happy birthday, Grandpa M!

happy birthday, Grandma L!

another interesting date

Today the boys are three weeks old and today is also the original due date.  For someone who was only supposed to join us today, they boys have done quite a lot already - they have seen a few places and met many important people.  They are both well over 6 lb, and looks like they are well on the way to being well-adjusted citizen of this world.  And of this country - they have health insurance and social security numbers.  To be closely followed, no doubt, by junk mail, voting information, and AARP pamphlets.

wolves and bears my ass.  these are two chipmunks!  after the 10pm feeding.

The boys have also celebrated in their usual style.  Benjamin set a personal best by peeing on dad three times in one diaper change.  The aim is definitely improving.  Perhaps, I am also getting slower and worse at dodging.  Benjamin also managed to poop on the socks he was wearing, to say nothing of the usual assortment of targets that were annihilated.  I suppose, briefly washing his socks is easier that washing his feet and toes, or pretty much giving him a bath.

I continue to happily pull all sorts of poop duty.  The phrase "ваше место возле параши" (Russian prison slang for 'your cot is by the shit can' designating low prisoner rank) resonates well with assessment made by HH shortly after the kids were born: "you are now the fourth most important person in your family".

first park; grandparents leave for Boston

On Saturday the boys had their first trip to the park.  Accompanied by a grand entourage they spend an hour or so on the grass (ok, not really on the grass, but you know, very near it).  The over all outcome is: the park is recovering from a visit of the rather noisy four generations of Kaplans and Manns.

Also, the same night the Boston grandparents went home, with a promise to come back soon.  Guys, you did awesome!  Thank you so much for those two weeks from all four of us!

in the park, with Zev

Now, it has been brought to my attention that we have been very slow responding to calls, e-mails, and especially to kind offers of visit lately.  Perhaps, now is a good time to tell people what it has been like in the last nearly three weeks.  Mind, the boys are very, very reasonable people, and it could have been MUCH worse.  here goes.

Life is cut up into rather neat three hour chunks.  Each cycle starts with waking up and possibly changing one or two of the boys.  One is fed from breast; when he is done, he is burped and switched to formula, while his brother gets the breast.  Number one is then burped again, possibly changed, swaddled, and placed down to nap, while his brother is bottle-fed, while mom pumps.  Number two is the burped, possibly changed, swaddled, and placed down for a nap.
Now, I can just hear people start offering suggestions on how to optimize this process.  For instance - why not feed two at once?  We'd love to, and sometimes do. The difficulty is that while Zev eats like a hungry wolf that he is (ze'ev is 'wolf' in Hebrew), Ben ranges from eating OK to not taking the breast at all, and rather taking his time with the bottle, like a deliberate, substantial bear (Beresh is from ber - 'bear' in Yidish).  Which pretty much negates all time advantages of double-feeding, and makes mom less mobile, while attached to a huge pillow.
Back to the explanation.  The activity runs anywhere from 50 minutes to an hour and a half, based on the size of poops, burps, and general enthusiasm of all involved.  Also, in some cycles a mid-nap change is required   Sometimes for both of the boys.  This leaves 120 to 90 (sometimes uninterrupted) minutes for everything else.  Literally.  That includes sleep, mental rest (i.e. not thinking of baby food or poop while awake), eating, showering (occasionally), all house chores, preparing supplies for the next feeding/pumping, and social life.  And looking for work, for some of us.
Over all, two people can do just feeding and sleeping.  And minimal supply prep.  Zero everything else.  With four people in the house, it was pretty decent - we got acceptable chunks of sleep.  One person cold be out of the house sometimes on a non-baby related errand.  Essentially, four can trade water, maybe swim a little.  With three it is a very slow sink.
Please be patient with us.  We have some help lined up.  We will get better.  To all of you who wait patiently, meet us when and where we ask on short notice, generally put up with us, and still remain our friends - thank you!

poop, continued

...and we're back.  In the last few days the boys have embarked upon a competition of 'who can poop the most at one time'.  The competition consists of storing up the material for 12-20 hours, and then releasing it all at once in a single event that can only be described as flood-like.  We refer to changing a diaper (sometimes also suit, changing table cover, and someone's shirt) after such an event as "clean-up" and everything around the ... geyser as "disaster area".  We are getting better at this.  We manage mega-poops with a few diapers, uncounted wipes, and a smile.  So far Zev is slightly ahead, but I am sure they aspire to greater and greater achievements. Let it never be said that the teenage boys have the greatest affinity for jokes  involving bodily fluids.  New parents (and grandparents) laugh way more about poop, spit, and urine, hands down.

