The Erb Family: April 2009

The babies are six weeks old. It's amazing how quickly time passes when you are taking each day 3 hours at a time. Things have been crazy with feedings, changings, snugglings, kissings and very little sleepings. Clearly I can't think straight and so updating the blog just doesn't happen very often. Here are few nuggets of what's been going on.

I recently took the babies to their 4 week appointment. We learned that we have a couple of good growers on our hands! In 2 weeks Brighton has grown 20 ounces and is up to 8lb 2oz, 21 1/4 inches long. Landon has grown 25 ounces and is 7 lb 14 oz, 21 inches long. They are doing great! Landon has been nick-named "the squeaker" because of the highpitched noises he makes. I brought up the frequent squeaking and the fact that he often looks like he is having difficulty breathing to the doctor. Dr. F believes that Landon may have Larygomalacia. This is basically an immature voicebox. Some infants are born with cartilage in the voicebox that is still soft and collapses upon inspiration causing an obstructed airway. We found that Landon is affected mostly after eating and when he gets upset and is taking deep breaths in, causing him to gasp, flare the nostrils and make these sounds. We can feel a vibration in his chest when this is happening. We have an appointment with the pediatric ENT for Tuesday. Hopefully we will get good news. Overall the babies are doing great and the pediatrician is happy with their growth.

All bundled up and ready to go!

I am surprised that I can type a coherent sentence since I have been getting less than 2 hours of sleep at a time for the last 6 weeks. The twins seem to have learned that nighttime is for sleeping however and the last 2 nights have been relatively easy. They are still waking to eat every 3 hours but will quickly fall back asleep with a little swaddling. I have learned to rub the tops of their heads and their little cheeks if they are restless and it will usually get them back to sleep in no time. They are sleeping together and seem to like being close to their twin.

Someone asked me the other day if I always dress Brighton in pink and Landon in blue. Wow, I really do. It is rare that they are in anything other than pink and blue. If Brighton is swaddled in a blue blanket the boys will almost refuse to believe that she isn’t Landon. I guess I’m going to have to add some other color into her wardrobe. Speaking of clothes…I finally went out to purchase some clothes for my twins. Outside of newborn/preemie outfits I really hadn’t purchased anything for them. Well, Gymboree recently opened right up the street and I had my first outing alone without babies. Oh I don’t think anyone could have wiped the smile off my face all morning. They have the cutest girl clothes!!! The boy clothes are fabulous as well, but the girly stuff is adorable! I was definitely a little overwhelmed by the fact that I could look at both sides of the store and pick out both boy and girl items. It was soo fun.

Here are some random pictures of the family...