It takes a village

Hillary Clinton (our next secretary of state??) famously said that it takes a village to raise a child. Fortunately for Callie and I, we happen to have a village living under our roof.

Although the newness of the twinfants has worn off and the excitement of helping with their care is long since forgotten, Nick and Amanda are still helpful when it comes to lending a hand.


(Feeding two babies at once is a little tricky, fortunately for Saxon and Ella, big sister Amanda is up to the challenge!)

With the arrival of cold and flu season, Callie and I are being tested on our vigilance to Saxon and Ella away from people who have not been vaccinated. It's tough because very well meaning people, people who are our friends and who we truly like WILL NOT KEEP THEIR FILTHY HANDS TO THEMSELVES.

We do not take them to Wal-Mart anymore because we simply cannot go there without running into people we know. This is turning into a side business for Nick who we pay to babysit when we pop into town.


(Nick learned the hard lesson that sometimes putting a baby to sleep works both ways.)

Callie and I are discussing Christmas plans as we'd like to make it down to Mom and Dad's for the holidays. Once again its a scary proposition because of the shear volume of people -- adults and children -- and the likelihood that many of them will not have been vaccinated.

Mom bit the bullet this week and got her flu shot so she could come up and visit this weekend, but I don't think we can expect that everyone else in the family will. But Christmas is still a ways away so we have time to think it over.

Fortunately, Saxon and Ella are able to be vaccinated against some things. We continue to have this done, although Saxon doesn't always do so well for a day or so after the shots. He cries a lot when they're done and then needs to held and comforted for a while.

Their most recent round of vaccinations came Wednesday and the twinfants also received a "wellness" examination at that time. Both are perfect in all regards (I could have told them that without the exam!)

Saxon is now 23 inches long and weighs in at 10 pounds, nine ounces. By comparison he was 3 pounds 7 ounces and 16.5 inches long at birth, so he is 6.5 inches longer and now more than three times his birth weight.

Ella is a full two feet tall and weighs 11 pounds 15 ounces. At birth she was 4 pounds 15 ounces and measured 18.75 inches long. That's a gain of a full 7 pounds and 5.25 inches.

Outtakes and extras

I was going through the photos I've taken over the last few months and realized that some of you might like to see those that didn't make "the cut" the first time through.

As a habit I developed back in college, I will usually take two or three nearly identical shots of everything to have a choice of the best one.

Especially when you are taking pictures of people and animals, you'll find that even three pictures taken in quick succession will be noticeably different. The eyes will shift, the head will turn, someone blinks, etc.

So without further ado:


(This is an outtake from the infamous "Princess Headband" photo shoot. Ella doesn't usually mind the headbands, but this one she was not too fond of.)


(This is a photo from Eric's wedding day. I went with one of Saxon wearing the matching sweater for an earlier post.)


(This is a close crop from the headband day. Saxon had a lot of good photos that day, but Ella was a little off.)


(Ella has discovered her thumb and will suck it rather than her binky. I was trying to get a photo of it, but realized later that I should have moved the dangling toys first.)

As I've said before, I have a lot of respect for the photographers who work with babies. It takes a lot of skill and a bit of luck to get those perfect shots. I'm just glad I don't have to pay for film and processing anymore.

Long Over Due

Wow, has it really been 12 days? It seems like I should have a lot more to update than I do, but I will try to fill in what I can.


(Saxon did better during this photoshoot.)

I can tell you all that the twinfants are growing. They seem bigger and bigger every day. It still kind of tickles me when people ask how old they and upon hearing that they are three months old proclaim "They are so tiny!" I just think to myself "You should have seen them before!"

But, then again, Callie tells me it can take up to two years for preemies to fully close the size gap on full-termers. So we'll just have to wait and see on that I suppose.


(I think he was happy he didn't have to wear the head band.)

I cannot, however, tell you their full weights because we bailed out of our last doctor visit. When we arrived in the doctor's small office it was filled with kids coughing all over the place. We are VERY careful when it comes to what the babies are exposed to.

Essentially, what wouldn't effect you or me will make them not feel well. What makes us not feel well will make them sick. What makes us sick could kill them. We simply won't take chances with that, so we walked out and told the receptionist we'd reschedule.

Our doctor has a second practice in Sedalia that is in a larger building and has separate waiting areas for "wellness" visits and sick patients. We'll be going there for the duration of cold and flu season. It means and extra 60-mile round trip, but it's totally worth it to avoid any risk of infection.

One of the biggest developmental things I've noticed of the babies in the last few weeks are the smiles. They've been smiling for a little while now, but it has really picked up recently. They recognize my voice and their little faces light up with this big slobbery-lipped grins. It's just about too much for a dad to stand.

Callie called me at work today to let me know about another milestone in Saxon's development. During tummy-time today, he raised himself up on his arms and pushed himself over onto his back. This is great and puts him ahead of Ella who was the first to actually be able to raise her head.

That was the good news for today. The bad news, I'm told, is that I am ruining the children for sleeping. Most nights Callie takes care of the babies until about 4 a.m. This lets me get sleep from midnight or so. Then at 4 when the babies usually wake up, I take them into the living room, change them, feed them and then go to sleep with them. I lay on my back on the couch with them on top of me. It works great for putting them both to sleep quickly and then I get a bit more sleep before I have to get up for work. Apparently, however, the babies wouldn't sleep today unless Callie was holding them.

But Callie and I are both of the mind that you cannot spoil a child with love. And when those precious babies do sleep, they have looks on their faces that tell you that everything is right and perfect in their world. I wouldn't give that up for anything.


(Ella as Princess Leia)

Let's see... Halloween has come and come and gone. Nick and Amanda went with their tried and true Vampire and Witch themes, but we got a little creative with Saxon and Ella. They were Yoda and Princess Leia, respectively. Callie made the costumes from scratch and they turned out really well. My pictures aren't that great though, so we may have to suit them up again for a photo shoot.


(Saxon as Jedi Master Yoda)

This year Amanda was the only one of the kids to do any trick or treating and her nigh was abbreviated to go to a Halloween party. We plan on a lot more Halloween action next year when the twinfants will be able to participate a bit more.