In other news - both of the boys weighed in at over 6lb today, and we are cleared to let them sleep at night until they wake up hungry, rather than wake them (and whoever is pulling night duty) every three hours.  We all look forward to reducing the number of night feedings, even at the cost of feeding more frequently during the day.

first bath

Today the boys had their first bath(s).  The event was much like the first flight of a prototype airplane: there was way too much discussion, the tempers were high and opinions abundant, preparations were extensive, everyone was very nervous, the entire event lasted about a minute and did not amount to much, but…in the end no one was hurt and everyone was jubilant.  

two weeks and counting

It is very late, so I shall keep this posting brief.

Yesterday, on Monday, the boys celebrated their two week mark.  Even better - they both have surpassed their birth weight, as measured during a check up on Sunday.  Monday also saw the first time Alla was away from the boys, on a check up of her own (were she was pronounced recovering very nicely).

We are now also in full search of a nanny, with some hopeful leads, as we realize that absence of a nanny leads to despair and madness.  The search and the experience itself will no doubt provide all manner of hilarity, so stay tuned.

The weekend was good - first father's day congratulations are much appreciated, and Alla got to enjoy her first half-glass of wine in quite a few months.  The boys continue to improve rolling and head-holding skills.  I look forward to them getting more mobile with anticipation as well as a fair amount of dread.

The saga of installing the car seats in the stroller rolls on.  Evidently, pretty much no one in continental US is willing to provide tech support.  I am now in touch with a nice lady in the Netherlands, who asked for pictures of the pieces installed on the frame.  Which will be somewhat challenging to provide, since installing pieces on the frame is exactly what is not happening.  On points, round two also goes to the stupid plastic pieces.  I still, however, hold out hope for an upset knockout in later rounds.

a few pictures

These were taken by the hospital staff when the boys were three days old.

Benjamin

Zev

and the brothers together

under the sign of (Ben's) poop

It has come to my attention, my gentle reader, that an inordinate share of this blog is dedicated to bodily functions.  I can only apologize for that.  I suspect that for the foreseeable future the trend will very well continue.  Should you be so brave (or bored) - read on...

Two days ago Benjamin decided to reduce his pooping frequency from 7-8 times per day to about two.  In itself - not a tragedy or even cause for alarm.  Unless you are us.  Around 1pm we noticed that the poop/pee/feed white board indicated no poop for Ben since 4am.  In the mean time his brother, much on the same diet, continued to supply fertilizer per spec.  When none arrived at the 4pm feeding either, nerves frayed, tempers flared, books started to be read and I placed a call to the duty nurse at our pediatrician's office.  That the nurse had heard about eighteen million calls just like this one was obvious.  I was treated to a collection of soothing phrases about "adjusting to this world", "changing their schedule", and "just having a day".  But it is my baby, darn it!  No poop, extra fussiness - how could she ignore this?! I could smell being "handled" a mile away and appreciated it none at all.  I asked politely at how many non-pooping hours exactly should I start to worry.  This indeed puzzled the nurse and prompted a brief consultation with our physician.  The result, minus some more 'handling', was "since there are no real other symptoms, calls us tomorrow at 8am if no poop arrives."  Trusting in authority, we waited.

Awaiting the 7pm feeding we soothed Benjamin who was clearly not feeling great, but not screaming either.  Alla read Baby 411 - an excellent book, nice and concise, written clearly for a neurotic parent.  Just as Alla read out loud that indeed Ben was not suffering from constipation (different symptoms), his diaper revealed a regular dose on poop!  The cries of jubilation and celebratory dances commenced.  I truly cannot recall a single time when my parents, wife, and I were so excited by the site of excrement.

As visibly more comfortable Ben was swaddled and put down to nap, I did, however, remark to myself that the amount produced could not possibly account for a sixteen-hour interruption in service.  About the same time Alla read to us from Baby 411 that we should expect "the mother-load".  Shortly after it arrived, in all it's multi-diaper-filling glory.  And made us happy.

At this point the boys continue to function correctly, and my expectation of "normal" continues to be adjusted.  I am sure that when 8am rolled around and no call came from us, the nurses had a quite chuckle at yet another overly neurotic parent, or perhaps simply forgot about us altogether.  Correctly so.

Another lesson learned in subsequent hours was not to interrupt a baby who is pooping or has done so recently.  The rule is to let the baby alone for good 30-40 minutes and let them continue the process in peace, breaks and all.  An hour is safer still.  Anyone changing a baby ahead of specified time is likely to end up very surprised by the caliber, range, cunning timing, and shear power of baby artillery.  I can only say that the late night gravity demonstration pales in comparison.  At the time of writing of this entry three data points have been gathered, making the rule "three for three".  It is safe to say that "let the pooping baby lie" rule can now be considered 'golden'.  Well, yellow-greenish, to be precise.

