Nicolas Riley

I managed to find the time to replace the batteries in my camera today.....................

Here's Nico!
AKA: Chunky Monkey, Mr. Blue Eyes, Big Boy, Baldy (although his hair has started to grow back!), Snuggle Bunny and I'm sure many more that are escaping me at this moment.

Guapo checking up on the cutie pie.

"Okay mom, here's a little smile for the camera."

"Wee, I love sitting like a big boy! Daddy says I'm really strong and my belly is really big."


How many chins can you count?

So that's our Mr. Nicolas. Oh, I should have added McDrooly. He has recently started drooling all the time- worse than Bella at dinnertime!

Not much new to report over here. Things are going okay. The boys are still waking every 3-4 hours around the clock to eat. They are quickly outgrowing their clothes!

Jeff had a wedding on Saturday and I had some wonderful "surrogate" grandmas come help. A HUGE thank you to Jennifer for not only cleaning the kitchen, but ordering me out of the house to have some "me" time. It was great and we finally have a calendar for 2009! I guess the year can begin now!

Jeff and I worked a Bridal Show on Sunday so my mom and sister came over to watch the boys. Oh, Andrew helped take care of them too! Blake was Mr. Happy with Teresa, giving her all kinds of smiles and giggles!

I hope you are all well! I can't believe it is almost May already and the boys will be 12 weeks old on Thursday. We are looking forward to the coming months as we will be introducing the boys to new friends and family members now that cold season is over and traveling is a bit easier!

Love to all,

Rebeca

Blake Taylor

As I was looking through recent pictures that I've taken around the house, I realized that they have all been of Blake! So he will get his own blog entry and Nico's will be next!

Caught cat napping!

Close up. Blake has really beautiful auburn colored hair. It is actually the same color that my hair was as a baby. My mom calls him the Irish child!

The last few mornings, Blake has decided that he loves to get changed. In fact, he loves it so much I have gotten a few giggles and lots of smiles. Of course as soon as the camera comes out, he got shy. Here he is either just beginning to smile or finishing a smile. Definitely a fleeting moment that I am determined to capture eventually.

Uh oh- feeding time!
Love, Rebeca

Feeling Better....................

Hi Everybody-
We are feeling better over here, thank goodness! Jeff and I have both managed to get 4-5 hour chunks of sleep (not at the same time :( ) and that makes a HUGE difference.

After too many crowded nights in the cradle, the boys let us know that they were ready to sleep in their own room in their big boy crib. So Jeff and I spent Sunday getting the room straightened up and then we went out and bought a video monitor. What a cool invention! Now instead of watching television, we have our own "reality show" to entertain us into the wee hours of the morning!

They have done great in their crib, which they are sharing for now. In fact Blake, who has been fussy during the day lately, took a 3 hour nap all by himself yesterday. Unfortunately, Nicolas, who normally naps easily, was having an "off" day so I wasn't able to get much done while Blake was napping.

The boys sleep in a "sleep positioner". It is supposed to keep them from rolling over and moving around too much. People ask us all the time if we think they are cognizant of one another. While I was sure that they were, I didn't have any "proof" until yesterday. When we put them down in their crib, they are completely parallel to each other. When they wake up, we find them angled in towards each other! Check out the pictures!

Sweet dreams!

Nap time from yesterday

This picture was actually taken this morning, but this is how we find them when they wake up.

(They also both woke up without their left sock.)

Hopefully they will continue to enjoy sleeping in their new bed. It feels weird not having them in the bedroom with us but we realize that they gotta grow up sometime!

Hope you are all well and thanks to the supportive messages and phone calls.

Love, Rebeca

Not All Fun and Games

I've tried really hard to keep all the posts positive but after the last 24 hours, I have to "let it all out". Part of the reason we have this blog is to keep friends and family updated on all the important baby info. I enjoy putting up cute pictures and telling funny stories, but I've realized even more that writing has helped keep my sanity intact, what little there is left.

Last night started off fine. I got bottles washed and ready for the night shift. I pumped some milk for the boys and drifted off to sleep somewhere around 11:30. Somewhere between 12:30 and 1:00 I wake up to Nicolas screaming. (keep in mind, I am upstairs and he is downstairs) I get up and try to help calm him down while Jeff continues to feed Blake. I guess I brought him into bed with me. I don't remember this part, but Jeff says I did. That part kind of scares me. I managed to fall back asleep as Jeff tried to get some work done in his office, finishing the late night shift. Around 3:00 in the morning, Jeff woke me up in desperation. Blake was crying inconsolably. He put Nico in the cradle and I tried to get Blake to calm down. After about 45 minutes of crying, he managed to fall asleep next to me. Jeff came in and put him in the cradle. Jeff came to bed around 4:30. I think we slept in the same bed for maybe one hour when it was time for me to get up and feed Nicolas again. From that time on I was pretty much awake, either feeding, burping, changing, a baby or pumping milk for them.

So here I am, going on maybe 4 hours of sleep, maybe. The dishes are piled up in the sink, the house is a mess, bottles are not ready for the night shift and I can't remember the last time I ate something. Oh and the pooor dogs. They have pretty much given up on walks. Once a week is an achievement.

I know many people read this blog, many who have babies of their own. I know what we are experiencing is not much different than the norm. It is a little more intense because there are 2 babies. Hopefully they will know that others are going through the same thing.

