10 weeks on!

Today, the girls are officially 10 weeks old (5 adjusted). I can't believe how much they have changed already. I look at their SCBU photos when they were super tiny and had feeding tubes coming out of their noses, and little skinny arms and legs. And now I have to lift their fat rolls when I bathe/dry them or try and put them in their car seats. I just love feeling their chubby thighs and kissing their chubby cheeks.  And as of last week, they finally fit into their newborn clothes (i.e., no more preemie clothes) which means they have a whole new wardrobe! I wish I was that lucky.

The changes so far are:

Both are now over 3.5kg's and have moved into a whole new clothes size!
Both focus on us, especially when we talk to them. We can hold them in our arms and move our heads from side to side and they will turn their heads to watch us.
Both smile! Still a bit unpredictable, but has happened whilst talking to them, kissing their feet and cuddling them.
They have definitely found their lungs!
Ruby seems to be the quickest to let us know when she is not happy and boy, is she loud compared to her sister.
Ava is a chatter box and will lie in her bassinet or bouncy chair and squeak and squeal and yelp away. Sometimes we talk to her and she squeaks back :) Ruby on the other hand just cries or is quiet. Nothing in between for her :)

Support from the Fam Bam

My mum stayed with us for 6 weeks - from 25/12/12 until 29/1/13. We all got off to a bit of a rocky start (okay, a very rocky start) as it was only our 2nd night home with the babies, and Josh and I had sort of gotten into our own rythm, so we didn't know how to fit mum in. And she didn't know how to fit in. Plus, she'd broken her hand badly about a month before she came over, so was a bit incapacitated.

After what felt like 2 very long weeks, a few tears, shouts and trying to change mum's flights so she could leave earlier than planned (she couldn't), something just shifted and all of a sudden, it just worked. And then she was AMAZING and super helpful.  She became our champion burper, which was incredibly important as the girls seemed to be having a lot of problems with wind after every feed.  And she always looked after me (ie., always made sure I was fed and watered). 

Josh and I struggled with the the early morning feed (usually around 6 or 7) and she'd swoop in and let Josh sleep and then take the girls into the lounge as soon they'd been fed and burped, which meant that I got to sleep for an hour or two until their next feed. Ahh bliss!

 Mum with the girls.


By the end of her 6 weeks I was devastated to see her go. And I was terrified of how I'd cope without her. But I didn't have long to freak out as  a couple of days later, my sister came over for a week.  Mum had coached her well on what to do, and she'd bring me a cup of tea during the morning feed and then whisk the girls away just like mum did.  Again, it was awful to see her go. I miss my family so, so much and I hate that I can't just pop over to visit them when I'm feeling lonely, or pick up the phone and say "come over please" when I feel like I need another pair of hands.

We are working on getting the girls passports so that I won't feel so stuck, and then hopefully I'll be able to go to Aus for a couple of weeks. Still haven't figured out where we are all supposed to stay but I'm fairly certain that the family wont let us go homeless :)