3 months...wow!

Well, Jeanette called me today to wish the boys a happy 3 month birthday which I thought constituted a blog update since it has almost been a month! Sorry for everyone out of town who wants to see these boys' and how much they have grown! I keep thinking I will do a better job of updating this, and then the days seem to get away from me.

Anyway, the good news from the Bates' household is that we are sleeping more around here (5-7 hour stretches at night). Matthew is the better sleeper of the two. He is all or nothing, meaning he is either lights out sleeping or demanding our attention full time..we also like to describe him as our high maintenance child! Caleb usually wakes up an hour or so before Matthew at night, but we are trying to teach him to stretch his sleep a little further with the aide of a pacifier...it is a work in progress!

Both kiddos are growing like weeds and weigh around 13 pounds now. They have really caught on to the breastfeeding thing and feeding them at the same time is a lifesaver for us. Although lately Matthew has figured out that if he cries enough when eating with his brother, he gets to stop and then be fed by himself at the end which he loves. Two words--- spoiled rotten!!!

The boys are starting to interact more and more and Caleb is grinning lots these days. Tim can really get Caleb grinning and laughing and it cracks us all up. Matthew will smile here and there, but always seems more serious then Caleb. It's funny how their personalities are already coming out. Here are some pictures of the boys this last month...

Matthew is in his "Glendarroch Homes" work gear. He went to visit Daddy at the tour of homes and was pooped out when he got home after a hard day's work.
Caleb in his Texas Tech gear for the opening game of the season...Tim was not home that day so Mommy dressed both boys in Tech clothing. They seemed to really like being in Tech clothes instead of TCU gear...trust me!!!
Mommy and Matthew in the baby bjorn carrier...
Daddy and Caleb in the carrier...we had an hour long dance party with the boys in their carriers...it was great! They LOVE to dance..hopefully they will get their Dad's moves and not their mom's (or lack thereof)!
Dad caught this pose of Mommy konked out with the twinkers after a meal...
"The great compromise" (for those of you who are worried about their psychological well being--we are going to switch the team that they wear every week so they won't get too attached to one team). How well do you know the Bates Twinkers? Which one is in the TCU outfit? answers to follow!!
I wonder who it is?
This one is tricky...
Boy time---no girls allowed. Caleb is grinning big on the left.
The boys playdate with Dustin :)

It was Caleb in the TCU outfit a few pictures above. The next picture is Caleb on the carpet and then Matthew in the boppy.

Diaper Olympics

Well, the boys had their 8 week check-up this past Monday and did great! Caleb now weighs 10 pounds, 5 ounces and Matthew weighs 10 pounds, 3 ounces. They are both about 22 inches long. The doctor confirmed that Caleb does have reflux so we have started him on some meds for 3x a day and we are hoping it will help. We are also working with Matthew on turning his head to the left as he prefers the right and his head has become a little misshapen because of it. The boys had their first round of immunizations and both screamed at the top of their lungs for about 10 seconds then seemed to be okay. However, the next few days were difficult with lots of diarrhea, some low grade temps, and fussy babies. The doctor told us these things were to be expected after shots. The good news is that now that they are immunized, we feel much better about taking them out and about. Tim and I have taken them to the mall, Costco, to Tim's company job sites, and to the grocery store. I braved Target alone with the boys the other night. It surprisingly went really well except for my little argument with a lady at Target. Here was the dialogue:

Lady- "Oh look at the twins! They must be a handful!"

Emily- "They are, but they are so much fun..."

Lady- "Let's see, they are definitely identical."

Emily- "Actually, they are fraternal."

Lady- "No, I've seen lots of twins and they are definitely identical."

Emily- "Well, you can see that Caleb has a lighter complexion and Matthew's nose is different then Caleb's."

Lady- "Nope. They look exactly the same to me."

Emily- "Maam, I promise, they are fraternal."

Lady- "Sure look identical to me."

Emily- (Thinking to myself...why am I arguing with a complete stranger over the relationship between my twins...I really am sleep deprived. Just walk away from the crazy lady...)

