It Is Hard to Believe

I found these things in my laptop case the other day.



I found a diaper that could fit the boys when they were first born and their name cards from the hospital. Their diapers were small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. The amazing thing is that these diapers were so small, and yet they were still loose on their tiny little bodies.

To put it into perspective, here is their first diaper next to one they wear today...

But you know, you still can't get a good understanding of the difference between the butts that sit inside these little diapers until you see these...

Just another reminder of how lucky I am to have the miracles that I call my little boys.

The Boys Are 9 Months Old!

This month can be summed up with several words: chicken pox, discovery, and growth.


Chicken Pox -- Jason had a pretty bad case of the pox. He broke out in hundreds of spots. They were everywhere. He's finally feeling better and starting to heal. Sadly, the pox haven't fully left our house. With Shawn's poxes just starting (darn it), I know this next month will be just as exhausting as the one we just left. At least to start with. I can't wait until everyone is finally over them and normalcy can return.


Discovery -- The boys have discovered each other. It is really sweet to watch them stare at each other and smile. They coo at each other, scream back and forth, and laugh at each other. One of my favorite things is to hear them talk back and forth in their cribs, as they do most afternoons at nap time.


Growth -- Shawn has finally caught up to his brother in both weight and height. While there is only an inch difference between them, their weights are now only ounces apart. The best part is that Jason doesn't look so huge when he is next to Shawn. They actually look fairly close in size now. This growth spurt, however, has sent me to start investigating new car seats. We have probably less than a month before they outgrow the ones they came home from the hospital in. They are so big now that I can almost forget how small they were initially. Almost.


Yikes. Only three more months until they are 1!

Highlights from this month...

First attempts at talking to each other...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shawn - 9 Months Old

Shawn: (6 1/2 Months Adjusted)

Weight: My scale says 8.3 kilograms, or 18 lbs and 4 oz (10-25th percentile). He is still wearing size 6-9 months onesies and pants. Shawn is in Size 3 diapers. He definitely has a little meat on his bones now!

Length: 29 inches! That is between the 50-75th percentile for an 9 month old! He is growing like a weed!

Feedings: Shawn eats 6-8 ounces of formula a feeding consistently for a total of 28 ounces a day. He is still taking preemie formula. Shawn has decided that solid food isn't really his thing unless it is his oatmeal or maybe his fruit. Boy this kid has a strong tongue! He isn't a fan of green veggies like peas, green beans, or mixed veggies. (what happened to my Mikey? Oh where, oh where did my Mikey go? Oh where, oh where could he be?)

Favorites: Shawn still loves to snuggle. His favorite thing is for me to cradle him in my arms and kiss his face. He gets the biggest grin and does his little Muttley chuckle. He also still likes his taggie ball. A new favorite toy for Shawn is his teddy bear. He loves to hug on it and chew on its nose. He continues to enjoy bath time. He'll splash and play so much that he is exhausted when he gets out of the tub! Let's not mention what that makes me look like after Shawn's bath. I might as well get in there with him!

Least Favorites: Exercises. Tummy time. Veggies.

Personality: Shawn is pretty easy going. He wants to be where the action is and is happy as long as he knows he isn't alone. Shawn still loves to smile and flashes it easily. He is much quieter than his brother.

Areas to Work On: Shawn still needs to work on strength training. He continues to make gains, but he has a lot of work to do. I would say he needs to work on eating his veggies, too.

Issues: Shawn still has some tight muscles and is still about six weeks behind Jason on his milestones.

New Things: Shawn has started to enjoy his jumper. He likes to jump near Jason, and they spend the time jumping and talking to each other.

Randomness: The pox have struck Shawn again. I was so hoping that the one pox he had when Jason first broke out was all he would get. He had fevered and was miserable just like Jason at the time. Alas, that was not the case. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Shawn is spared from a case like Jason's. I still think he needs a break.

