2 Months Old!

Our boys are 2 months old already! They're actually 9 weeks to be exact. On Tuesday we had our 2 month doctor visit and it went great! Grayson is now 10lbs 12oz and Jericho is 9lbs 6oz. I can't help but think that some babies are born at this weight and it took our boys 2 months to reach it! But with lots of prayers, love, help from family and a whole lot of formula accompanied with spit-up, the boys are BOTH on par with where they should be development-wise. It turns out that all the worrying with them spitting up is just us being crazy parents because they are obviously keeping more of it down. People have told us that in a few more months, they'll just outgrow spitting up and wont need to be rocking bibs 24/7. They also got their first round of vaccines and they handled it like champs! Sure they cried so hard that it went silent for a few seconds but Jericho fell asleep soon after and Gray was too hungry to stay sad. He went from the painful cry to his hunger cry almost instantaneously. After a few ounces of milk to calm him down, we headed out to pickup some grown up food.

That day, I was able to leave work at 330 to make the appointment and it was so great to be back in Jersey that early. I need to find a job locally after this Mob Wives thing ends. I would do anything to be home sooner to spend time with the boys. I hate missing out especially this early in the game.

Well I'm on the bus and I'm almost home (I'm already home btw). Gonna try and cook some dinner for us tonight! What's on the menu? Stay tuned...that'll be my next blog post...if it turns out edible haha.

Below are a couple of pics before the boys got their shots.

Happy 2 Months Grayson!

Happy 2 Months Jericho!

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

Below is a picture I came across at mommy's house. I love finding pics of my parents from back in the day and this one especially because I've never seen it. There's nothing like going through old albums of my childhood, turning the thick pages as they squeak because they havent been opened in so long, and peeling back that clear sheet of sticky plastic that holds the pictures in place. In this digital age, hard copy photo albums to kids today are like 8-track players to me when I was younger. From the look of each picture, it's so easy to tell when it was shot. And it's funny that we apply the same Instagram filters to achieve these same effects that I find in every picture. I guess that's why Instagram is so popular. We all have that inherent need to reminisce and think of old times that made us smile. This picture here makes me smile for a number of reasons. I love seeing mom and dad together in pictures when they were younger. They loved dressing up and dressing us up too. It's funny that I've never EVER seen my parents in a pair of jeans. Crazy talk right? What's also great about this picture is the background. This was taken in our old apartment on Baldwin ave. Behind them on the wall is our family portrait taken when I was about 3 or 4 and mommy still has that hanging on her wall today. I also see our old TV with that antenna and our stereo on the left. I remember spending so many hours in front of our old stereo recording hip hop off the radio onto cassette tapes when we moved to Seaview. Of course, my sister Meera did this all the time in our room using her black double decker radio and I wanted to be like her, so I did the same! Hahaha definitely good ol days.

Growing up as the youngest, only son, ive definitely been the momma's boy. I don't think I was ever really spoiled and neither were my sisters but I was definitely attached to her when I was younger. I remember taking the bus every morning with her to Bergen School and we would play a hand-clapping game and she would let me pull the string to ring the bell which was the signal for the driver to stop the bus. Those were some beautiful times that pictures wouldn't even do it justice.

Anyway, I just want to wish my mom a very happy birthday and her grandsons love her very much!

Bonding with Jericho

The last 2 weeks, me and Lisa found that one of us taking care of both babies at night is really rough especially when their feeding schedule is so close. When they first came home, we both would try to do that so the other can get some sleep but were always unsuccessful. I would usually end up waking Lisa anyway because I would get peed on and would freak out. (now I've become a pro at changing them...sorta) So after we decided to assign one kid to each of us, Lisa always wound up with Jericho mainly cuz he poops a lot more and I hate changing poop (cuz I always get peed on cuz I take a long time cleaning his little butt). And Lisa said I have better luck feeding Gray aka the spit-up king. Gray would actually sleep more throughout the night...which was a plus for me! But I would always stay awake longer after feeding him to keep him elevated and make sure he doesn't spit up. I've heard stories of babies choking on their spit up and it really freaked me out...those stories I read on baby center aka the site with all the crazy bitches sharing every story of their "LO" (Little One - shorthand on the site which took me like 20min to decipher.) anyway, so where was I? I'm blogging on my phone while Gray takes a nap on my lap btw...so a few nights ago, we switched babies and I took care of Jericho. Everything went smoothly up until 4am where he had a bottle and actually went straight to sleep. And then he woke up 1.5 hours later, changed him cuz he was wet and of course he pees as I change him so wardrobe change #1 happens. Feed him again, he poops a big one, clean him up, doesn't go to sleep, fusses about an hour later so I change him because he's wet and he starts to poop again. Grossed out, I handle it in stride and didn't wake lissy. Wardrobe change #2, I feed him again and he sleeps for about an hour. I drink some tea and eat a doughnut. (in the midst of this, Gray is fast asleep) its now 9am and I go downstairs to feed him again and watch some television. I snap some pics, cuddle with the little guy as he plays on his tummy on my chest and feel great that I handled all that by myself without bothering Lisa. I've definitely come a long way and can't wait to spend more time with both my boys.

6 Weeks

Jericho and Grayson are now 6 weeks old. It seems like just yesterday we took them home from the hospital. Time really flew by...I actually go back to work next Monday and I know it's gonna be so hard to leave them. Right now the boys are being fed 3 times at night. Usually around midnight, 3:30am and 6:30am. Give or take an hour for each feeding, but that's pretty much the gist of how our nights go.

The formula situation has been the most stressful part for us. Grayson has been the more difficult baby. He has acid reflux and after unsuccessfully changing formulas to stop/ease it, we had no choice but to put the poor guy on meds. He's taking Zantac twice a day and I think it's helping. He's still spitting up after his meals but he's no longer in pain which is great. We switched his formula back to Enfamil AR which is a thicker rice-based formula which is specifically meant for spitting up but this kid still spits up like an hour after being fed and elevated. We're not really sure what to try next but we're gonna stick with this formula for the next few weeks until our next doctor appointment. Not sure if he's spitting up because he's being fed too much [3oz for a 6 week old baby sounds right, right?] or maybe he doesn't like the kind of milk? He's on a preemie nipple so the flow is just right for him so we know its not that. The good part is that he's keeping down more than he's spitting up.

Jericho is on Enfamil Gentlease and he's been handling it well. He poops a lot from it but of course, we google it to make sure that's normal and all the forums on BabyCenter have said it's fine. Grayson is still the heavier bigger baby weighing in at 7lbs 10oz and Jericho isn't too far behind at 6lbs 6oz. Jericho actually fills in his carseat much better now than when we first brought him home and he's got some more meat on his bones.

Lately the past couple of nights, Lisa and I have split the parental duties per kid. I would handle everything for Gray and she would take care of Jericho. This has worked out great because the boys are on different schedules now, maybe an hour apart and this way, we can each get in more sleep. We get about 4 hours of sleep per day...on good days, we'll even remember to take a shower and eat...We've been sleeping in the living room the last few weeks because its just been more convenient in terms of bottle preparing. Most of our sleeping "gadgets" are downstairs too like our bouncer seats and swing. Grayson loves the swing and can fall asleep within minutes but Jericho hates it, probably because he's still a little guy and doesn't really fit into it properly.

I just got word that the new TV for our LR has shipped and will be here by Wednesday woohoo!! Cant wait!

The Hiccups Contest