7 Months Old!

Hard to believe M&M have been around for 7 months, but they passed the big 7 mark this past Thursday. As always, we marked the occasion by breaking out the camera and taking pictures of the twins with Mr. Bear. This month was interesting because it was the first time the kids have had some limb control. Normally I kinda' prop them up in the chair and try and snap the picture before they tip over. This month they were squirming around and trying to fit the stuffed animals in their mouths.

Milo and his old roommate

Mmmmm, woolly.

Maddy decides where she wants the bear.

In other news, Milo had his final eye exam this past week. His eyes have finally matured, and he no longer has any signs of retinopathy. It's nice to have one less doctor to visit. Though we have a pretty busy next couple weeks: Milo will have a swallow study completed on Jan. 28; both twins will receive a follow-up flu vaccine on the 30th; the twins will visit their pulminologist on Feb. 2; Milo will finally have his hernia surgery on Feb. 4; and they'll both receive yet another Synagis immunization (that's different from a flu shot) on Feb. 6. Oh yeah, and Lisa, their infant development specialist, will swing by for her weekly visit each Monday.

Most of the above probably looks like familiar stuff, but, for those unfamiliar, the swallow study is necessary to determine whether Milo is aspirating milk and to help us determine if he has any other feeding related problems. By the way, "aspiration" is the entry of fluid into the airway below the vocal chords. Aspiration is bad stuff and can lead to pneumonia. So far, Milo has been pretty healthy, but he's always been a bit of a sloppy eater. The swallow study should help to get him on track and rule out aspiration.

Telling the M&M Story

The twins made their first big public appearance this week when Elaine and I were asked to speak at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Partnership Council Annual Celebration and Goal Setting Workshop (or "ABSMCPCACGSW" for short). The purpose of the talk was to tell our story to the 80 or so healthcare professionals in attendance and give our take on the positives and negatives of the whole experience. The positives - as those familiar with this blog already know - include the great healthcare, especially our primary nurses. The negatives had mostly to do with the terrible (and I mean Biblically terrible) elevators. Better the elevators than the doctors, which pretty much goes without saying.

Speaking of nurses, our primary nurses Terri and Donna were both at the ABSMCPCACGSW, and they were kind enough to watch the kids while we kicked it on stage. I was Flavor Flav to Elaine's Chuck-D. All in all, people seemed to like the presentation, and M&M predictably stole the show.

Maddy takes a rare daytime nap.

Other than the highlight of the presentation, this has been a pretty tough week. Since losing Caitlyn, Elaine's been mostly on her own caring for the babies. It's one feeding-changing-napping-bathing-pumping-playing evolution after another and it can be pretty tiring. Elaine plans to begin working from home (primarily) part time in the coming weeks, so we're hoping to have a great helper/nanny soon.

Maddy returns from an afternoon walk to the Blue Dot Cafe.

Milo plays on the babies new monkey gym. They're both getting very good at grabbing and holding objects.

Maddy gives it a whirl.

Finally, another attempt at M&M Cinema. Here, Maddy pulls and bats at objects while cooing. Very exciting stuff.