And in case you want to revisit the other month's growth posts, here they are: *Shawn at 6 Months* *Shawn at 7 Months* *Shawn at 8 Months*

Jason - 9 Months Old

Jason: (6 1/2 Months Adjusted)

Weight: According to my scale, he weighs 8.5 kilograms, or 18 lbs 12 ounces ( 10-25th percentile). He is wearing size 9 months clothes. Jason is in Size 3 diapers during the day and a size 4 at night (um, that is self explanatory, right?).

Length: 30 inches! That is in the 90th percentile for a 9 month old! He's lean and mean, man.

Feedings: Jason still 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. He is not a big fan of green veggies like peas, green beans, or (heaven forbid) mixed veggies, but he eats them without much fuss. I did try to give him a teething biscuit the other day--he was not having any of it! I had to laugh. Don't worry, Jas, you'll get used to them. We even tried more protein last night. We got through 5 spoonfuls before he refused to open up for it anymore. (Made us laugh the whole time he was eating it.)

Favorites: Jason loves to listen to his brother. When Shawn "speaks" to him, Jason will just laugh and laugh! He also is starting to really like the game peek-a-boo. The jolly jump is still a high contender for the favorite list, too. Lastly, he likes to observe the world around him, spending a great deal of time looking from thing to thing in the house.

Least Favorites: Nap time. It is getting harder to get Jason to lay down for his naps. He starts to cry the cry that just pulls at my heart--the big boo-hoo cry with huge tears. He still isn't a fan of tummy time, although I must admit he is tolerating it a bit better. (I am being generous with the word "bit".)

Personality: Jason loves to laugh and giggle. Usually, he is pretty mellow, but I do think he is developing a strong attachment to me, so I have to be within his line of sight to make him happy. He has been grumpy lately; I'm not sure if that is because he was sick, or because he is just a grump. There is a bit of stubbornness starting to show in Jason, too. What's up with that?!?

Areas to Work On: Exercising. Being pox free. Eating all his veggies. Napping for longer than 15 minutes! And, dude. You're better now. Stop waking up in the middle of the night!

Issues: Biting mommy is one of Jason's new things. Shocked the heck out of me the first time he did it, too! So, now I have learned to lay a burp cloth on my shoulder first. (I ain't no dummy. It only took once three times before I learned that.)


New Things: Jason is starting to reach for me when I go to pick him up. He is also sitting up on his own for extended amounts of time.

Randomness: Jason is blowing bubbles now and scrunching up his nose. It is too cute. Oh, and there was that chicken pox thing we had to deal with...such fun for all.

And in case you want to revisit his other posts, here they are: *Jason at 6 Months* *Jason at 7 Months* *Jason at 8 Months*

Second Verse, Same As the First

The pox are back. Found the first one on Shawn's inner thigh this morning. Sigh. Too bad the one he had when Jason first broke out wasn't "enough". He deserves a break for all that he's been through! Maybe we'll get lucky and have a fairly mild case. I am a bit worried, though, because all of the info on the web points to the second family member's outbreak as more severe than the one before it. Wouldn't that be fun?

Jason, of course, is nearly healed. His scabs are coming off all over the place (waaayyyy gross). He still looks like he has little red blotches, but I only see a few places where there may be some scarring from some deep poxes. Thankfully, his diaper area has cleared, too. I know that had to have hurt.

Tomorrow, the boys turn 9 months old. I'll be posting their 9 month posts ASAP.

Whoa.

Shawn has taken advantage of Jason being sick. I still can't believe it, but my boys now weigh exactly the same--18 pounds, 4 ounces (8.3 kilograms)! Wooooo to the double Whooooo!

What Happened to Mikey?

I don't know what happened, but Shawn no longer eats just anything. He has decided that he doesn't care for green food, and all veggies are hit and miss any more. Darn it. Plus, he is exceptionally skilled with his tongue of steel. If he doesn't want it in his mouth...it will not get in. Seriously. He is that good.

Where does he get that stubborn streak?

I have tried to tell him that I am more stubborn than he is (you know, with me being bigger and all), but he just keeps testing the waters.