In rare non-poop related news: yesterday the boys had another "first" - first trip into the outdoors (not counting the cars).  They spent excellent 30 minutes in the bassinet, sleeping in our back yard.  Today the time was extended to 60 minutes, while Alla caught up on her sleep, while my parents and I actually had a glass of wine in the warm late afternoon sun.  For a few dozen minutes life, poop and all, was perfect.

night after the big day

This post, gentle reader, shall be a little more graphic still.  Therefore, if you have no interest in reading about the joys of caring for a circumcision site (or two), you might want to skip this.

The night started very smoothly, with the boys still riding the high of the post-surgery tylenol, added to the anesthetic and the wine.  With some trepidation we waited for the effects to wear off.

As the hours wore on, the boys fussed perhaps a bit more, but in general did not show much discomfort.  Finally, it was time to feed them, which included changing the diaper.  At diaper removal we were treated to the site of a newly circumcised penis (pictures available on line, I am sure).  It looked scary enough, still partly swollen from the anesthetic (of which we were warned).  There was no delaying it any further, we had to provide site care.  The aforementioned care consists of two parts, per received instructions:
1. Pull on the remaining skin gently toward the body to avoid adhesion of skin to head of penis.  Mercifully, we were instructed to skip this step the first time.  Wise decision, as doing that required some courage.
2. Applying enough Vaseline to cover the head and the surgery site completely, to avoid adhesion to the diaper.

We decided to start with Benny, his extra-calm resulting in him being volunteered to be the test subject.  We stilled our nerves and went after step 2.  Have you ever tried to fashion a condom out of Vaseline?  Have you ever tried to fashion anything out of Vaseline?  Mom and I, jaws clenched, determination on our foreheads and sweat down my back (we assume mom remained cool under pressure), went at it.  I held the legs, mom sculpted.  Several tense minutes and two teaspoons of Vaseline later, we had something that looked OK.  We applied the diaper, at which point Benny moved, and the fruits of our sticky labors were all over the diaper.  We made another sculpture, closed the diaper, and resolved not to look.  As Benny fed, we proceeded to Zev, who pleasantly surprised us by making no noise at all, as long as his core was covered.  In fact, here credit goes to my parents for coming up with the procedure for changing diapers and clothing: keep something over whatever part of baby is not being worked on, especially chest and belly, and they will be OK with it.  The boys certainly seem to agree.

The first post-op feeding was done.  Mom agreed to help with the sculpting job for the midnight, Alla-and-I-only, feeding as we all took a break.

The second time around it became only more evident that the main outcome was an effective transfer of Vaseline onto diaper, via pee-pee.  At that point I had a rare moment of engineering inspiration.  Instead of trying to sculpt out of Vaseline, I decided to cover the entire front of diaper, thus preventing sticking.  A diaper can be Vaselined in advance, with the only "on-baby" part remaining is creating a thin coat of Vaseline around the penis head with a cotton swab to prevent adhesion of head to skin of the belly, unlikely as that maybe.  The procedure works like a charm.  Patent may be pending, but anyone reading this is welcome to the procedure as payment for reading these self-serving ramblings.  The only downside of the process is that a diaper coated with Vaseline looses a lot of their absorbing properties, resulting in dramatically more wetting of outfits and swaddling blankets.  We figured that to be a small price to pay for not having to play Michelangelo with Vaseline sixteen times a day.  We have used the procedure every feeding/changing for nearly 24 hours now, and intend to continue.  Even though we are periodically amazed how someone so small can wet through a (reduced capacity) diaper, shirt, outfit, two swaddling blankets, and onto the mattress sheet.

Step 1 of surgery site care requires a bit of courage to perform the first time, but the tiny movement, or my best interpretation of it, does eventually get done with no site of blood, no extra-protestation from the boys, no light-headedness for me, and, quite likely, with no effect whatsoever.

The boys do continue to learn.  They recently discovered the "two step pee" technique, of which we were warned at the hospital.  Also known as 'delayed peeing'.  Goes as follows: they let us change them patiently, and as we are almost done putting on a new diaper, they let out a terrific stream, getting the shirt, the outfit, one of us, and some of the surrounding area.

The hilarity truly reached a peak for Alla and I somewhere between 2 and 4 am last night.  We were awake, but our mental state was, well, as expected.  Picture this, my patient reader:
A darkened room.  Few sounds from outside, plus our whispered voices.  Zev sleeps peacefully in the crib, while Benjamin quietly fusses while being changed.  The light is provided by a bright LED light, pointed up, so it reflects nicely off the wall down on the changing area, while letting Zev sleep mostly undisturbed.

