So this is outside...

Since the moment the boys have been home I have been very excited about taking them for a walk. One would think this would be an easy task to accomplish. One would be wrong.

There have been many reasons why a walk has not happened. The main reason being that I just haven't had a lot of downtime (also why I have been such a slacker with this blog lately). Taking care of twins is a lot of work! When I have had time, then the weather has been awful. Either it has rained or the temps have been in the 90s with terrible humidity. After weeks of waiting, today was finally the day the boys would have their first walk (ride) outside.

I got them situated in the pram (call me Mary Poppins) and it wasn't 2 minutes before Gavin decided he wanted nothing to do with this "walk." Aiden, on the other hand, fell asleep instantly. Gavin proceeded to cry loudly for at least half of the walk. Just a note, a crying baby does not sound nearly as loud when he is outside. Gavin would cry for about 7 minutes straight, stop for 7 minutes, cry again for 7 minutes, and then stopped for the last 7 minutes. Aiden slept the entire ride. I think I may have caught him shooting dirty looks to "that other baby" in the pram who was disturbing the tranquility of nature that he was enjoying.

Thankfully we did not come across any other walkers, aside from Grandpa Paul and Grandma Judy who were with us, because I would have been a bit embarrassed. I always pictured taking the boys on walks and other walkers stopping to admire my beautiful, not crying, babies. You know, having to fight off all the adoring fans with sticks, "No, I'm sorry but you cannot kiss my babies. I know they are hard to resist, but try to contain yourself." Brad and Angelina: Eat your hearts out.

Current Statistics:
Gavin: 6 lbs, 3 oz
Aiden: 5 lbs, 10 oz

First Date

On Tuesday night Gavin and Aiden had their first date. The lucky gal, Amelia, is an 8 month old redhead who enjoys long walks around the neighborhood and solid foods. The boys prepped for the evening by taking baths earlier in the day and wearing their best sleepers. The date began around 6 pm when Amelia arrived with her parents Tim and Angela. During dinner Amelia dined on a Bitter Biscuit, being a typical lady she ate dinner before coming as to not eat too much in front of the boys. Gavin and Aiden slept through the majority of dinner, but did enjoy bottles and after dinner conversation in the living room.

It was a very exciting evening for the boys evidenced by the fact that they both required a change of sleepers after they wet through their first outfits (girls can have that effect on boys). Things really got crazy when Amelia almost crawled off during a changing without any pants on. I overheard Gavin say to Aiden at that point that Amelia, "might be too fast for us." The picture to the right shows the scene at 8 pm. As you can see, Amelia, with her mom Angela, is ready to hit the clubs while Gavin and Aiden are out for the count.

Although the word dowry did come up during dinner, you think I am kidding, no official arrangements were made. Both Gavin and Aiden look forward to more "dates" with Amelia, but both admit they are not ready for a "serious relationship."

Watch out, I'm coming over!

Although both boys have been sleeping well since they came home, Aiden has the tendency to chirp and squawk a lot in his sleep. It made us a little concerned he was not getting a lot of quality rest. We talked to the visiting nurse about it when she was here yesterday. She mentioned that many twins like to sleep right next to each other in their crib, and that it might calm Aiden down. We had already noticed their ability to scoot closer to each other, sometimes covering 6 to 8" in the span of 3 hours. We tried positioning them closer together, Aiden got over to Gavin's shoulder all on his own, and they both slept a lot more soundly and quietly. Just when we thought the boys couldn't get any cuter they found a way. :-)

Aside from good sleeping ideas, the nurse also weighed each boy and we were delighted to see that they had both gained weight since coming home. Gavin is up to 5 lb, 8 oz and Aiden is up to 4 lb, 14 oz.

For those of you wondering about Steve, he seems to be doing fine since the boys' homecoming. As Ian pointed out today, we know he has been eating because his food bowl is constantly empty. I think Steve has been coping with the situation by doing a little stress eating. I tried to recommend exercise to him, because let's face it he is big enough, but he pretended not to hear me.

Hey Aiden, Let's blow this popsicle stand!

Today around 4 pm Gavin and Aiden were discharged from the hospital. We had known for a couple days that today was probably going to be "the day," but I didn't want to jinx it by writing about it. As you can imagine, we are absolutely thrilled to have them home! Don't they look just precious in their crib together?

In the first two hours home, both boys got changed into new outfits and their crib got a new crib sheet due to their amazing and unparalleled ability to overfill their diapers. We are so proud!

There are many funny stories from their last couple days in the hospital, but those will have to wait until another post...because I will have so much more time to blog now (ha ha). I do have to give a shout out to all the nurses, doctors, and staff of the Genesis NICU. They are incredibly caring, compassionate, and just damn good at what they do. Thanks for taking such good care of the boys (and Ian and I) the past 5+ weeks.

Current Statistics:
Gavin: 5 lbs, 3 oz
Aiden: 4 lbs, 12 0z