Gabriel and Zeke are quickly catching up with their term counterparts. Here are the stats from yesterday’s 4-month wellness check-up:

• Gabriel weighs 12 pounds, 10 ounces; he is 23″ long; and his head is 16″ in diameter
• Zeke weighs 13 pounds, 1 ounce; he is 22″ long; and his head is 16 1/4″ around

Granted, Houston weighed more than 17 pounds at 4 months old, but big brother has always been extremely robust for his age.

Also, Zeke’s umbilical hernia looks like it’s deflating and the doctor confirmed that it is indeed going away on its own. What a huge relief.

“Eating rice cereal is fun,” says Gabriel. 

Gabriel and Zeke started “eating” solids on 2/18 and have already vastly improved their skills since then. They consume 2-3 tablespoons of rice cereal each a day and about 5 ounces of breast milk per feeding. This advanced menu has not only helped the twins grow big and strong, but it has also assisted in getting them both to consistently sleep through the night.

We weren’t able to swing the circus a few weekends ago like we had hoped, but we had a great weekend with Granny, Grumps and Duke dog nonetheless. They even watched all the kids so that Stephen and I could have a belated Valentine’s Day dinner out — our first time to a restaurant since the twins were born.

Granny also helped us get all three kids to church that Sunday; this was the twins’ first trip out from the house for anything other than pediatric appointments. Then the very next day, I packed up all the dudes and took them to a play date … and we were only 15 minutes late! It was at our old neighbor Jessica’s house. Houston was ecstatic to play with her daughter, Gracie, whom he hadn’t seen since they moved from our hood in the fall.

“This is so much easier than a binky,” says Zeke. 

Zeke has always liked binkies … when he could get them going, that is. I decided it was way too time consuming to coach him, so I stopped offering him pacifiers a couple weeks ago. And lo and behold, that boy finally discovered his thumb and the two of us couldn’t be happier. Zeke also recently discovered that fake coughing is a good way to get attention from Mommy.

Gabriel is pretty low maintenance as far as the oral fixations go, although he does fancy munching on his fists. (Combine all that clenching and drool and it’s no wonder why Stephen and I refer to them as his “ass hands.”) I usually have to restrain his hands when he’s eating rice cereal, but at least I won’t have to break him of a major obsession down the road.

And speaking of obsessions, Houston is quite passionate about his binkies. He has been biting and tearing them apart as of late, so they are slowly making their way into the trash. We have informed our little addict that when his stash is depleted, his binky days are over. I’d say he probably has about eight left at the moment, so the countdown is on.

Houston wonders, “What the heck did Mommy & Daddy do with all my hair?”

Houston has also been putting words together to form more complex thoughts. For example, “Daddy vroom vroom” translates to “Daddy rides a motorcycle” and “gocks agua” means “My socks are wet because I stepped in Duke’s water bowl.” (Yes, Stephen is already teaching him Spanish.) 

Click the above photo of the hairless boy wonder to check out all the February – Part 2 photos and the thumb-sucking pic of Zeke to see all the more recent images.

Gabriel and Zeke — who are happily watching Daddy jam out on Rock Band right now — will be going to church for the first time this Sunday. Everyone there has been giving me massive amounts of grief for the last few weeks about not meeting them yet. The twins still have 2 more RSV shots to go, but I figure the weather has been so incredibly nice lately that it wouldn’t hurt take them them out for a whirl — especially if I make everyone slather their hands with anti-bacterial juice before they handle the boys.

Just in case.

We hope to get Houston to the circus this weekend, too. Granny and Grumps are coming to visit, so we also have a lot of household stuff that we want to tend to while we have help with the kids. If Mommy and Daddy can’t take Houston to see the lions and the bears, perhaps the grand folk can do it.

We also plan on introducing Houston to NASCAR with this Sunday’s Daytona 500. Considering how much he loves anything motorized — like Daddy’s “vroom vroom” (a.k.a. motorcycle) — we’re pretty sure he’ll have a blast watching the brightly colored race cars go ’round in a circle.

One day Houston will be mowing the grass, too.

Gabriel and Zeke are changing exponentially by the day. It’s funny that we used to consider Zeke the laid-back baby and Gabe the dramatic one ’cause they have totally swapped dispositions. Gabriel is so chill and easy-going, whereas it seems as if Zeke has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Case in point: the top photo … Gabriel just sat there quietly posing for these photos, staring at Mommy snapping away with her camera, while Zeke started out crying and never quite seemed to relax. We have our theories about how TTTS played into these developing personality traits, but who really knows. Whatever the case, Gabriel and Zeke are the coolest twins around and it’s amazing to see them grow from babies into little dudes!

“We don’t want another crib, Mama,” say Gabriel & Zeke.

Click the above sleeping photo to check the most recent February pics. FYI, Gabriel and Zeke will be turning 4 months old next Tuesday and big brother Houston will be 20 months old on 2/26. My how time flies when you’re raising 3 crazy monkeys!

I’m usually a winter kinda gal, but this winter has been miserable. All the sunny days are bitterly cold and all the warm days are rainy, so I have been trying to offer the kids as many fun indoor activities as possible. This doesn’t always appease Houston, since he is such the outdoor boy, but it’s better than nothing.

 

Houston makes “art” for the first time.

Some things that do occupy Houston, at least for a little while, are drawing; playing on the activity mat with brothers; reading books; playing on the bean bag chair that Santa brought him; playing “car” (a video game that he has renamed) with Daddy; pulling things out of any container and then putting them back in (comes in handy when cleaning up his toys); helping Mommy with laundry and other household chores; and hiking his new football.

Gabriel and Zeke play with (i.e., get tortured by) Houston on the activity mat.

Gabriel and Zeke are becoming more independent. They find the activity mat, the bouncy seat, the swing and riding forward-facing in Mommy’s carrier all pretty entertaining. They both hold their heads up really well, so as soon as they’re long enough, we can bust out the exer-saucer and jump-n-go swing — two of Houston’s favorite old toys.

The twins are also sleeping for much longer periods (6-7 hours) at night, which makes for a happier Mommy and a healthier home. In fact, I had to wake Gabriel and Zeke one morning last weekend ’cause they were still snoozing after I had been up a while and my breasts were ready to blow. Houston is finally down to one long nap a day and still sleeps like a champ at night, usually waking around 7 a.m.

Houston utilizes his “eating smock” to its fullest.

Click the above image to view the January – Part 3 pics and the activity mat photo to see all the remaining January photos.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing church for the extremely generous love offering they collected to help us out with our medical bills. Thank God for the kindness of our many brothers and sisters in Christ!