This is him after the dinner battle last night. It was Isaac vs. Shawn -- and I think Shawn won!

That's my boy!

Edited to add: Isaac begs to differ. He prefers to call the match "a stalemate". Oh, brother!

It's the Little Things

It's things like this that remind me that little people actually live here.

Two of them even!

And it blows me away all over again.

Let Me Tell You About My Best Friend...

The neatest thing began to happen this week. The boys have started to "notice" each other. Sure, they've always known the other was there, but outside of hearing the other cry and coo, there really wasn't a whole lot of interaction.

Jason started smiling and laughing at Shawn several weeks back, but often he was met with no reply. Occasionally, Shawn would smile back, but it was intermittent at best. Over the last few days, however, when Jason smiles at Shawn, Shawn will smile back--much to Jason's delight! That started things rolling, and now on their play mat, the boys enjoy just hanging out and chatting. (Well, one makes a noise and then the other repeats it. Then they switch.) It is really sweet to watch.

Some pictures from last night's conversation. (with my interpretations for those of you who are not up to speed on the baby talk thing)

"Hey, did you hear about the new high chairs mom got us?"

"No, why did she get us high chairs? I love eating in my bouncy seat. I like to watch her struggle to try and get the food in my mouth. It is way funny!"

"I don't know. She muttered something about how this will fix us. You know, I really think she is losing it."

"I know what you mean. Our plan is working."

"What should we do next to make her lose it all the way?"

"I'll have to think about that and get back to you in the morning..."


These next pictures are of the boys this morning. I think that Jason is finally starting to feel better. His fever broke, and he is sleeping through the night for stretches longer than two hours (hallelujah). I haven't seen any new spots over the last day, either. That is a good thing, because space was starting to run out on his little body!

Shawn still only has his one pox. I have been asked why I haven't posted a picture of it. Well, folks, his spot is located in his groin region, and, well, I am not in to posting kiddie porn. So, you'll just have to trust me when I say that it was a pox, and there has only been one. :-)

Jason is so over pictures.

I did manage to get him to smile for me here.

Mr. Shawn, in his little button up onesie.

My baby today...

Shawn still only has one... (lucky thing!)

Here's Jason this morning. He was just miserable. Poor baby! Thank goodness for Benadryl. (I heart you Benadryl, I really do. Jason doesn't care for you much, but I LOVE you anyway.)


Shawn still only has his one spot. Hmm...I guess it is fair that he doesn't get it as bad. He did have more things happen to him than Jason.

You Can't Make Up Stuff Like This...

Last night, before we went to bed, we noticed that Jason had a little baby acne spot on his nose. Poor baby, we thought, and we put him to bed.

This morning, Jason had a funny little spot on his ankle. Hmm...I thought as I got him up to feed him breakfast. After breakfast, his little spot looked like this:

Oh, crap.

Upon further investigation I found several spots on his back, a few on his butt, and more on his legs and arms.

I called the doctor to tell her what I suspected.

After a $25.00 copay, she pretty much confirmed my suspicions.

Chicken Pox

See, you can't make this stuff up...no one would ever believe it. After carefully protecting the boys from all things even remotely contageous, they get chicken pox!

Jason is still in the very early stage of breakout. He is a little fussy, not eating much, and sleeping a lot. You can tell he just doesn't feel good. I'd say he has about twenty spots as of this afternoon. But, even through all of this drama, he is still smiling. He's just too cute!

Now what about Shawn? He is not eating, a little feverish, and sleeping a lot, too. (all of his sleeping is preferred to be on someone--namely me) But, he has a big whopping total of one chicken pox as of this afternoon. I am sure it won't be long until he has as many or more than his brother.

We are having fun times at casa Lopez.

Hanging Out At Home

Look at how much they've grown!

February 14th

Today - July 13th

We spent a lazy weekend mostly hanging aound the house. We did manage to go to the grocery store together on Saturday, and we caused quite the stir. Twins are attention getters it seems! The boys and their father handle all of the attention in stride. It's me who feels a little uncomfortable with it all!

