4 Months old/young!

I cant believe the boys are 4 month old already, well 4 1/2 months but who's counting right! They are growing right on along! They have the same height at 24", same head circumference at 41 1/2cm, Keegan weighs 13.9 lb and Kaleb is still a pound behind at 12.10 lbs! They are in the 20-25th percentile all the way around! We got the green light to start with some oatmeal ( told me to skip rice cereal due to the arsenic link. I had planned on skipping it anyway)! Let the messy, fun times begin!

Typical, they are more interested in each other than anything else!

Kaleb seemed to understand what was going on

I knew Keegan was ready



Oh yea!!!

 

The boys have begun teething as well, we don't think any teeth will break though just yet but the drool is never ending, they are constantly wanting to eat their hands or their lovies or anything that they can grab and pull towards their mouths!

Kalebs Hemangioma

On Monday we had another eye appointment for Kaleb it was just a check up and a very short Doctor visit, mainly to check the growth and size of his hemangioma. Since I haven't posted about that at all let me give you a little info on hemangiomas!

A hemangioma is a benign, and usually a self-involuting tumor, (swelling or growth) of the endothelial cells that line blood vessels and is characterised by increased number of normal or abnormal vessels filled with blood. It usually appears during the first weeks of life and generally resolves by age 10. Hemangiomas are also more common in twin pregnancies. Approximately 80% are located on the face and neck, with the next most prevalent location being the liver.  In more severe cases hemangiomas may leave residual tissue damage. In infancy, it is the most common tumor.
Hemangiomas go through three stages of development and decay:

1. In the proliferation stage, a hemangioma grows very quickly. This stage can last up to twelve months.
2. In the rest stage, there is very little change in a hemangioma's appearance. This usually lasts until the infant is one to two years old.
3. In the involution phase, a hemangioma finally begins to diminish in size. 50% of lesions will have disappeared by 5 years of age, and the vast majority will have gone by 10

 (Thanks Wikipedia)

I immediately knew what it was when my dear friend Jodi pointed it out. At first I thought he had scratched his eye but noticed it was slighltly raised. He was only about 2 weeks old when we first noticed. I had the Nurse Practitioner take a look at it at his 2 week appointment and they referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist. The first available appointment wasn't until November in Belmont about 45 minutes away. Whatever we will take it because If this thing begins to grow rapidly I want to get it taken care of ASAP!

Both of my nieces were born with hemangiomas, Rayna's on her leg popped up and disappeared quickly and Dori's who's is located on her left eye like Kaleb's.The girls are now 5 and like I said Rayna's has completely disappeared, Dori's is still visible. She did have to wear an eye patch for a while as a baby but hasn't had to do anything since. Her hemagioma is not affecting her vision or anything at this stage its just a cosmetic thing. Over the years it has dispersed and lightened. Because I'm so use to it I hardly notice it anymore. Dori doesn't seem to be affected by it whatsoever either, she never really mentions it other than to say "Kaleb has a birthmark like me too!". In the beginning I was concerned for Dori with her being a girl and in school... Kids are mean!

Rayna on left and Dori on right (her hemangioma is on her left eye barely visible in this pic, I barely notice it anymore and who would shes too precious to notice it! )

Now hemangiomas are not hereditary but if you look at our family you would think they are! Three out of the six grandchildren have them!

Barely see anything just looks like a small red bump
(he was about 3 weeks here, I think)

Kalebs hemangiomas hasn't appeared to grow much and it is not affecting his vision which has been our main concern. We go back for a follow up in March!


Not the best pictures his hemangioma is in the inner eye looks like a red splotch

 

Still playing catch up!

Finally able to enjoy being outside for a day!

Crazy Charlotte weather, where it can go from 70 degrees in January to days like today where the low was 22 and the high is 42. We had what some called our "first snow" of the year but I decided it wasn't good enough! So, in my opinion we haven't had any snow yet. (plus I wanted a good photo of the boys and their "first snow")

 

 

 

Keegan during his albuterol treatment, loves it can"t you tell

 



All jacked up after thetreatment

Playing catch up (Whine and wine time and a week in their cribs)

Every few weeks my dear friends Jodi and Joy and I get together to enjoy a relaxed day of lunch, snacks, our babies and WINE and WHINE time. We don't do that much whining but we sure do have fun! Its always great to get together with them and just talk about anything. Luckily Joy lives like 7 minutes from me too. We typically get together there as she has the whole set up for kids of all ages! She also got the BEST Christmas gift, an Embroidery machine! (Secretly jealous!) If I could get it together I plan on sewing some thing and having them monogrammed or what not! I plan on using her skills quite often! Hopefully, if I can get it together!

