Back to reality

Little miss thing in her Halloween outfit


Papa Ben holding Mikey


Gran holding Ben


Three peas in a pod


Ben, Delia and Mikey with the presents sent by Irish cousins


The family dressed up for Halloween - no comments on the size of my rear!


Happy Halloween! Mikey and Ben as peas, Delia as a little flower


Ben is so cute when he is mad!


More cute pea pods


Delia loves her daddy :)

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. Let's see, what's happened since I last wrote....lots and lots more of the same. Overall everyone is doing great, no real problems to speak of. We just don't have this sleeping thing down yet.

If we have pacifiers we can sleep just fine, but if it falls out of our mouth, heaven help us. We might as well start pulling out toenails with a pliers. What's so great about the darn things? I've tried them several times, and they don't seem that great to me. I guess I'd feel differently if I was a baby though.

We had several visitors in the past weeks, some friends from work in STL and CGAM, and of course Grandma Maggie. Our helpers have been fantastic too, they take care of bottle washing, bottle prep for the night and daycare, and laundry, plus help with a feed and some cuddling. We're very lucky to have found the folks we did.

Everyone's personality is developing more and more each day. Benjamin has become our chunky monkey, hubba bubba, growing boy. As of last Friday he was 9 lb 13 oz, almost ten pounds! He's just big all over, although he inherited stubby legs from his dad because all his pants are too long. When it's time to eat, boy he'll let you know. And if he gets hungry he'll let you know that too. I think he may be having some gas issues, because sometimes we try to give him a little extra and it doesn't really seem to make a difference, but he doesn't always need to make extra burps either. Our NICU nurse friends are coming to visit this week, so maybe they'll be able to help us solve the mystery.

Delia continues to be a little diva. Her cry gets more shrill and high pitched each and every day, and she is learning how to turn it off and on faster too. It's almost like there is a little button on her back, that when she lays down it gets pressed in and makes her scream. As soon as you pick her up and the button pops back out, instant silence. She has added tears for some extra flair too, which tugged at my heartstrings the first few times but now I'm not so sure it isn't just a ploy for more attention. She's had to cry a few times when I was elbow deep in poo, or trying to take a shower or whatnot, and she does eventually quit, but I'm afraid of doing permanent damage so I continue to indulge her.

As if she knows her powers are starting to fade, she has become quite the little cuddle bug. She loves to bury her face in our necks, and grab at us with her tiny little hands. It really is quite sweet and I"ve decided that she really does love us, that this part isn't just a trick to control us.

Michael is....well, he's Michael. The happiest damn kid you ever saw one minute, hysterical the next. And he is the king of facial expressions. Happy means eyes wide open, almost popping out of his head, and a beautiful smile. Sad means lower lip pouted out, face scrunched, tears a-flowin'. He is truly pitiful. But it's hard to get mad at him because he is so damn cute. When he's fighting sleep he makes the funniest faces too, his mouth kind of hangs open and his eyes flutter like he's lifting the weight of the world every time his eyelids fly open. WHen he gets mad, he accidentally blows raspberries and scares himself.

We had a terrific photo session a couple weekends ago with Aunt Shannon, owner of Phases Photography. After four hours of picture taking, we came out with some really great nakey pictures, as well as a cute family photo. I'll post some when they are available.

Today was my first day back at work since June 22. Boy did it feel good to be back. Not only to have adult interaction, but also because of the amazing people I work with. Nobody wanted to throw projects at me, nobody made comments about how I was late or how long I was off. Everyone was genuinely glad to have me back. It is so rare to find a group that truly appreciates your contributions and values your friendship. I'm so glad that my job is so awesome, it made leaving the kids at daycare that much easier.

Four hours later and I still haven't finished typing this! But my eyelids are getting heavy so there Will be more to come soon.

Weight update - as of Friday Oct 29
Ben 9 lb 13 oz
Michael 9 lb 0 oz
Delia 8 lb 10 oz