Six Month Old

We celebrated our 6 month birthday last Sunday. We started solid food and more adventurous play. We went swinging for the first time, and Daddy is really excited that we both love skiing in the Jumperoo.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated our first halloween as a pirate and a pumkin. We were on our own all month too. We seem to be getting it down, but rarely is there a moment where a baby doesn't need some sort of attention. Aegean is rolling over and spending most of his time on his belly. Cambria can roll, but prefers not to. We started sign language with the babies too. Cambria has started the diaper sign. At this point, I think she is just copying mommy.

Visit from the Browns and Eastmans

Grandma and Grandpa Brown and Uncle and Aunt Andrea and Rich were planning to come in mid-September. Uncle Tucker surprised us all by riding his motorcycle out from Colorado.

The babies continue to grow, but we haven't had a weigh in. We took care of a lot of projects over the week, so the house is nearly ready for mobile kids...

Aegean Takes the Lead

Aegean passed Cambria in height and weight at the 4 month check-up. He weighed in at 12lbs 5.5 oz and she weighted in at 12 lbs 3 oz. He was 1/2 inch longer at 21.5 inches. Aegean continued to produce hemoglobin and is now 11 mg/dL. This is above the threshold that defines anemia so he can discontinue the supplemental iron.

We also had help from several coworkers and friends over the past few months:

Grammy Evans extended her stay for an extra 2 weeks. Grandpa Mitch is coming out for a few days before they both travel to London for a well deserved vacation. Aunt Andrea, Uncle Rich , and Grandma and Grandpa Brown will be out to visit shortly after. By the end of September we will be on our own until January.

The babies eat every 3.5-4 hours during the day and 4-5 hours at night. We usually feed them before bed by 9:30, again between 2-3 and in the morning. Dad gets up at 5:30 to feed the first hungry baby and still make it to work on time.

We think we will be able to manage both babies by the time Grammy leaves, but we are very thankful to have her help for so long.

On Our Own (Sort of)

It has been over a month since we have posted. Most attempts end when someone spits up, needs to be fed, or needs to be changed.

Grandma Brown helped for about 3 weeks after Grammy Evans went back to Hawaii. We were on our own to deal with both babies. We had some big milestones as Grandma Brown left to make things managabe. They sleep from the 9:00 feed until about 1:00 and again until about 5:30. We used the 1:1 system so that each was responsible for their baby and how much food they got through the night.

Aunt Michelle came over to help Mom after she got home from work (around noon) until Dad got home from work.

Mom took the babies to Dr. Antall on the Friday before Grammy Evans came back from Hawaii to help out. Both babies were doing well.

Cambria was 10lbs 2 oz and Aegean was 9lbs 7oz. We think they are over 11 lbs now.

The doctor said we could discontinue using the Apnea monitor when we are ready. He suggested we start leaving it off for longer stints during the day. Aegean came home and never put the monitor on again.

Mom forgot to tell Dr. Antall that we ran out of his medications, so Aegean discontinued those as well.

The only change is that Aegean continues just under the red blood cell count limit because of being behind when he was taken off food during his NICU stay. We are giving him extra iron in his morning bottle to help him catch up.

Both are like normal infants at thsi point. They have started hitting all of the developmental stages. Our favorite was the smiling stage. We aren't just bottle holders and diaper changers anymore! You can see one of the pictures below where Aegean smiled when Daddy came home from work. He is a bit more selective at his smiling targets, but Cambria will smile at anyone. She also lets you know when she isn't happy.

I wanted to add that we got the bill from the NICU. Dr. Jadali kept telling us the cost was $10,000 /day. Cambria spend about 15 days and Aegean spend about 30 days. The bill was more like $1500. Insurance covered most of it as it was supposed to. I want to thank all of you Aetna carriers that helped fund bringing the babies back home.

Grammy Evans extended this stay to about a month and a half. We know we can manage on our own, but we also appreciate the help more than before too. Hopefully they will be sleeping through the night by the time she leaves.

Two Babies - Busy Parents (and Grandparents)

I don't think we could do it without help from the Grandmas. Grammy Dianne left on June 30th, and Grandma Brown came on July 2nd. Daddy has been home most of the time with Paternity Leave and the week of July 4th a company holiday. Daddy goes back to work full time tomorrow. Grandma Brown will be here for another week. Then we are on our own...for two weeks until Grammy Dianne comes back. Juggling two has been managable with 3 adults, but it is still tough.

