesn't like chocolate, especially when it's being served to her? Such a mini-princess. Zach even had several small bites of the pudding, and this time there was no gag reaction. Quite an improvement from the time I served him vanilla pudding (we ended up wearing that).

Naps are becoming a little more difficult. It seems no one around here wants one but ME! I put them in their cribs at nap time and just listen to them blabber back and forth to each other on the monitor. It makes for a really long day, because then they want their nap around 4pm, and there is no way they are going to take a nap that close to bedtime. So they generally become pretty fussy, but how do you reason with two 15 month olds? Telling them that they should have taken their naps doesn't get much accomplished around here. Stubborn little monkeys!

Steve has to work this weekend, so there are no fun plans scheduled. Just another typical day at Cub Central! Probably a good thing, we spend less money that way!

Playing catch-up

It's Thursday evening and I'm desperately trying to catch-up on my blog. My mom (Grandma Bear) has been here this week and has been a big help to me. I am so excited to be off of diaper-duty for a while. I haven't had to put my HazMat suit on once since she arrived. Awesome!

On Wednesday, Kelli came over with her 6-month old twin girls for a short visit. It was nice to have little babies in the house again. It really makes me realize how much the cubs have changed in such a short time. Kelli's girls are just now starting to roll over. I miss those days where you could put the cubs down and they would stay right where you put them. Now, the cubs won't stay still for 5 seconds. Both cubs are walking everywhere. They have figured out how to open doors, they won't leave the curtains alone, and they are always trying to test the waters with me. I told Zach "NO" today and he looked at me and laughed. This is NOT good! We are also having sharing issues. Emily wants what Zach has, even if she already has the exact same thing. If it's in Zach's paws, she wants it, and she wants it now. UGH. Being the referee is just exhausting. I still get the "make-up hug", which I still love. I'll take any hug from the cubs, because I know one day they'll be too busy to give Mom hugs. They just grow up so fast!

Today was Zach's nutrition visit. I was a little concerned because the Nutritionist told me that when they start walking that it is not unusual for them to lose weight, but today his numbers looked pretty good. He actually gained weight since his last visit. I guess keeping your food down helps with that. We are now at a record breaking 27 days without a Mt. Vesuvius-type spit up. He's had two small ones, but I don't even count them. It's nothing compared to what they were! He now weighs 19 lbs 1.5 oz (up from 18 lbs 9.8 oz on 06/24) and is 29" long (up from 28 3/4 on 06/24). He is now in the 3.93 percentile (up from 3.16 on 6/24) for weight and 18.31 percentile (up from 17.35 on 6/24) for height. Way to go Little Man! Mom and Dad are very proud of you!

Zach's eating has been going pretty well. He's getting two bottles of half milk/half formula, and one bottle of Pediasure, as well as his three solids per day. He still doesn't like the sippy cup, but he'll take sips from a big person cup (go figure!). He still doesn't tolerate any chunky foods or table foods, but we're continuing to work on that.

We still have an occasional teething episode. Zach's been waking up at 4am, much to my dismay. At last check, Emily still has 4 teeth coming in on top, and Zach now has three. With all this teething, there is definitely some irritability issues, but that's to be expected. Poor little guys, it's tough being a growing cub.

Zach's latest appointment

Zach saw the Nutritionist today and I am excited to report good results. He now weighs a respectable 18 lbs 9.8 oz (he gained 8.5 oz in 11 days). This puts him in the 3.16 percentile. His height did not change (28 3/4"), so he is now in the 17.35 percentile. She did give us some Duocal to put in his food if I think he can tolerate it. Right now I don't want to mess with anything because he's doing pretty well. We've gone 10 days so far without any "eruptions". I am still continuing with the half and half (half formula/half Vitamin D milk). She did warn me that he may not show any weight gain at his next visit since he is starting to walk. He'll burn more calories, so it is not unusual to even have a slight loss. I am hoping that he'll prove her wrong! Today little man gets a big thumbs up!

It's official

Emily Grace has taken her first official documented steps. Mom managed to get two separate "runs" on video, the second one lasting an impressive 15 steps. So now we give the challenge back to Zach. It's his turn now.

Today was Zach's nutrition appointment. How fitting that it fell on Friday the 13th. Here are his latest stats: Weight: 18 lbs 1.3 oz, and length: 28 3/4". He is in the 2.13 percentile for weight and the 15.63 percentile for height. So for those that have been keeping up, he has managed to gain some weight, but he has fallen some percentile points for both weight and length. ***SIGH*** So depressing considering that he went 20 puke-free days. But I guess any ground that we managed to gain then was lost in the last two weeks where he managed to spit-up 8 of the past 12 days. It's hard to narrow down what caused the spitting up to restart. He really seemed to like the Pediasure but he started spitting up after three days of it and has basically not stopped since. We're not sure if the Pediasure is the reason or not. It does have a higher calorie content than he is used to, and maybe his system just isn't ready to handle it yet. The Nutritionist gave us some new stuff to try. It's called Vital Jr. It costs on average $1800/month. You must be kidding me. I'm secretly hoping he hates the stuff. We are also going to try whole milk supplemented with Carnation Instant Breakfast for extra calories. A way cheaper alternative. Keep your fingers crossed!

