(Nov. 17- Dec. 17)
(This is posted a little late!)
The fifth month with the boys went much better than expected. Colic disappeared, and smiles and giggles replaced endless hours of crying. The pediatrician had us take them off their reflux meds. There is still a lot of spit up, which creates a lot of laundry, but I’m happy to say I feel like I’m beginning to get this whole twin thing under control… most days anyway.
Personalities
Cannon– Loves to babble, and can be quite loud. He has become much easier, and goes longer being content wherever I put him. He’s giggling, and Grandma Merritt had him laughing quite hard on Christmas Eve. He LOVES bath time, and looks just like Preslee did at this age; which brings back memories of living in Philly. Most of it is due to the shape and size of his head, which is the most obvious way to tell the boys apart.
Cruiz – Is a flirt! While out in public he’ll smile and coo until he gets somebody’s attention. He’s still more needy than his brother, and gets incredibly jealous when I pick Cannon up. He loves playing patty cake and jumping in his jumperoo, but gets mad when he has to take his turn in the excersaucer. I still find his dimples irresistible, and he began giggling when we tickle his chest.
The Boys Are Now…
Oinkers! Their appetite dramatically increased over the past month and it became a struggle to keep them full. After taking three 10 ounce bottles in a row, we put them on rice cereal. Since then, if given at least two bottles full of rice cereal a day, they seem to do just fine. They drink about seven ounces every three hours, including their rice cereal bottles.
Busy bodies– They aren’t as busy as Ledger was, but these boys prefer to stand and jump wherever they are at . They’ve recently found their hands and beginning to hold on to toys, and continue to pull mom’s hair.
Sleeping– The boys are now going down between 7-8 pm, still need a swaddle, binky, and sound machine. They switch off, I’ll think we have one close to sleeping through the night for about a week, and then they switch on me. We finally switched them to separate beds, and after taking a big bottle of rice cereal, that seems to help. Everything that I read to help them sleep said to wake them up at the same time, then they’ll sleep on the same schedule. I finally gave that up, and learned Cannon needs to sleep a lot more than Cruiz in order to function. I still separate them for nap time if I can, they seem to sleep better.
All three sleeping in different rooms. Cruiz was lucky and got the kitchen :)
Growing too fast. At their 4 month doctor’s appointment Cannon weighed in at 14.9 lbs. (75%) and measured 26.3 in. (97%). Cruiz weighed 14.8 lbs. (71%) and measured 26 in. (95%). These two preemies are my biggest babies, and make it super fun to carry both of them around in car seats. They are now wearing 9 month clothing and moved up to size 3 diapers.
Loving each other– Until this past month, Cannon would rarely pay any attention to Cruiz. A couple of weeks ago, my parents took Cannon home and kept him for the night. Pat was in the middle of finals, and I had ward party to help plan/set up for, so taking a baby was incredibly helpful. When they brought Cannon home the next morning, he couldn’t get enough of Cruiz. That was the longest they had ever been apart from one another, and since then they absolutely love each other. They babble and grin at each other throughout the day, and if they don’t see much of each other throughout the day, due to different nap schedules, they will cry at bedtime until we put them together, snuggled up, in our bed. I’m beginning to learn when one needs the other, and at times they can calm each other down better than anyone else can.
We’ve made huge strides this past month. Let’s hope it continues!