Week 1 Update

Taking care of six children is an interesting challenge. Can I just start out by saying that? Goodness. It has been an interesting adjustment since bringing Grant home this past Sunday (March, 5th). I am so thankful that I have my mother here to help or things would be in utter chaos; not that it isn't borderline chaos anyway.

Both of the twins are doing well. Bryce weighs 7 lbs even and is such a good eater. He is definitely a snuggler. I spent a good bit of last night holding him because he would fuss like crazy if you set him down. Spoiled, I know, but with a sweet face like his, how could I refuse? ;) He officially went wireless today!! Dr Rising, our pulmonologist, nixed the home apnea monitor (HAM) for him this morning. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be less one HAM. Our nightly routine for the past week has included several minutes of detangling HAMS and Grant's oxygen tubing. How they manage to get so tangled is beyond me. Grant is such a chunky monkey!!! He weighs in at a whopping 7 lbs 15.5 oz. He is by far the worst eater I've ever had but hopefully the weekly speech therapy will help with that. Speaking of which.... I cannot tell you how many goofy looks I get when I say the boys have speech therapy. We have them in speech therapy because they're not talking as clearly as we'd like them to. ;) In all seriousness, speech therapy is to work on their ability to suck well and effectively take a bottle. Poor oral control can lead to speech issues on down the road, believe it or not.

The girls are adjusting remarkably well with boy of the boys home. Morgan and Haidyn are a great help to us and love being little porters, bringing us diapers, wipes, burp cloths, whatever we need to keep the little men clean, fed and happy. :) We let them sit down and hold the boys once a day and they eat up that time with their brothers. Brooklyn is doing better now that both boys are home and we can devote more one-on-one time with her. She loves to cuddle up (ie sit on) her brothers so we have to keep the boys up away from her reach. Tummy time and bouncy seat usage is limited to Brooklyn's nap and meal times. LOL :)

Overall, it is going as smoothly as we can expect. Paul is a wonderful help with feeding the boys during the night and my mother helps me with them during the day. I cannot believe that the boys are both home and both doing so well. To think that they started out at just over 2 lbs a piece and are now chunky, happy and healthy between 7 & 8 pounds!