The other exciting thing going on at the Bates casa are the diaper olympics. This game was originated by Daddy and involves a 5 point scoring system. I know, we are big dorks, but we LOVE the olympics in this house! The boys bottle feed one time a day right before bed when the olympics are on so we decided to create our own event with the following scoring system:

• Crying: scoring based on quantity and more importantly, volume
• Diaper rash cream: points awarded for even distribution and time required for the application
• Urine: Start with a 10, 1 tenth of a point is deducted for peeing in the "pee pee tee pee" that the Peyton's bought us, 3 tenths are deducted for urinating in the new diaper requiring another new diaper, a half of a point is deducted for peeing all over their clothes requiring a new outfit and a full point is taken off if even a single drop of urine touches the diaper changer.
• Wiping: 2 wipes....good, 10 wipes....bad!!!
• Overall time: The world record is currently around 37 seconds.

So far, team Matthew/Tim are winning, but Mommy and Caleb plan to come from behind for the gold. I attached some more recent pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Caleb snoozing during his tummy time.

Papa (Tim's papa) holding his great grandson, Matthew.
This was Tim's idea to put Caleb on TOP of Matthew despite Mommy's request. However, I must admit that the boys loved it. I guess they probably miss being this close as that's what they were used to in the womb.
Matthew loves his daddy, especially snuggling up close with him.
Caleb is hanging out in the swing...he's actually trying to poop!
Matthew is in his carseat getting ready to go see Dad at one of the houses.

Lots of pics...

This is Caleb getting excited before our stroller ride!
Matthew lookin' pretty cute in his hoodie...
The Salter clan (and Ben) came over for the first time to see the babies.
Daddy is talking to the boys about the Rangers game. The boys love watching the game in their uniforms with their Dad and their Mom loves the break!
Their shirts say "nothing but trouble." We thought their expressions were very fitting for their outfits on this particular afternoon! They were both screaming at the top of their lungs!
Auntie Kelly and Auntie Farron (2 of Mom's best friends from college) came for a overnight trip and were sooo helpful with the boys.
Caleb (on the left) and Matthew (on the right) hanging out on the boppy after eating.

This was the boys first time to church. Both of our families were present for their baptism. It was a very special day in our family and such a reminder of God's faithfulness to all of us.
Uncle Casey and Matthew doing some cuddling!
The Bates and Davis families hanging out with the four little boys!
Cousin Tyler was doing some loving on the boys! It was so cute---he was trying to share his apple juice with the boys because he thought they might be thirsty!

***Just FYI for those who are interested: The boys had their first professional photos done last week and the photographer posted some of their pictures on her blog. If you want to see, go to http://www.simpletreasuresphotos.typepad.com/

Okay, for some reason the link isn't working....try www.simpletreasuresphotography.com and then click on the blog link from her website.

Fun pics and Twinker Bath Time

Here are some fun pics from the past week or so...

Daddy and his little frogs in their TCU gear...

We like to cuddle...(matt on right; caleb on left)

Mommy cooing over Caleb...


Twinkers in their first pairs of shorts...

Emily and I made our first major mistake in the raising of our children. I am sure there are many more big mistakes to come, but this one was really big. As many of you know, newborn babies should be bathed around 2-3 times a week. Well these little stinkers had gone a few days so we decided that we were going to have a wonderful bath experience. Everything went smooth during the baby process. In case you are wondering, Caleb pooping himself during the bath and Matthew peeing all over the mirror in bathroom fall into the "smooth" category for us during baths.

Well, we have these cute little frog towels that we have been using to dry off the boys after their baths. After we finished Matthew's bath we dried him off, wrapped him in the towel and laid him on the bed. We quickly finished Caleb's bath and put him on the bed in his frog wrap as well. The boys were so cute in these frog towels that we decided to have a cuddle session/picture shoot. We oohed and ahhed at how cute they looked in their towels. We put them next to each other, made them hold hands, pushed their lips together for a kiss...things were going so well we just lost track of time.

After coming down from this froggy-wrapped-baby high we were on, we decided to put the boys diapers on and put them to bed. As I unwrapped Matthew, I realized that Emily and I weren't the only ones having fun on the bed. Matthew thought it would be fun to completely soil the froggy blanket, the bed sheet below it and the mattress pad on our bed. While Emily and I were frantically trying to manage the situation with some damage control, Caleb decided he would join in on the festivities as he peed all over our bed.

