4 Month Birthday!

Wednesday marked Ayden and Rylee's 4 month birthday.  I can't believe it's been 4 months already, but at the same time it also feels like we've had these babies forever.  It's difficult to remember they are preemies because they don't even remotely look like it anymore!  Tony and I are constantly in awe of the fact that WE actually have little babies.  WE have a family.  Amazing!

Rylee is trying to fly away and Ayden has mastered the one eyebrow raise

Both babies are sleeping in their cribs, but boy oh boy to they move all over the place!  Ayden is sleeping on his tummy and starts at the bottom of the crib, but ends at the top.  Rylee is swaddled, but manages to flounder around until she is sideways in her crib.  Both of them sometimes wake themselves up because he reaches the top and his head is squished against the crib and he can't go any further.  Rylee wakes herself up if she turns and bumps her head on the side of the crib.  We have to be very strategic about where we place them in their cribs to start out!

Ayden generally sleeps anywhere between 6-9 hours straight, but last night he reached an all time high of 11.5 hours! Woo-Hoo!  Little Miss Rylee has gotten in the habit of sleeping only about 3-4 hours, until she wakes up and will only continue sleeping if I hold her and we sleep on the couch together.  I have tried soothing her in numerous ways, picking her up and rocking her, replacing her paci, petting her face.... but she always wakes back up within 5-10 minutes.  After about 40 minutes of that, I usually break and just sleep with her on the couch.  I need my sleep too!!!  She will sleep FOREVER if I am holding her.  Once I feed them, they usually go right back to sleep again for another 3 hours or so.

Our days are filled with Physical Therapy appointments, doctor's appointments, going to softball games, and playing at home.  They both coo and really talk a lot.  Ayden is a very smiley baby, unless he is hungry or tired and then look out!  Oh boy does he get mad then and he is not shy about letting us know it.  Rylee has turned a corner and is a generally happy baby also (finally!)  She absolutely loves to talk to us and is a lot more willing to gift us with a smile now.

Ayden has about outgrown this onsie, while Rylee is just now barely fitting into hers

Our little Oregon State Beaver fans!

Mornings are full of smiles and giggles

Trying out the Bumbo for the first time.  Ayden barely fits!  They don't quite have enough head control that I am comfortable leaving them in there for very long, but it's a start.

Their 4 month well baby check up isn't for another week and a half, but Rylee gets weighed in when we go to OHSU for her hemangioma's.  As of yesterday, she now weighs 11 lbs, 8 oz.  She has officially outgrown her newborn clothes and is on to 0-3 month and some 3 month, although those tend to swim on her a bit. Rylee's ulcerations are almost all cleared up FINALLY.  She doesn't puke on a daily basis anymore, but she is spitting up constantly.  We were going to try a new reflux medicine for her, but the co-pay is $72! Ouch.  So we are trying the Ranitidine (off brand Zantac) again and hoping it helps now that she is a bit older.  She doesn't scream in pain from the reflux, but I am constantly cleaning up spit up and she is living in a bib, which is unfortunate because it covers up all her cute clothes!  Rylee rolled over for the first time at PT last week, but then didn't do it again until a few days ago when she then rolled over 5 times in a row!  She isn't consistently rolling over, but every once in awhile now.  Rylee constantly has eye contact with us.  In fact, I think she could win a staring contest any day of the week.

Tummy time!

She loves to stick out her tongue

At Ayden's last weigh in a month ago, he was 14 lbs, 7.5 oz.  His cousin Adilyn, who is 3 months older was weighed the very next day and weighed 14 lbs, 8 oz.  They weigh the same!  Ayden is our big boy, that is for sure.  He rolls over tummy to back and back to tummy, but mostly only in his crib.  Today was the first time he's rolled over outside of his crib.  We have to work harder for Ayden to give us eye contact, but it is so much better than it was just a few weeks ago.  His favorite game is to stand up (with our help of course), throw his hands in the air (also with our help) and say "Touchdown Beavers!"  (okay, we are the ones saying it!) Then we clap and he thinks that is pretty funny.  He actually laughs out loud now, which has got to be one of the best things ever. He has decided he doesn't like car rides very much anymore and really cries hard toward the end of every trip, no matter if we are only going 30 minutes into Salem, or an hour to Portland. This is no fun for anyone, but as soon as we get home and he's out of the car seat he is our happy baby again.

He was telling me a very funny story!

Looking SO much like his Daddy!

It is a challenge to get pictures of both babies where they are both looking at the camera, smiling at the same time, and holding still enough so the pictures aren't blurry.  For their 4 month pictures, we had 3 different photo shoots throughout the afternoon in our attempt to get them to cooperate and be in good moods. Here's the best of the lot, good moods and grumpy faces:

Of course I have to include this one!  I think it's hilarious!  (bad mom, I know.  haha!)