Teeth

I tried and tried, but he wouldn't let me do this while he was awake. So, here is a sleeping Jason and his two front teeth! (click on the picture to get an enlarged view)

(And Good Grief! My hands are in serious need of moisturizing!)

The Park

Today we took the boys to the park. As always, I had my trusty camera with me.

Our little set up in the shade of a nice big tree.

Isaac and the boys kicking back and relaxing.
Isaac and Jason. See the excitement on Jason's little face? He is having a great time! (yes, that's sarcasm)

Me and Shawn. He was feeling a little cold.

Jason is here feeling the grass. Soon after he took to licking it...of course I didn't get a good one of him doing that. I tried, though.

This is Shawn in the grass. He's licking the grass in the first picture! Hee Hee. It was too cute!

All of that grass licking was hard work! Shawn needed to kick back some more and get warm with mommy.

Jason worked hard, too. He relaxed some with daddy.

Well, it wasn't all relaxing for Jason.

We spent about an hour at the park. It was a lot of fun, although I have to say it was pretty cold in the shade. Good thing I came prepared with jackets for all! :-) We can't wait to go back!

Don't forget to scroll down and see the boys' 8 month posts...

We Are 8 Months Old!

I say this every month, but yet another month has flown by in the blink of an eye! 8 months already. It just doesn't seem possible. I am amazed that their first birthday is creeping closer and closer. And to think that this time last year I was newly pregnant is even more mind blowing.


Now that school is out for the summer, I am enjoying my time with the boys. It took me some time to get back into the groove of things, but now we finally have a schedule down that we all can live with. We spend our days eating, sleeping, playing, and pooping--you know, the normal stuff. We have also settled into the nightly routine of going for a walk around the park each evening once Isaac gets home. We have started taking the boys out for trips to the store and other such places. We have even managed to take everyone out to eat. And we actually got to eat! Yippee!


Speaking of eating, the boys now eat two meals of solids a day (about a jar and a half at each sitting), soon to be three, and they are growing like weeds. I am following the four day rule with the food (they eat the same thing for four days to make sure they don't have a reaction to it). So far, all has been well. Once I get them through all of the fruits and veggies, we'll start on the proteins, too.


One of the most notable things to occur at our house is that both boys sleep through the night! It is nice, to say the least, to have a chance to sleep in spurts longer than 5-6 hours at a time. Ahh...makes Isaac and myself almost human again.

Exciting times here at Casa Lopez!

Shawn - 8 Months Old!

Shawn: (5 1/2 Months Adjusted)

Weight: My scale says 7.8 kilograms, or 17.2 lbs (5-10th percentile). He is still wearing size 6 months onesies and pants. He can still get away with size 3-6 month pants if I don't mind high waters. (I don't!) Shawn is in Size 3 diapers.

Length: 27 inches! That is between the 10-25th percentile for an 8 month old. (It has occurred to me that had I kept the boys in until term, I'd have a couple of giants on my hands! We grow 'em big at our house.)

Feedings: Shawn eats 7 ounces of formula a feeding consistently for a total of 28 ounces a day. He is still taking preemie formula. He also eats solids and doesn't seem to mind them. So far he's had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, pears, squash, green beans, and carrots. He's like Mikey--he'll eat anything (so far). I would say that his favorite is rice cereal and squash, although like I said, he'll eat it all without complaint.

Favorites: Shawn's favorite toy right now is his taggie ball (that's it in the picture). It is a soft, stuffed ball with a bunch of tags sticking out all over it. He loves to suck on the tags. He also still wants to be held or to have me in his line of sight at all times. Bath time is now a plus, too. And lastly, Shawn seems to really enjoy our daily walks. He loves to look around and take everything in.

Least Favorites: Shawn hates tummy time. He just lays there and cries. We're working on it, and it is starting to get slightly better, but his still doesn't really like it.

Issues: Shawn lost a lot of muscle tone while he was sick. (oooh, it makes me so mad to think about all of that) He has made incredible strides in regaining a lot of what he lost, but he has a long way to go still. His personal trainer (occupational therapist***) has suggested we start him in physical therapy twice a week (starting soon) to help speed up the process. That should be fun because he isn't real fond of his "sessions". You know how it is to have that love/hate relationship with your trainer. (I do have to add that since I started working with him on his flexibility Monday, there has been a lot of improvement. He hated it at first, but now he is able to move much easier and is so much more flexible. I think there might actually be smiles while we work out now, too!)

Personality: Shawn continues to smile all the time. He has also become more of a morning person. He just lights up when we walk in the room in the morning to get him up for the day. I also think that he is more easy going than his brother at the moment.

Areas to Work On: Shawn has to work of flexibility and catching up with his milestones. Being sick all those weeks (8 to be exact--a fourth of his life!) really threw him a curve ball. While he was sick, he had the equivalent to an eight week migraine, so he wasn't doing very much activity wise. I can't blame him. Poor baby. Anyway, I'd say he is about 6 weeks behind his brother on his milestones. He is catching up, but you know how it is to have to make up lost ground. Things are even harder than they should have been when you have to do that. The good news is that we ARE catching up. That shows how tough my little guy is! We are working on sitting and crawling with Shawn.

