Catching Up with the Colburn Twins

It has been awhile since I have blogged on the girls. For the past week, our family has been really sick. I started with a cough that turned into bronchitis and Mike brought home the flu from school. Soon after that, both Juliana and Olivia came down with the flu. I have never in my life seen a little person so miserable. Juliana didn't want to move. She had a fever of 101.7 and laid on my chest moaning. After she lost her lunch, we took her to urgent care where they swabbed her for the flu. She tested positive so they put her on tamaflu. Within two days she was acting like herself again, although Olivia was going down hill fast with a fever of 100.6. That night we gave her the tamaflu and within the next two days she was well.

Our sick little Juliana

 Juliana with a fever of 101.7

Our family is almost better and life is good. The girls are growing so fast. We have managed to outgrow our size 6-9 months and are now in 9 month clothes (even though they are almost 11 months). Their petite size keeps us from having to buy a lot of clothes.

 Juliana 

 Olivia

Juliana and Olivia are also developmentally growing. They have managed to mimic our actions, mimic some words, stand while holding on to furniture and eat with their hands. There are a few times out of the week that Mama allows them to play with their food. We read that allowing them to play, helps them to learn about textures and how to eat with their hands. Even though it is a royal mess, they have fun learning and exploring the new world before them.

 Our girls standing in their cribs.

Along with our new found developments, the girls are learning to test the meaning of "No". They have found really quickly that if they do not listen, it results in a time out or a little swat on the hand. So, the fun begins with discipline (being sarcastic). Our prayer as parents is that God will help us to train our little ones to love Him and be respectful to others. 

 

How could these little ones be bad? 

 The girls are creeping up on 11 months really soon and we have been amazed and blessed parents to two beautiful twin identical girls. I can't wait to see what joys they will bring to us next month.

WE LOVE YOU!!!

7 Month Check Up and More

On November 5, the girls went to the doctor for their 7 month check up. When we got there, I undressed Olivia first and took her to the scale. Baby girl weighed in at 16 pounds even and 26 inches long. Juliana was then weighed in and she was 16 pounds also and 25 3/4 inches long. As the doctor's visit progressed I was told that my baby girls were really healthy and growing well. I decided to ask the doctor about feeding solids to the girls. He told me that the schedule I had them on was really good, as long as they were getting a least 32 ounces a day. It is sad to say that I have quit breast-feeding the girls as of a week and a half ago. I was not producing very much and it became more work then benefit. I will be honest to everyone and say I took it hard. It was the one thing I felt that connected me to my children that no other woman or man could do. I have now, since then, come to realize that there are more things in my girls' lives that I will be able to do that no one else can. I breast fed them for their first 6 months and am proud I made it that far. I love my girls very much and will do everything in my power to be there for them when they need me.

On the topic of movement, Juliana and Olivia have been progressing very well. Juliana still stays in one place but will roll over often. Olivia on the other hand has discovered she can roll to any toy that is out of her reach. I placed her on the floor this morning while I gave Juliana her bath. When I came out to the living room, she had rolled off her boppy and made her way off the carpet and on to the wood floor where she laid there kicking her feet holding a toy. I don't think it will be long before she is crawling and then we will start having fun.

Olivia

Mama and Juliana

 




This past weekend Juli and Livi experienced their first snow. We woke up Saturday morning to giant snowflakes falling from the sky. We put hats on the girls and took them briefly out in the snow. Juliana tried to touch them and Olivia didn't like how cold they were. We hope that someday soon they will get to put their hands and feet in it and make a snowman. (Well, I guess the snowman will come later when they can walk.) Well, life as you have seen as been good and the girls are healthy. As I have mentioned many times before, we are blessed to have these little packages of joy.

Olivia not enjoying the cold.

Olivia not sure about the snowflakes.

Juliana in the snow.

Juliana clinging to Mama.

2 Month Doctor's Appointment

The girls have reached their two month mark about 4 weeks ago. They were to see the doctors at the beginning of June, but because of their size we were advised to wait a little longer. So here we are on June 22nd, the girls went in for their check up. We knew this was going to be a very eventful day as they were to get their vaccinations. Olivia was first.

We undressed her and took her to the scale. The nurse measured her length at 21.5 inches long and weight of 9 pounds and 14 ounces. We were hoping for 10 pounds, but I would say that was pretty close.

Juliana was next, she also measured 21.5 inches long and weighed in at 9 pounds and 15 ounces. Both girls had a perfect physical. Now for the bad part. Vaccines.