Sweet Sylar, she runs the show with all these boys! (Jodi's beautiful daughter)

Sweet baby Wells (Joy's precious son)



Keegan ("calling Elvis")

Kaleb (scratched his face all up)

1-18-2013
Well it has been a week since I started putting the boys in their cribs for nighttime sleep and naps.... what a long week. It seems like every other night was good or bad. Last night was the first night I truly felt as if I got some sleep. We usually don't have a problem getting them to lay down around 8:00. I typically start the bedtime routine around 7:00, bath, bottle, cuddle, maybe a book. We then give them their nonny, lovies ( Zeke, the zebra for Kaleb and Maurice the monkey for Keegan)... why not give them names) and place them in their separate cribs. Within 10 minutes they are asleep. Now the fun begins. Somewhere between 12 and 1:30 Kaleb seems to be waking up. He doesn't want a bottle but sometimes has a hard time falling back asleep on his own. Normal that's what babies do I understand, but what is making this so difficult is by the time Kaleb is fast asleep BAM Keegan wakes up! Now Keegan's cry is way more loud than Kaleb's. They usually don't wake each other up which I am super grateful for! Keegan seems to be a little more needy with nap time and bedtime. I cant just give him his nonny and shhhsh him back to sleep. Unfortunately, I created a little snuggle monster. I do love that his is such a cuddler but at 1am I'm not in the mood. I'm worried that he will start to rely on the rocking or cuddling to fall asleep too much. So usually an hour after the whole process started they are back asleep. So time for me to try to go back to sleep as well.

I blame myself for starting the week off all wrong. I let them wake up on their own to feed. BAD idea. they were an hour or so off each other so it was a constant up down. By Wednesday i just said whatever whoever wake up first I will feed then wake the other to feed when the first is done.

Well finally last night I feel we had a breakthrough and they are getting it! I only had to get up once each for nonny patrol and their early am feeding. We had a few fussies going on every once in a while but they worked those out all on their own! Now to just keep this routine going!

Just lost 30 minutes of posting!

Im super upset now I am out of time and will have to re post everything later!!! SUPER annoyed!

Night 1, sleeping in their own cribs!

Well not what I expected. I am exhausted but hey I usually am anyway! So last night I decided to put the boys in separate cribs. Kaleb is having a harder time with this than Keegan. Ever since the boys were sick last week and we started Albuterol treatments every 4 hours the boys have since continued this pattern. They feel the need to wake up every 4 hours to eat! Before they were sick they had no problem sleeping through the night. Now I feel like I am having to start all over again. The entire household has been sick since the New Year and we are all running on fumes! Not sure what I would do without my Keurig!!


Last night was terrible! Kaleb woke up first an hour after putting them down. So I let him fuss for a few minutes (probably only 30 seconds because I'm a pushover) slowly get out of bed put on my robe and make the hike upstairs. All he wanted was his nonny ( a word I made up as a child for a pacifier), or to just stare at me. Fortunately with Keegan all I have to do is lay him down with his nonny and lovie and he is golden! Well 30 minutes later Keegan started same thing he just wanted his nonny. OK so I settle back in to bed and what seems like 3 minutes ( was 3 hours) and they both are screaming for food. Fed them, kissed them on the forehead back in the crib they go. I make it to the bottom of the stairs and Kaleb begins to fuss... Now he is my more gassy boy so I figured he was a little gassy. Well he was extremely gassy. An hour later he is finally back asleep! This routine pretty much continued every hour or so until 7:00 when they are both ready to get up for the day. I sure hope things get easier every night. I will be moving to a bedroom upstairs in the meantime, not that I'm lazy (well a little), my bedroom just seems so far away from them.

Lets see how this goes...

Slowly figuring out how to do this whole blog world thing! Not expecting too many people to read this so I plan on being as open, and honest with this as much as I can. Ive never been much of a writer so please excuse my terrible spelling, grammar, and punctuations...