We also managed to get out for our walk around the neighborhood again today. We haven't been out for a few days due to the wind. (The boys are not fond of wind at all.)

This is of Jason's little hand. I just love his long slender fingers. They are so soft, too!

We took these of the boys in their new little outfits. Click on the picture of Shawn to see his cute little hair style.

This last one is of me and Shawn right before bedtime. Aww...he is so sweet.

Thought Bubble...

This is a cute little site ** that lets use create word bubbles from the text you provide. I put in the URL for the boys' blog, and this is what came up...

Just click on the box to see it magnified.


**Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Pictures from today...

Jason

Shawn

(I know the last one is blurry, but I like his smile.)

Baby feet are so sweet. It seems like there are a million ways to make them even cuter!

Jason's sleeper feet...

The boys' first pairs of shoes. Jason's are blue and Shawn's are white.

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Sorry about the lack of posts. I had left my memory card and camera at my mom's for a few days. I got it back today, so the picture taking has commenced again--much to Jason's chagrin. That boy must not know how cute he is, or he wouldn't give me such a hard time about taking his picture. Or, maybe he does know how cute he is, and he sees me as some sort of paparazzi freak who is always in his face with a flashing light. The point is that he isn't fond of pictures. You'd be amazed at the amount of pictures I have of him with furrowed brows and a frown!

Now Shawn, on the other hand, loves to get his picture taken. My problem with him is that he gets so excited when he smiles that he moves. So, all of my pictures of Shawn are blurred somehow. The bigger the grin correlates directly to the amount of blur.

Sigh. I keep telling them that the plan is for them both to smile when I say "cheese", take a quick picture (or two, or three), and then we can go about our business. They have yet to listen to the plan. There's a lot of that not listening to the "plan" happening here!

-----

On the food front, we have found that Mikey Shawn doesn't like everything. He threw up his sweet potatoes the other night. Well, first he made faces, then he gagged, and finally he threw up all over everywhere. So much so, that I had to give him a bath afterward. (It took Isaac by surprise because he was feeding him. The shock on his face was a little funny, too.) It will be awhile before we try that again!

Jason has been acting like he wants more food at the end of the meal. Isaac and I talked about it and debated back and forth about giving him more veggies or just trying protein. The protein won out with the thinking that it would be more filling. Umm...that was a bad idea. Jason promptly threw up the chicken and gravy I gave him (which smelled suspiciously like cat food). You know in the movies where they do a slow motion picture with gurgling noises as one of the characters swallows something he/she doesn't like. The food goes in, the stomach gurgles, and the food comes right back up the second it hits the character's stomach. Well, it was like that. (It was almost a little funny to watch. I know, that's awful, but I said almost.) He was all smiles afterward, so I don't think he's holding a grudge against me. (yet another Mother of the Year moment; there have been more than I'd like to admit!) I think it will be awhile before I try that again, too.

So far, we've been through all of the stage 1 Gerber foods. (And yes, Jen, I know I can make my own baby food in all of the free time I have, but I have opted to take the more expensive, less labor intensive route and just buy the stuff. :-) ) Anyway, Jason may have had a reaction to peas--he had a rash on his body afterward, but there is some debate whether that is from the food or the wipes that were used to clean him up with afterward. I'll try them again early next week. Shawn doesn't like sweet potatoes. Other than that, all is going well with food. It looks like carrots, oatmeal, pears, rice cereal, and peaches are the top runners on the taste chart. They can take or leave green beans, bananas, and squash. The notorious sweet potatoes and peas are still up in the air.

Whew. I shouldn't wait so long between posting. I end up writing a novel when I do that!

Oh, and did I mention that the boys sleep through the night? Hee Hee Hee!

Our Little Firecrackers!

The boys had their first 4th of July yesterday. We went over to grandma's house to hang out and eat. We had a good time.

There were fireworks all over the neighborhood, but the boys handled the noise like the little champs they are and only got bothered a few times (from the really loud ones).

Here are the boys in their 4th of July outfits...

Shawn

Jason