A Family for a decade

It's hard to believe that we have been a family for over 10 years. Megan and Ryan are two people with their own personalities... and they are still the friends they were on day 12. Our hearts melted every time we glimpsed their twin connection, as in the picture above, and we still see that today. Though they have grown, some things stay the same...

Our first week at home

Date: 08/18/2007

It's hard to believe that we have been a family for 12 days. Megan and Ryan are two little people with their own personalities, some aspects of which are captured in pictures.

Ryan is very expressive, and Rick enjoys mimicking his many facial expressions. Megan is rather placid. Both are very alert when they are awake, and both have found their lungs, which they like to show off whenever we change their diapers. Rick takes care of most of diaper duty, and he makes me laugh with his stories of what happens on the changing table. He tells our family that the average number of diapers needed per change is 1.75. Ryan has the record with 6 for one changing.

Big milestones we noticed this week - both babies have turned their heads from side to side when we give them tummy time, and both can clearly focus on our faces. Though we have caught them each with a thumb in the mouth, we can't brag that they actually KNOW they have a thumb and that they can suck it.

Ryan has learned to regulate his temperature, a concern we had while we were in the hospital. Though the nurses put him under a warming lamp, we found that Kangaroo Care (where the baby lies on mom or dad, skin to skin) worked much better for him. During our first few days at home, we used this skin to skin contact to heat our Ry-guy up. Now that he can regulate his own body heat, we still cuddle chest to chest, but just for closeness and bonding.

Our biggest news is that both Ryan and Megan have weighed in at their birth weights. As of Friday (8/17) they reached this goal, realizing our efforts focused on solely breastfeeding this week. We worked hard on latching in the hospital, so when we came home, the process was much easier. We feed approximately every 2.5 to 3 hours; the first hour of the cycle encompasses the feeding and changing, and any remaining time is allocated to sleeping (for the babies at least). Rick and I are getting solid naps at night, and sometimes we grab a nap during the day too. We are also trying to catch up on the "to-do" list, and Rick has been working modified hours this week. We will have to adjust the schedule next week when he returns to work full time.

Granna (Mom Hawley) has been staying with us and helping us maintain our sanity. She takes care of nearly all of the household needs (laundry, cooking, etc) and is always willing to hold a baby (or two) when we need an extra set of hands. Grampa (Pop Hawley) has visited, as have Grandma (Mom Turner) and Pop-pop (Dad Turner).

We celebrated Rick's and my dad's birthday with a mini-party, and the twins wore special outfits. They are still growing into the premie sizes (as you can see from the pics), but we think they are adorable.

Thanks for all of your good wishes. We are truly blessed and happy to have our whole family home together.