Lesson learned by the Bates family: Diapers first, fun second!!

Matthew is sooo relaxed after tub time!

Caleb says, "Little does mom know, I'm up to no good!"

Our sweet photos before the incident..we couldn't help cuddling and playing. They were so cute in these little froggie towels!

Gross!!!

Caleb says "I'll show you guys, you rookie parents." I don't know how he can pee behind his head, but he has got good aim.

Words of wisdom...

I think the common theme from everyone we talked to before we had the twinkers and while the twinkers were in the NICU was "rest up as much as you can." Now we see why! These guys are so much fun and they sleep like angels during the day. But, they love to hang out with mom, dad, and/or grandma from about 12-6 AM every night! We are trying to help them transition from this phase as they seem to have their days and nights mixed up. It's a tag team effort during the middle of the night, but who knew I (who used to sleep at least 8 hours a night + a nap) would get so excited about a 3 hour stretch of sleep!
I am trying to rest as much as I can during the day while they are sleeping and that seems to help with surviving limited sleep at night. But we would all agree that one little smile from these guys (even though it's probably just gas) is worth a million sleepless nights. They are so much fun to have around.
The twinkers are waking up more and more and interacting with us by finding our voices. They love to cuddle and watch Rangers' games with daddy. We have tummy time with them every day (where we put them on their tummy on the floor to work on their neck strength) and it is so much fun to see them getting better and better at it. Tummy time is like a sporting event with lots of shouting and cheers when they hold their heads up in the air for seconds at a time! They went back to the doctor for a weight check this past Monday (for mom and dad's peace of mind) and Matthew weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and Caleb weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces. They had both grown at a good, healthy rate within just a week which was comforting. The following pictures are some adventures from this past week.

Caleb's first time in his bouncer...
Matthew's first time in his bouncer...

Our favorite time with the boys in putting them in bed and hanging out in the afternoon when Dad gets home from work. They love it!
Happy 4th of July everyone...mom made me wear lots of festive outfits to celebrate!
Caleb was not too excited about being patriotic..I think he was hungry!
Even though it is recommended that we limit trips away from the house with the boys for a while, we snuck in a 10 minute stroll around the block...the boys slept the whole time. But, it was great to get some fresh air.
We are buddies!!!

Lots of lovin'....

We are loving being home with these little guys. They are so much fun! We have family in town which is very helpful because these twinkers require a lot of attention, especially at 3 AM in the morning! We have figured out somewhat of a system with them so that everyone around here can at least get 4 hours of sleep a night. The boys basically get their diapers changed, temps checked, butts pasted with diaper ointment, clothes changed (if needed), and tummies fed every 3 hours on the hour so by the time we go through the routine there is not much time before it's time to start again! It is the best, though...all the snuggling with them and loving is so wonderful. They are getting much better at breastfeeding together and we now breastfeed 4 x a day and then bottle feed at night 4 x. They had both gained weight on Monday at their pediatrician visit (Matt- 6 pounds, 6 ounces; Caleb- 6 pounds, 7 ounces) and received a healthy report. They go back when they are 6 weeks old, which we are basically 2 weeks away from. We were told to limit their exposure to the outside world until that point because they were born premature and need to get all their immunizations and get stronger to fight infections. But, we are excited for the day when they can go places with us. Here are some fun pics of their first week at home....

Caleb and Grandma during bath time...he loved it!
Matthew did NOT like bath time, but was pretty content afterwards in his froggy towel!
Matthew is staring his brother down...:)
Matt hangin' out with his momma getting some grub!
Daddy snuck the babies from their cribs into bed with him this morning...I saw lots of kissin' going on, too!

Uncle Casey with his future Texas Tech Red Raider nephews (i'm going to get in sooo much trouble for that comment..we'll see how long it takes Tim to read it and respond)!
Papa Lefty getting cozy with Caleb...
Grandmary with Matthew and Dad with Caleb all snuggled up...
Aunt Jennifer stops by for some lovin!
Grandpa BT with Caleb konked out!