Austin First Steps, plus My Last Week of Freedom!

Lots of things going on this past week.  Talk about time slipping away!

Since this blog is mostly supposed to be about the girls, and not me, I'll do the short recap of my activities: cat vet appointments, dog vet appointment, hair appointment, roof leak consult, insurance adjustor consult for said roof leak, and general prep/house maintenance.  Oh, and jury duty - how could I forget that?  I was selected as one of the six jurors for a municipal court case involving a speeding ticket.  The jurors picked me to be the foreman.  We definitely spent more time debating the amount of the fine than whether the defendant (an attorney) was guilty.  Anyway, definitely a fun experience for me!

This morning the girls had their Austin First Steps appointment, which is a clinic that specializes in premature babies.  The appointment was at their location at 10:30 am, so Karen arrived a bit early, we took a few super cute pictures (will post separately), and then loaded up the car and headed over.  We actually arrived a few minutes early, too!  (As a side note, the production involved to move two babies from point A to point B is amazing - and we were only gone for about 3 hours.  I can't imagine what is going to be like when we take the girls somewhere overnight.)

After a bit of wait (during which Karen "broke" the TV ... she actually just turned it off Nickelodeon and couldn't get it to switch to something other than snow - but I had fun teasing her about it), we were ushered to the back area.  Both girls were weighed and measured by the pediatrician and then we talked to her and the dietitian about how everything was going.  One really nice thing was they had all of the records from the NICU stay, so I didn't feel like I was starting from "square one" regarding the medical history of the girls.  We also got some clarification on things regarding type of formula, vitamins, and the girls' eventual progression to solid foods (looks like it'll be around early November ... just in time for Thanksgiving!).  The pediatrician and dietitian both thought the girls looked good and were growing well (that always makes you feel good), said they were following their growth lines consistently (at the adjusted age), and then we made our six month (adjusted age) appointment at the end of November.

So...at 18.5 weeks old:

Hazel: 10 pounds, 9.5 ounces

Abigail: 9 pounds, 14.5 ounces

The cutest pics from the last week (as best as I could narrow down):

Hazel tummy time.

Abs showing off her ice cream cone onesie with matching bling.

Tired Hazel in the Bumbo.

Cute Hazel face.

Slumped Abs in the Bumbo.

Abs tummy timing it up.  Or lounging.  Hard to tell.

Napping Hazelbear.

This is what early morning looks like with a baby.  :)

Hazel play time!

Daddy entertaining the girls with Jacques the Peacock and the soccer ball.

In an odd twist, Abby has the soccer ball and Hazel enjoys talking to Jacques.

You talkin' to me?

We do actually feed Hazel sometimes.  She is not
forced to eat soccer balls, although I think she enjoys them.

 

Abby: I can't decide if I'm going to be happy or upset.  It's a gametime decision. 

Hazel:  It's not brass, but I'm grabbing the ring.  Yay for me!

Pooped Hazel and tired Daddy.

Skeptical Abby.

Isn't Hazel a cute sleeper?