There were two nurses that administered the shots, each girl had two shots in one leg and one shot in the other. To our amazement, they cried for about a minute and then quit and went to sleep. They actually ended up sleeping rest of the day, only waking to eat an ounce of food. It wasn't until the next day that we saw fevers. My heart was crushed to see how miserable they were. They wanted to be held most of the time. They cried when they were awake and when they went to sleep they slept hard. Not fun for our little bambinos.

It has now been two days since their vaccinations and the fevers are gone. We are back to our sleepless nights and many feeding episodes. So glad my little ones smile again.

Juliana with a fever of 99.7 degrees.

Olivia with a fever of 100.4 degrees.

Both girls relaxing on the couch.

Olivia's Doctor Visit

      

Last Monday morning Olivia had a doctor's appointment. I usually have Mike with me to help with the girls but this time, he had to work and the task was up to me. It took me an hour to dress, feed, and pack the girls away. This time, I planned in advance how long it was going to take me. I didn't do that bad. I actually arrived at the doctors visit right at Olivia's appointment time.

Olivia's appointment was for a check-up to see how her reflux was doing. We were afraid that she was losing weight by the amount of fluid she was spitting up. It was quite scary to see 3 oz of fluid come out of someone so little.When we got there the nurse took her naked little body and put her on the scale. To our delight, Olivia weighed a whopping 7 pounds 4 ounces. She was growing just fine. After she was weighed the doctor came in and looked at her tummy and asked several questions about her vomiting. He decided to put her on Previcid. So far she has done really well. She is fed sitting up and burped real carefully.

One way that we have dealt with the girls' reflux is to put them in their car seats to sleep. They have done really well and have not spit up during the night. However, as they are growing they are getting a lot stronger. They are moving so much now we will be graduating to their elevated mattress and bed. Hopefully that will be a success as well.

Olivia

 Juliana

Zantac at 6 Weeks

Now that we have had the girls on soy formula for about two weeks, they have been functioning at a better rate. Poopie diapers are quite frequent and quite smelly. We however have encountered another problem with our girls. They have developed reflux.

Fountains of spit up, loads of laundry, several baths and crying babies have been our daily routines. We started them on Zantac to ease their pain. Juliana took to the medicine very well. She does not spit up as much as she did. Olivia, however, is not doing as well on the Zantac. We go to the doctor tomorrow to see if her weight is increasing. If it is not, they are going to put her on a different medicine. Feedings have changed too. Olivia has to sit straight up so the acid does not come up her throat, which makes it really hard to breastfeed her. Our new great finding are their car seats. We found that our babies are very happy sleeping in them. I don't know how long this will last, but we pray for them everyday that God would ease their discomfort. I hope they soon will grow out of this phase of life.

This week marks the girls 6 weeks of life. We are very proud parents and are very excited to see them grow. They finally grew out of their preemie clothes and are now wearing newborn size. They still have a ways to go until they fit fully into their newborn outfits. Juliana and Olivia are starting to recognize the items that feed them. When we place a bottle near their faces they automatically open their mouths wanting to be fed. What great joys we have when our little ones progress. Its the little things in our girls' lives that make our sleepless days and nights much worth it.

Olivia holding her paci

Juliana sucking on a paci with daddy's help

First Month Doctor's Visit

Thursday was Juliana's and Olivia's one month doctor's visit. I never realized it would take me so long by myself to get them dressed, fed, and put in their car seats. I decided to start an hour early. Good thing I did, I walked in the doctor's office right at their appointment time. Mike met me there from school to help.

Once we were there, the first thing they did was had us undress the girls and weigh them. Olivia was first. She weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. Juliana weighed in at 6  pounds 2 ounces. The girls are still on target for growth. They had their normal check up and we managed to make it through the doctor's visit with minimal crying.

We however had one concern. The girls were spitting up their breast milk and formula, usually the same amount that we were feeding them. The doctor thought it would have something to do with the formula that they were eating. I mentioned to him that I was lactose intolerant and right away he said to change their formula to soy. I was also told that I could no longer have any dairy, since they will get gassy due to what I ate. So, I guess this is a way that I am meant to shed the baby pounds quicker. I will do anything to make sure these little ones have the best health that they could have.

Once we arrived home we decided to try the soy formula, even though they were supposed to breastfeed. Both of the girls did really well. They did not spit up one bit. Hopefully, this will continue to go as planned.