New Things: Shawn has almost cut his first tooth. The edge is just poking out the slightest bit. Of course, that means he has started the drooling phase and there is spit everywhere, but no matter! And, drum roll, please. Shawn. Sleeps. Through. The. Entire. Night. Can we say Hallelujah?!?!

Randomness: Shawn has decided he likes bath time now. You know what did it? Pretty hot water. I found that out by accident (total Mother of the Year moment). Anyway, once he was in the warm water, he was all smiles and started playing and enjoying himself.

And in case you want to revisit the other month's growth posts, here they are: *Shawn at 6 Months* *Shawn at 7 Months*

***The boys qualify for early intervention due to their prematurity. Part of that includes access to occupational therapy and physical therapy right now.

Jason - 8 Months Old!

Jason: (5 1/2 Months Adjusted)

Weight: According to my scale, he weighs 8.2 kilograms, or 18 lbs (10-25th percentile). He is wearing size 9 months clothes. Jason is in Size 3 diapers (almost a size 4).

Length: 28.5 inches! That is in the 50-75th percentile for an 8 month old! He's a long little guy.

Feedings: Thank goodness the hunger strike seems to be over (knock on everything wood in your vicinity, please). Jason eats anywhere between 6 - 8 ounces of formula a feeding for a total of about 30 ounces a day. He also eats solids for breakfast and dinner. So far, he's had rice cereal, oatmeal, pears, carrots, green beans, squash, and bananas. (Pears and rice cereal are the taste winners for him.)

Favorites: Jason still loves jumping in his Jolly Jumper. His hands now offer hours of endless fascination, too. He still sucks on them, but now he enjoys just looking at them. :-) He still loves to fly over our heads like Superman. He also loves story time; the pictures completely enthrall him. (that's my boy!)

Least Favorites: Interestingly, our boy who enjoys his formula so much, is not a big fan of solids yet. I would say that he "tolerates" them. Carrots and green beans are definitely at the bottom of the list for him.

Personality: I think that Jason is going through a little jealousy at the moment. He gives me this look that tells me I am a traitor or something when I spend time with Shawn. I suppose I can understand that because while Shawn was sick, Jason got a lot of undivided attention. Now, he isn't liking the sharing that comes along with being a twin. For other people, he is still a big flirt and smiles easily. I am also seeing a stubborn streak starting in Jason--he definitely gets that from his father!

Areas to Work On: Jason's personal trainer (occupational therapist ***) says that he definitely needs to work on his upper body strength. That makes sense to me because he doesn't like tummy time still. His legs are super strong from all of the jumping he does, so we are good there. We have some exercises to work on to help him gain his upper body strength, so hopefully we'll see a difference in this area soon. (I had to come back to add that we are already noticing a difference in his upper body strength since we started working on it Monday. Whoo to the double hoo!) We are also still working on crawling (face dragging is what happens now) and sitting up.

New Things: Jason has two teeth now! Yeah! He is much happier now that they broke through. He can roll over to his tummy from his back now, too. His arm still gets stuck and that makes him very mad, but he can do it! (I have been trying to get a picture of his teeth for three days now, and he will have none of it. There is that stubborness!)

Randomness: I think that the constipation issues that have plagued Jason may finally be gone (again, knock on wood). I actually switched his formula from the super expensive, high calorie preemie formula he was on to a regular formula. And viola! Poop. I sort of suspected that the constipation stemmed from his formula, although I was worried about changing it. I'll have to keep an eye on his weight to make sure he continues to gain, or I'll have to change him back. (Hmm... I wonder if these little posts will be a source of embarrassment to my little man when he is bigger?!)

And in case you want to revisit his other posts, here they are: *Jason at 6 Months* *Jason at 7 Months*

***The boys qualify for early intervention due to their prematurity. Part of that includes access to occupational therapy and physical therapy right now.

****There is a story behind the rag on his head in the last picture. It started out innocently enough and just kind of went from there. I love this picture because his look says trouble with a capital T. The caption should be something like " You lookin' at me? Yeah, you. You want to start somethin'? Cause I am ready. Let go of me...Let me at 'em!")

Mmmm...Breakfast!

This was right after breakfast today (oatmeal and bananas). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...




Somehow, the food finds its way all over and not just in their mouths. It is a little hard to tell in these pictures, but trust me when I say they are quite the mess. (Notice that the bibs are pretty clean, though!) It is a good thing that I am not a pitcher for a baseball team. It seems my aim is off just a little bit! :-)

Today is the boys' 8 month birthday! 8 month stats will be coming out shortly (or when I get around to it within the next day or so).

Our Trip to Daddy's Office...

Yesterday, the boys had a big day out. They finally went to visit daddy's work. They had a great time (and who wouldn't when you get snuggled and smiled at) and loved the visit. Here are a few pictures from their day...

And, yes, I know that the boys haven't officially met everyone from my work yet, but you'll get to at summer lunches!