I hate to be a "Debbie Downer" but this is our reality. We know "it will get better", as many people have assured us. While this is probably true, well it has to be, it doesn't make the present any easier.

I am going to try to take a nap. I hope to wake up feeling a little more positive.

Here are a few new pictures. I know one is duplicated. I can't figure out how to erase the second one and, quite honestly, don't have the energy to keep trying.

Hugs- Rebeca

Poop, Pee and Progress

Hello Everyone!
We hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. Yesterday we not only celebrated Easter with a delicious meal at my sister's house, we also celebrated Jeff's birthday. We are looking forward to next year's Easter when the boys can join in on all of the Easter fun!

Today was their 8 week check up at the doctor's office. (They are actually 9 weeks old.) It was quite an adventure getting to the dr's office as Blake woke up halfway there screaming for his next meal. It got so bad, poor guy, we actually stopped and made him a bottle. As he was eating, he decided to go #2. We were running late (I know, big surprise!) so I thought I could wait to change him when we got to the dr's office. As I was checking us in at the front desk, Jeff took Blake out of his carseat to soothe his cries. He then handed him to me to change the poopy diaper. Well, to our great pleasure, we discovered that the poop had escaped the diaper and made it all over Jeff's shirt. What a lovely way to start the day! I chuckled a bit, got him cleaned up and we headed back to a room. Now it was time to weigh the boys. I got Nico undressed and as I was handing him to the nurse, he decided to pee all over me! (I guess it was a little cold in the room!) So here we are standing with our two babies, one of us covered in baby poop and the other drenched in urine. It was one of those defining moments that we knew we were officially experiencing parenthood in full swing!

We quickly forgot all about our soiled clothing when we got the boys' weights. Drum roll please:

Big Boy Nicolas- 9 pounds 5 ounces

Hands Man Blake- 7 pounds 6 ounces

On top of their incredible weights, Nico is measuring 21 and a half inches long and Blake is only half an inch behind at 21 inches.

After this Dr. Pecht (who we love!) asked us about some developmental milestones. Most 2 month old babies should be smiling, cooing, tracking with their eyes and they should have better head control. Since they were 6 weeks early, they aren't quite expected to be doing all of these things yet. But, not our boys! Blake flashed us a smile yesterday and Nicolas smiled at Jeff and the Dr. right there in the room! Dr. Pecht put them on their bellies and was very impressed with their muscle strength and control. Nicolas even tried to roll over to his back, something that is normally seen at 4 months old.

Then the not so fun part came, the shots! Poor babies! But they were brave and with a little Tylenol when we got home, all is well!

Here are a couple of new pictures!

Blake working on the head control:

Nico hanging out with Blake during his tummy time.

We hope you are all well!

Lots of love,

Rebeca

Three Years and Two Babies Later...

Today was our anniversary. We got married in a beautiful ceremony, during which we read our own vows to each other. Mine, which were scribbled on a few note cards since I knew I would never remember them (somehow Rebeca did), talked about the "exciting adventures" we would have together. Little did we know, three years and two babies later, the thrills that would await us!

Take, for example, our day today. This morning we actually left the house and went out for breakfast. This afternoon we had massages. Tonight we had take out sushi for dinner. And before the day was over, we danced our first dance again (Come Away With Me, Norah Jones). Not a bad day. Rebeca hadn't had sushi in probably a year and it had been three years (our honeymoon) since I had a massage. Today wasn't Paris for our anniversary, but all in good time.

Looking back, neither of us thought we'd have two babies, two exciting adventures, within three years. Days like today you take a step back and try to catch your breath. We agreed tonight during our first dance reenactment that everything will be OK. And this is a significant realization, because there are certainly times when you think that they won't. Somehow you get through those times - the babies stop crying, you're able to get some sleep, you have a couple gallons of coffee. You see the big picture...which is of course that we have two beautiful, healthy boys to raise.

The other day we went to the beach. Jennifer Federman took this picture, one of our first family portraits. We were planning on doing some family and baby portraits in the studio the next day, but after this beach excursion, everyone was too exhausted. Soon, I promise.



Here Rebeca is telling the boys about surfing.



Our neighbors Katie and Dustin got the boys their first pair of sunglasses! You might not think that wearing these hats is really the fashion at the beach, but all the babies are doing it.



It didn't take long for Nicolas to get agitated. Sometimes he swings his head around like Stevie Wonder, a connection that I only made once he had the sunglasses on. When Blake gets upset, he gets red in the face like Grandpa Jim.

Anyway, that's the update for now. Time to get some sleep if the boys allow it!

Jeff

We did say we wanted musically-inclined children!

Hi All!

Uncle Dave captured Blake and his hands on video this weekend.

Check it out!

http://vidy.net/Conductor/Conductor%20Hi_controller.swf

No Kidding Around Over Here......

Hello Everyone-

Just a quick post with some cute pictures! The boys are doing great. They will be 8 weeks tomorrow!!Woohoo! We hope this means that they will be sleeping for longer periods of time.....at night!! They are both growing like weeds and eating us out of house and home! Blake is offiicially out of preemie clothes and diapers. He is now weighing 6 and half pounds!! Nicolas is probably close to 8 and a half and in the 0-3 month clothing size. Nico is in the background grunting and fussing so..................................

Blake and Nico with their beloved pacis:

Nicolas grasping onto the blanket. They are now mastering this new skill of holding on to things, including my hair!

So we continue with the exhaustion but are loving our boys to pieces..................

Hugs- Rebeca