Which one is that?

A common question in our household. Just today we've started assigning hats to each boy, so hopefully that will help some of the "which baby am I holding now" confusion that comes at the wee hours of the morning (and really all day long). In addition to the traditional Max and Kenedy monikers we have compiled the following list of

Top 5 Nicknames:

5. Milk Master

4. Super Baby (when arms are extended as if in flight)

3. Burrito (when swaddled)

2. Milk Man

1. Milky

All above names are used to refer to either Kennedy or Max. Milk related names have to do with either the amount of drooly milk left on the face after feeding, or the uber heavy eyelid look after a big milky meal. See attached depiction of "Milky" (Kennedy).

Raising Boys and Other Crimes Against Humanity

I remember reading in one of my college business books that teams go through four distinct phases before performing well together: Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing. They meet and play nice initially (forming), over time personalities inevitably collide (storming), everyone gets used one another (norming), then once the road is paved, they work well together (performing).

I'd put our family in the Storming phase. The last two days have been pretty sleepless with a lot of crying. I realized at about 4 AM that to consider using a pillow to shut up a screaming baby is human, but to then finish changing his diaper and gently hand him to mom for feeding is to be a dad.

And Mother Earth will have more charges to bring against my stay on this planet... we initially signed up for a cloth diaper service that got great reviews. The ecological case for cloth diapers against disposal is unshakable and to boot since we have a slight volume discount with twins it's actually cheaper. But let me tell you, those diapers are huge, clumsy, look like they are squashing my babies' guts and take a LONG time to put on (even after practice). When a baby is screaming in your face at the top of their lungs in the middle of the night and you know the countdown to them getting mad enough to pee on you is dangerously close to zero, then every second counts. We are switching back to Pampers, and I have never felt better about it. They can name a landfill after me - I'm ok with that. Anything that takes stress out of my life right now is a Godsend.

Bath Time!

Kristen, my sister Jenny and I bathed Kennedy and Max for the first time since they came home yesterday. Here is a little bit of video of Max's bath time (sans rubber ducky). He fits nicely into a bucket that takes up only 1/4th of our kitchen sink.

What's happening at our house right now...

All four of us lay in bed: Matt (mostly sleeping), Max (finally sleeping), Kennedy (also sleeping), Kristen (on laptop). All three boys have their heads turned to the left and their right hands over their bodies. Has to be the most precious thing I've ever seen. You, dear reader, will probably be left to imagine this on your own because the chances of me being able to get up and grab a camera without disturbing everything are minimal.

Nights 1, 2 and 3

Things are sleepless, but improving here after three nights with the boys home. We are getting used the various noises (and screams) that the boys make - and trying to interpret them. So far I am learning that babies like to do three things above all else 1) eat, 2) sleep, 3) poop.

The first night was pretty rough - no more than 1 hr stretches of sleep at a time. Night two I think we got up to 1.5 hrs at a time and by night three, we got two two hour stretches of sleep thanks to earplugs and some time with dad sleeping in another room. A friend's doctor said if you don't get at least one 4 hour continuous stretch of sleep in a week you go crazy... we've still got a few more days left to save our sanity.

Another friend hit the nail on the head when he said that having a baby is like owning an alarm clock... that you can only hit snooze on.

Today we are going to try to bathe our two little alarm clocks. Pics to follow.

The Boys are Home!

After three weeks and two days in the nursery, Max & Kennedy Rampe came home! Both weighing in around 4.5 lbs, they were cleared on all fronts and given a clean bill of health.

We are very happy to have them home and from the looks of it - they are too. When Kristen and I took them out of the crib in the hosptial for the last time they both raised their arms in celebration (we think they rehearsed it beforehand).

It was a long slog - first with months of pre-term labor/bedrest, then with another month in the ICN, but we are very excited that they are healthy, happy and home. Now the real adventure begins!