Back again...

Okay - I'm back and I have LOTS of updating to do: Christmas, New Year sleepover at YaYa and Grandpa's, and lots of new things Natalie and Abby are doing and saying.

For now, I'll start with some most excellent news: a weight check.

Keep in mind the girls have NOT been eating very well at all the last month. In fact they have been losing weight, and I have been quite concerned. We all remember hitting the big 1-8 pound mark. They immediately backslid and dropped several ounces after that.

One week ago, on their usual Tuesday (12/30) weigh-in, Natalie weighed in at 17lb 12.5 oz (this is what I had, Lindsey, our ST, said she wrote down 17.10, I think - anyway it was less, so I could have remembered it wrong.) Abby was 17lb 15oz.

This past Tuesday (1/6), I weighed Abby first. When I saw the scale, I said out loud, "no way, that can't be right" Lindsey made a face - thinking it must be a very made number. After a second weighing (and then a third), I told her last week's weight and made her try to guess what Abby weighed. She made a hopeful 18.3lb guess. Nope. 18 lbs, 12.5 ounces!!! Holy Moly! A 13.5 ounce gain in one week - almost a whole pound. There have been many months when she hasn't gained that much in a whole MONTH. I was floored. I couldn't believe it. Then I weighed little miss Natalie. She weighed in at 18 lds, 6 oz!!! That's at least a 10 ounce gain in ONE WEEK - maybe more if my records were wrong. I really couldn't believe it. We were quite ecstatic.

To what do we owe this miraculous growth spurt? Beats me. The week before they had not been eating well at all and had been throwing up a good bit at night. Then they week to Yaya and Grandpa's from Thursday afternoon to Saturday afternoon. Apparently they ate everything in sight. Well, maybe not everything, but mac and cheese, chicken, rice, beans, bananas, and oh, about 12 - 15 bottles of pedisure in a 48 hour period (I'm not sure how much I took). - So, at least 96oz from 2pm Thursday and 2 pm Saturday. At least 24 ounces a day each.

I felt completely inadequate and hopeless as a parent. We were ready to send the kids back with the GP's and visit them on the weekend.

Then, Ben decided to put together one of the Dr. Brown bottles. Dr. B's come with these little tubes and thingy and are supposed to help reduce colic and gas by eliminating bubbles. We had tried it in the past with no particular difference. I'm not sure why Ben decided to put it together, but God bless him.

Since Saturday afternoon, they have been through copious amounts of pedisure. They have been draining 6 ounces bottles like it's nothing and even eating 7 or 8 ounces if it's in the bottle. The other night, Natalie ate 7oz at bedtime and 5 more at midnight - 12 oz in 5 hours - over half her usual daily intake. We've had to actually limit what they can drink - if you can believe I'm saying that. We let them do about 7 oz and stop them. When they drink more, they tend to throw up. So, we will do 7 oz for a while, stretch their tummies, and then let them do 8oz if they want.

I don't get it at all. My only guess it that the tuby thing does eliminate bubbles and keeps the nipple from collapsing. Before we often has to pull the bottle out a little to allow the nipple to inflate again. So, now, they are actually sucking milk the whole time instead of wasting time and energy sucking nothing when the nipple would collapse.

We are excited about this new development and especially the weight gain. Even if they don't gain another ounce this whole month, they are still maintaining their 2oz a week average so we're good. They still aren't eating regular food very well, though, so we are still working on that. I'm afraid we've created little begging monsters. They eat much better when grazing from our plates as we eat on the couch. They take a bite, go off and play, and come back for more. They eat a number of bites this way. Put them in their chairs and they are not at all interested in letting you feed them or in eating much by themselves. All I can say in our defense is that we do at least ask them to ask politely with the sign for "more", and now we've taught them please. So, now, to beg for food, they at least have to ask, "more, please". We are trying. And, well, I do think that's pretty good for 19 months old/16 months corrected.

Come back soon...I will be putting several posts up in random order - so New Year's may come before Christmas, etc.

Speaking of....I hope you all had a wonderful, joyous Christmas Season and a Happy, happy New Year!