Seeing Double: Cameron & Lucy are 2 Months Old!!

Lucy and Cameron were 2 months old on the 4th of July!! Happy birthday America and happy 2 months to the twins! ;-) They had their 2 month check up yesterday with Dr. Emm, shots and all. Here are their stats with corresponding percentiles. Keep in mind these are percentiles for their chronological age and not their adjusted age which would put them at 1 month instead of 2. Lucy is 20 3/4" long (-2%) and weighs 9 lbs 7 oz (10%). Cameron is 21 3/4" long (10%) and weighs 8 lbs 14 oz (-2%). Both their heads have a circumference of 14 3/4" (25% for Lucy and 10% for Cameron). The percentiles for girls and boys are different since boys are expected to be bigger. Dr. Emm said they look great and have grown really well since their early arrival into the world. He is very pleased and so are we! The twins each received an oral vaccination yesterday and 3 shots in the leg. They both absolutely lost it when they had the leg shots but Lucy calmed down shortly after I picked her up and Cameron did the same when Jer picked him up. The side effects kicked in later that evening. Lucy exhibited the saddest cries I've ever heard around 6:30 p.m. for seemingly no reason at all. We gave her infant Tylenol and I soothed/walked her until she fell asleep. Cameron had a fever last evening which was also helped by the infant Tylenol. We don't have to head back to the doctor with them until they have their 4 month appointment which means they are off the frequent preemie doctor visits and will be on a regular baby schedule now! Yeah! On June 12th we took them to St. Francis in Peoria to have their hips checked via ultrasound. Cam checked out fine and the Dr. is going to keep an eye on Lucy's left hip. He said its nothing to worry about at this point, If needed, they will do a hip X-ray at 6 months to double check it for dysplasia.

Acid reflux is going strong at our house. Lucy seems to spit up amazing amounts. She is still super gassy which makes her pretty darn upset at times. After nighttime feedings, Jeremy is still holding her upright in the nursery recliner until she falls asleep. After I get Cameron to sleep, I try to wake Jer up so he can put Lucy in bed and then head to our bed. He doesn't always make it there but at least he's not spending all night, every night in the nursery! Occasionally he'll take Cameron to the recliner because he's fussy and very wide awake in the middle of the night. The twins enjoy their nighttime snuggles with daddy. Shortly after Lucy was put on Zantac in June, Cameron started spitting up more and screaming every time he burped. Dr. Emm put him on Zantac for reflux as well and switched both their formulas to Similac Sensitive (we're still supplementing with formula after they nurse). The medicine is helping them out at least somewhat. Eventually they should outgrow the reflux. Dr. Emm said starting solid foods should really help keep things down. It will be a while before they can try solids though because the dr. doesn't think they will be ready for any solids at 4 months. Poor little peanuts just have very immature digestive systems. As far as health problems go though, at least this is one they should outgrow!! During the day they eat every 3-4 hours and at night it's typically every 4-5 hours. We had a 6 hour stretch once which was wonderful!

Both babies have been known to show off sleepy and gassy smiles for quite some time now. Although we love seeing these, we've been waiting on big "official" smiles. Cameron gave both Jer and I some big smiles on July 5th! These were definite reactive smiles to our happy, excited talk and faces. It was so cute!!! We're still waiting on big reactive smiles from miss Lucy but we have seen some very smile-like responsive expressions that were very close. Apparently she doesn't fully appreciate how highly entertaining Jeremy and I are yet! Both babies have started to make little cooing noises at times. We have lots of grunts and some noises that sound like vowel sounds. Pretty funny and so sweet to hear!

New adventures this month included numerous walks in the neighborhood. They love stroller time! We took them to a cookout at my sister's house on the 4th of July. They did good and enjoyed being loved on by others. Jeremy and I headed to a cookout at our friends/neighbors the Milligan's on June 30th. It was our first evening away from the babies. My parents came and watched the twins (and the dogs) for us. Even though we were right next door it was a good milestone for the babies and their parents, too! Cameron has learned to really enjoy being in the baby swing. He'll swing for a while and eventually fall asleep. Lucy isn't quite as fond of it (okay she hates it) but she enjoyed some bouncy seat time. I pulled one of their activity mats out to see if they would like it yet. I was surprised to see how much Lucy absolutely loved it!! She gets her arms and legs going like she's swimming and makes little noises while looking in the mirror or at the dangling toys and listening to the fun music. I think each time we put Cameron in the activity mat he likes it more and more as well. If they're both awake and in content moods we put them on the mat together. It's quite cute! We've continued tummy time with them as well and we love to see the babies do baby push ups, hold their heads up, or occasionally roll over. I never knew infants could be so entertaining!! :-) Seriously though, watching them play, eat (well nurse & take bottles), take in their surroundings, and sleep are the most amazingly entertaining things I've ever seen. There's something about having a little one curl up and fall asleep on you that is the most peaceful thing in the world. They remind us of little koala bears the way they scrunch up their legs, cling on with their arms, and fall asleep on us. I can't even imagine how elated we're going to be once they learn to babble and move around more. Fun times ahead at the Bradley zoo! :-)

Lucy's first Band-Aids from her shots! Hard to tell, but they're Snoopy.