"Real" Babies

In the baby department much progress has been made. Since Kristen and I see them every day - it can sometimes be hard to see the changes in the boys, but there is no doubt the boys are growing up. We went to the pediatrician again on Friday, and we did the usual - spew out all our new parent concerns while he does his best to listen quietly then tell us that yes, everything is still very normal and healthy. They weighed the boys and Kennedy weighed in at a hefty 7 lbs 2 oz., with brother Max at 6 lbs 12 oz. They passed their due date (Aug 18th) recently, so with these "hefty" weights to boot, I am starting to feel like they are "real" babies now. They can hold their heads up for much longer now too and are doing more baby pushups during tummy time. They have also given us some Mona Lisa type smiles recently, but we think they are going to break out in full-on grins any day now.

In other news, it has been like an ongoing family reunion over here. If Kristen's family isn't in town mine is. It will be this way until the new year, and let me say to all the would be parents (especially if you have twins) -- DEFINITELY GET FAMILY HELP. They have been a Godsend and there is NO way we could have gotten this far without their constant help. Being a parent is a tireless job and it's nice to have someone to do a baby hand off to. Gramy Chris, Great Aunt Betsy, Uncle Garrett and Aunt Shelby all were around this week.

Max and Kennedy August 09, by Kristen Hebert

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Meet your 17 lb cousin, Caden

This weekend we went down to my cousin Jessica's baby shower in San Jose. We also got to see Aunt Leigh, cousin Kat and her 6 month old baby boy, Caden. Caden is a BIG boy. Everyone always says how small our boys are, and after meeting this guy we can see why. Here are a few more perspectives on the size of our boys...

Slightly longer than a strip of bacon, slightly heavier than a bag of flour:

Hungry?

When you have your first baby you learn facts about kids like "babies eat every 2 - 4 hours". Sometimes it's recommended to wake up a baby at the 4 hour mark or whatever your doctor's thought is on the maximum time limit for your baby and feed them. With preemies this is even more unanimous because they are often sleepy and might just rather sleep than eat. Well our boys are over that stage, and have no problem letting us know they're hungry.

Kennedy and Max eat about every two hours. For those of you who aren't yet parents this means from the start of one feeding to the start of the next is two hours. Each feeding takes about 30 minutes, more if you add in the related burping and diaper changing, which means the Breastraunt is only closed for employee breaks for about 90 min at a time. We also learned from hanging out with our neighbors who also have newborn twins about a neat thing called "cluster feeding". Expecting parents read up! We used to think "you just ate two hours ago you can't be hungry" and tried to kind of keep the boys at bay between these two hour intervals - not the right answer.

Are you feeling tired from not getting enough rest last week or over the weekend? If so, read below to add a new perspective to your fatige.

Max & Kennedy Rampe's feeding start times for August 6th and 7th:

2:30am
(3:30am - Max only)
5:45am
(6:45am - Kennedy only)
7:45am
9:50am
(10:35am - Kennedy only)
(11:35am - Kennedy only)
12:05pm
2:35pm
4:05pm
5:50pm
7:45pm
9:35pm
11:50pm
(12:30am - Kennedy only)
1:55am
4:30am
6:30am
8:40am
11:50am
2:20pm
4:20pm
6:10pm
(7:40pm - Max only)
8:45pm
10:20pm
(11:00pm - Max only)
(11:30pm - Kennedy only)

If that doesn't leave you ready for a nap yourself I don't know what will!

Trouble Brewing

Earlier this year I started brewing some beer to celebrate the birth of the twins. That beer is now ready. It's called Dubbel Trouble (pronounced Double Trouble) and is available for consumption at a Rampe residence near you. The beer is a Belgian Dubbel and has a pretty strong flavor that I think should mellow out nicely with age. Although I have brewed a handful of tasty beers in the past, this time I somehow over-carbonated it. All of these beers I have opened so far have lost about half their contents to upon opening without any shaking on my part. Trouble indeed! Here is the label - get a cold one today!