If you’re a parent, you can probably relate to looking at a hundred different pictures of your baby or child and appreciating each one for it’s unique cuteness, but you probably also know that if it’s not your baby, one or two pictures is usually enough to fill the cute tank and the rest just look the same while you smile and nod politely. That’s sort of how I feel writing about mundane details like who’s eating what or how much they weigh. It’s all interesting to me and I’m grateful for everything about being a father, even the mundane parts, but I’ve steered away from describing Brooke and Claire in meticulous day-to-day detail because I reckon it’s just not that interesting to anyone besides us, and also because one day is pretty much like the next at this point in their development. I don’t mean that as a complaint, and I know that soon they’ll be doing and learning new stuff faster than I can share it in my blog, but for now, the general fatherhood stuff is more interesting to write (and hopefully to read) than redundant updates about how the pooping is going. If you really go for the more mundane stuff, though, here’s what you’ve been missing:

They graduated from a retinologist to a pediatric ophthalmologist who saw them a few days ago and said he saw “four healthy eyes”. (He also said it would be the last time they’d have to be subjected to the eye speculum — yay! He did not say whether my nightmares about the eye speculum are also finished.) Preemies are at increased risk of developing vision or eye problems, so they will be monitored more frequently than full-term babies, but so far so good.

They got their full set of vaccinations (in two rounds of shots a couple weeks apart), and we’re looking forward to getting the go-ahead from our pediatrician to venture out with them into public places like restaurants. Except for a couple of times doing outside seating at uncrowded restaurants, we haven’t been out much as a family. We’re homebodies to begin with, but more than that, we’ve just been following medical advice to minimize the girls’ possible exposure to sick people because a newborn’s natural immunity isn’t great, and a preemie’s is even worse. We think we’ll get the green light in about a month, which means they’ll probably catch their first cold in about a month and a day, after sitting inside at a restaurant for the first time.

Brooke went through a period of not eating very well, meaning she was rejecting her bottles and when she did eat, she wasn’t eating as much as she should have been. Naturally, when it reached a point that concerned us enough to call the pediatrician, it was a Friday night so we could only get in touch with the on-call doctor in the group who was covering. We thought reflux was the likeliest culprit, but the on-call doc suspected constipation was to blame, so he recommended a small amount of prune juice once or twice a day. We tried that for a few days and didn’t see much improvement, so we took her back to see her regular pediatrician, who recommended a different formula. The change in formula did the trick, so Brooke has been back to eating normally for a couple weeks now. (Her appetite seems a little low at times, but that’s not quite as bad as when eating seemed to be causing her pain.) Her improved feedings were a relief on many levels, not least of which was the concern about her not gaining enough weight. Her weigh-ins at the pediatricians office (we don’t weigh them at home) never showed a weight loss, but she did slow down enough during the bad eating period that Claire passed her for the first time. Both girls were just a few ounces under ten pounds the last time they were weighed, so they’re probably over now. In the beginning, they were so light I could hold them forever and feel no strain. Now I can hold them practically forever, but my back keeps reminding me that I’ll turn forty in a few weeks. Holding them both at the same time is getting harder, too, but I’m a sucker for a double cuddle.

Claire has been more of a steady eater, but instead of refusing feedings, she went through a period where she kept spitting them back up. It wasn’t every time or every last drop of what she had consumed, but it was more than just the occasional spit-up so we consulted our pediatrician again. (Don’t you love first-time parents?) Claire was also put on a new formula, but not the same one as her sister Brooke was on. Her new formula helped with the spit-up, but it has an almost foamy thick consistency that makes it a pain to pour and measure, and it seemed to make her existing issues with infrequent bowel movements even worse. This time, we decided to try something new without consulting the pediatrician first, which was to mix Claire’s formula with half of the new stuff, and half of the regular stuff. It has been a few days of that now, and it’s working (as far as we know).

To sum up the formula situation, we now have to get three different types of formula for two babies, two of which get mixed together for Claire’s batch. Even before the most recent formula adjustments, the pediatrician told us it was time for them to switch from the high-calorie preemie formula they had been on, to the lower-calorie “normal” stuff. This wasn’t bad news, but through taking advantage of various freebie offers (redeeming x 2 for twins when possible) and the generous free samples given to us by the NICU nurses, we had gallons of the high-calorie stuff stockpiled in every form possible: powdered mix; pre-mixed liquid quarts; and several boxes of the 2-oz. “ready-to-feed” bottles. Formula ain’t cheap — especially the liquid stuff. (The more convenient it is, the pricier it gets.) We knew we’d have to switch eventually, but we had asked about it before and thought there’d be a little more notice so we wouldn’t be stuck with a month or more of the old stuff. It’s going to take a little effort, but we think we’ll be able to return most of it. At worst — like if we can’t exchange it for the kind of formula we need — we’ll find somewhere to donate it.

If you’re wondering what they do… still not a whole lot besides growing and looking adorable. They’re social smiling a little more each day, but it’s still inconsistent. They wiggle around a lot and seem pretty strong to me, but they still don’t reach or grab with intentionality. They eat so frequently that you realize just how quickly three or so hours can pass; my usual reaction when they signal their hunger is, “Already?!” They sleep a lot. They play, if you count squirming around while Mommy and Daddy try to make them smile as “playing” — which we do. They scratch my neck and chest at every opportunity.

They are not “sleeping through the night”, yet, but that’s to be expected given their corrected age of just under two months. (I put that in quotes because “sleep through the night” doesn’t mean the same thing to a baby as it does to normal people.) They generally wake up a couple times for middle-of-the-night feedings. Our decent (not normal, but decent) rest these last couple months have been made possible by having help at night. We’ve got just a few weeks left of that, but we’re already flying solo (flying duo?) a couple nights a week, and it hasn’t been as miserable as we feared. We adapt to the situation (like we’ll both get up if both girls are screaming), but generally, I’ll take the first “late” shift and Kat takes the second “early” shift.

Claire and Brooke are still so young that they seem oblivious to any bedtime routine, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying to get one going. We don’t do it because we think they’re ready to “get” it, but because when they are, we want to already be doing it. What that usually means is that we’ll take them up to the nursery around 7:30pm, feed them if it’s time (feeding times vary from day to day), bathe them if it’s bath night, and put them in their crib after some calming, soothing time. Brooke is pretty good about either going to sleep or lying quietly awake, staring intently at nothing in particular. Claire, on the other hand, considers this the perfect time to be wide awake, and no matter how mellow or sleepy she seems while being held, will protest being laid down. Thus, much of the time from 7:30 until 11:00 (when the baby nurse arrives) is spent deciding which cries are minor fussing and which ones need attention, and alternating Claire between crib and the zizzy chair. In other words, our bedtime routine for the babies starts around 7:30, but Claire’s doesn’t kick in until around 11:00.

Speaking of which, anyone else feel sleepy?