I live for weekends....

I usually live for weekends, but today feels more like a Monday than a Saturday. Dad's at work and the cubs are "down" for their nap, even though I hear them playing over the monitor. They are probably wound up from their class this morning. Today started out ok. The cubs woke up early, which was good...we had a big morning planned. Today was Gymboree! After breakfast, I loaded up the cubs and headed out an hour before our class. I made every effort to get there early. Instead, I was late. I'm always late, no matter how hard I try. So frustrating. I made a wrong turn and got lost. I was on the verge of tears by the time I found a street name I recognized. So long story short, I was late. We get there, join the class already in session, and then I notice it. An unpleasant odor coming from one of the cubs. Just great. UGH!! Did I mention that I'm alone?? And the cubs still aren't walking, so they have to be carried. I am either brave or stupid, I haven't decided which. God Bless our class instructor. She took care of Emily while I took Zach to the restroom. The class lasted 45 minutes and the cubs seemed to have a great time. Emily was a little timid, but Zach took off right away. Our little man has no fear. He was trying to climb all over everything. There were rocking toys to help with balance, and bubbles and parachutes, gigantic balls, music and toys. There were two other sets of twins there as well. So while the cubs had a great time, Mom -- not so much. It was really hard trying to tend to both of them by myself. The instructor was really helpful, but I can't expect her to "play parent" for us every time. Dad's weekend schedule is so erratic that it makes it impossible for me to plan activities. So I doubt that we'll be able to do this again until the cubs are a little bigger.

Yesterday was Zach's nutrition appointment. I look forward to these only so I can find out if Zach gained any weight. And it is convenient enough, because she actually comes to our house. But not this time. The Nutritionist was a no-show. ***SIGH*** I give up. Thankfully, Zach has really been doing well. He hasn't been eating as much solid food, but he's picked up some on his formula intake, so I'm okay with that. He also seems to like the Pediasure, so we'll stick with giving him one of those per day.

This week I attempted to cook another new dish...Parmesan and herb baked flounder, served with white rice. I think I did pretty good for my first attempt at fish. Steve even said he'd eat it again. Wow! Another success.

The cubs are still awake. I guess a nap is not going to happen today. So later this afternoon, we'll probably all be miserable. I can't wait for Dad to get home. I need to start this (Mon)day over.

Zach's latest appointment

We have been struggling with Zach's eating issues for several months now. He had an appointment with his Nutritionist yesterday, and much to my disappointment he only gained less than one ounce since his last appointment on April 18. I should be happy that he hasn't lost any weight, but to hear that he hardly gained any is really discouraging. He is now in the 3.39 percentile for weight, and at 28 1/2 inches, he is in the 28.72 percentile for length. He is going to be a tall and skinny basketball player. I am very proud of him and his eating over the past week. He was previously taking 5 bottles per day, but then out of the blue started refusing all of his solids. He would take one bite, and clamp his little mouth shut. Needless to say, feeding time has NOT been fun. So after much thought, we decided to drop a bottle, and little man has started eating solids again. Thank goodness. I am also very proud to say that he has kept everything down for nine whole days. This is MAJOR good news. And since we dropped that bottle, he is actually taking a little more in his remaining bottles, which is quite a pleasant surprise. The Nutritionist gave us some Pediasure to try. It is 30 cal, vanilla flavored. Things are going so well right now, I'm a little afraid to "rock the boat". I am not too optimistic about giving him something new, because nothing has worked out so far. He hasn't been able to keep down anything with the higher calorie content and believe me, we've tried everything...thickeners, Neocate (this stuff must be made of gold, I'm a little relieved he didn't like this one, who can afford it at $40 per can???), Alimentum (UGH...who can blame him for not liking this one??? It smells like something you'd feed a farm animal.), Benecalorie, and a list of other formulas too numerous to mention....

We have really been trying to eat dinner at the dinner table. Since it has been just the two of us for so long, we have really become accustomed to eating out or eating in front of the TV. Now that we are a family, I want to have family meals, plus it's a good way for the cubs to start experiencing new foods. Zach has no interest in this at all. He generally gets a tad fussy during dinner, but I'm determined to stick it out. Emily on the other hand, is quite a little sneak. We were enjoying a fabulous meal of grilled cheese and tater tots (quick and easy for hockey night --- GO STARS), and that little girl reached over and stole a tater tot right off my plate. I retrieved it from her, broke it open and gave her some of the inside potato. My chunky monkey certainly did not need the fried part of the potato. She is definitely my little girl, she LOVES potatoes.

Little Emily bear is now down to one bottle a day. Of course, it's the night-time bottle and I just don't know how we'll be able to live without it. Otherwise, she's been doing great. She now enjoys her milk from her sippy cup and has been trying some more new foods. Recently she has been gobbling down cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is one of those foods that is thick enough for Emily to try spoon feeding herself, and she does a really good job. I did notice yesterday that she spoon feeds herself with her left hand. That may be my doing, since that is the hand I put the spoon in, so today I'm planning on making an effort to let her choose which hand to use.