The babies are doing well. They had their 2 month birthday last week and weigh in at over double thier birth weights. Cambria was 8 lb 12 oz (4 lb 2 oz at birth) and Aegean weighed in at 7 lb 7 oz (2 lb 15 oz at birth). Aegean still wears his breathing/heart monitor, but we are pretty comfortable taking it off for several hours at a time. He has occasional slow heart rate when the reflux acts up, mostly during his bottle. He has had 2-3 per week at during sleep, but he self recovers. Once he stops all alarms for 1 month, we can free him from the monitor. At this point we are still happy keeping it on. You can see how Aegean has filled out.

Anybody Out There

Dad has been very busy now that two kids are home. Grammy helps out. This has made some time to update everyone on the status. How about adding some comments using the link on the lower right of each post so everyone knows who's listening? This will help Dad figure out how much time he should spend.

Our First Road Trip

Mommy wants a side-by-side stroller in addition to the front-back stroller we borrowed. Dad wants a side-by-side stroller that converts from stroller to jogging stroller to bike trailer. Dad convinced mommy that the family should go to REI to check it out.

The family loaded into the Highlander and headed down to Northridge. Northridge takes about 45 minutes to get to on a normal day. The babies were changed and fed before so that the trip could be completed before their next meal.

Dad drove slower and more carefully than ever. Mom told dad that a recent study found that people who text while driving lose 91% of their ability to control a vehicle. Driving with the handset is illegal in California, but texting is still acceptable. Mom and Dad concluded that everyone was texting on the way to REI. It was not rush hour yet, but the traffic was dense. The 23 Freeway has 4 lanes, densly packed, all driving 70-80 miles per hour. The only thing that slows California traffic is moisture. A light rain has the same effect as 1" flakes falling on 3" of slush and snow in other state. The roads were clear today.

A Toyota Camry cut across three lanes to make the exit about 4 cars in front of us. He must have been texting his girlfriend. A large man in a white conversion van tailgated the car in front of him. He started to change lanes into the Highlander in the second lane. Luckily he swerved back into the first lane. He must have been texting his boss.

Dad could see a small pick-up hauling 2 mattresses tied in with a single rope across the back. The pick-up was in the 3rd lane. The mattress was fluttering in the wind at 70 mph when it lifted up, teetered, and flipped over the rope. Luckily it stayed in the 3rd lane. Daddy was tempted to see the impact, but kept his eyes on the road. Daddy started to write the blog "The Brown families first close c..." when the second mattress flipped loose and into the second lane. It was about 4 car-lengths ahead when it bounces from the lower right corner back toward lane 3. Mommy screamed, Age slept, and Bree slept. Dad started to move into the 1st lane when the mattress bounced on the lower left corner back into the second lane toward the first lane. Mommy screamed louder and higher pitch as her babies lives flashed before her eyes. Age and Bree slept, and dad turned back straight down the second lane directly toward the mattress . The mattress was centered directly in front and was starting to fold lengthwise when the Highlander hit it at 70 mph, then it disappeared with the sound of a huge sock sucked up a giant industrial vacuum cleaner. The un-phased Highlander with Brown family continued up the hill at 70 mpg. Mom was histerical and Dad turned from survival mode to husband comforting mode. Dad looked left as the fat man that was texting his boss earlier gave the thumbs up.

The family plugged on anyway and somewhat successfully completed the trip. Mom was back to normal when we arrived at REI, just in time to reject the stroller/trailer for general use. Dad has to take a few weeks to justify the stroller for his own personal use.

The Family Comes Home

Aegean finally graduated from the NICU to join his sister and parents. We were trained to use the portable heart and breathing monitor before leaving. We learned that we will need the monitor for at least 1 month and likely up to 3 months.

We were expecting heart rate dips after experiencing several in the NICU. His apnea/bradycardia had improved significantly over the last 2 days in the NICU. We thought we were in the clear.

We haven't had a meal without a dip since he got home. We feel pretty comfortable with the alarms after all of the practice in the NICU.

We are happy to have the family together, and we are already comfortable with the monitor. Laura finally cut the bracelets (one for each child) from my wrist...