The new diaper is Vaselined and staged.  While I turn to dry my hands, Alla says: "Oh, this looks very wet!"  And the diaper flies into the 'Diaper Champ' (ingenious odor-containment device for diaper disposal. Thank you, S and R!).  Diaper two is prepared.  As I am finishing the job, I notice that the diaper looked a bit weird all along.  Mostly because I was applying Vaseline to the wrong end of the diaper.  Diaper two follows diaper one.  Diaper three is prepared, correctly this time.  As I am about to slide it under Ben Vaseline-first, Alla stops me: "Vaseline goes on the pee-pee, honey."  As we quietly remark on challenges of applying diapers, Ben produces a golden stream that arks good 15 inches up, over his head, somewhere into the darkness, beyond the cone of pale light.  The old diaper is long gone.  I have nothing in my hands to stop the stream with.  Two dozen or so blankets on the shelf below the baby may as well have been located on the Moon.  We stare at the perfect golden parabola and just giggle.  After about seven seconds of stupor, I stop the stream with my hands, still giggling, and try to contain the damage to the immediate disaster area.

Shortly after the babies are cleaned,Vaselined, fed, and sleeping; a few wet things are replaced and we head off to bed, me still smirking periodically at the two of us, just standing there and watching Ben demonstrate perfect parabolic motion in Earth's gravitational field.

big day for the boys

Yesterday was a very big day for the boys.  They had three important appointments.

The first was with a post-pardum center, where the boys and mommy got checked out and all got high marks.  Over three days at home each of the boys gained around two ounces.  They continue to eat and sleep well.  Their calm demeanors continued to impress the staff.  Mommy is healing well and is doing a great job feeding the boys.  Grandparents asked lots of question and all of us got complemented on handling the twin situation.

Next was the first time the boys met their pediatrician and her staff.  Again, all went very well, and the third appointment of the day was given the green light.

The final appointment was of the more religious nature, with a very nice MD who is also a mohel (someone who performs circumcisions).  The ceremony was small (but not quiet) and involved family and one couple who are very observant.

For each boy there are two great honors: to hold him down while the circumcision is being done and to offer a drop of wine on his lips.  To those who have an urge to turn me in right now to Child Services I say: the wine was a drop off a finger, given for religious reasons, and does not constitute offering alcohol to a minor.  Also, their first wine being Manishevitz, it probably served to reduce probability the boys will ever like alcohol.  The honors were offered to the grandfathers, who rather declined, being a bit short on hutzpah when it comes to cutting bits off their grandchildren.  I did not see Alla's dad, but mine conquered his anxiety by watching over the procedure and managing not to clobber the mohel.  Hutzpah in general being in somewhat short supply that day, Misha (Victoria's husband and my long time friend) reluctantly accepted the honor (i.e. was bullied into doing it), mainly because Alla and I held Rafi and Misha felt obliged to reciprocate.  Benjamin was held by Rebecca and Joseph, our dear friends who a) actualyl know the rules and prayers and b) have a valid right to look at us and laugh, because they have four wonderful children, three of whom arrived at the same time.  But that is a subject for another blog.

From now, my gentle reader, things get a bit more ... descriptive, so if you are of a particularly delicate nature, please avert your gaze from the text.  The images will be kept mild.

The procedure begins by administering local anesthetic in private.  Now, normally words "local anesthetic" do not conjure up anything particularly bad.  But do consider the locale.  Four shots (very small needle), exactly where you think.  After that everything else is gravy.  As the boys received their shots I was alone with the mohel and my personal achievement for the day was holding their legs and not passing out.  Yes, I am that tough.

First up was Zev.  As always, he disapproved of being undressed.  I do choose to believe that his crying throughout the ceremony was due to that, and not due to being in constant agony in spite of pain killers and sweet wine on his lips.

Here is Zev on the 'chair of Ellijah', the beautiful tallit (prayer shawl) given by aunty Victoria.  Poor guy has no idea what is coming next...

Misha and Vika performed admirably: Misha held Zev and Vika administered the wine.  They both did great. Pale, but conscious, Misha said to his wife: "Vika, we are taking this baby on vacation wherever he wants to go!"

Then the boy's official naming (Zev be Daniel ben Aliyah) took place and everyone yelled 'Mazal Tov!'

And then we did it all again for Benjamin.
Benjamin, true to form, made hardly a sound.  He complained at the first shot and at having his legs restrained, but after that he rode that ride without a whimper.

Here he is on the chair, the tallit again given to him by aunt Victoria.

Ben, being held by Joseph while Rebecca offers him his first proper drink.  Foreskin for a drop of Manishavitz?  A questionable bargain, if you ask me.  Through in the attention, however, and just maybe...

Ben being introduced as "Benyamin ben Daniel ben Aliyah", while dad receives much needed anesthetic of his own.

The ceremony was followed by a bit of eating and drinking.  Final analysis: a mohel who is a cut above the rest, two proper new Jews, zero events of passing out.  Awesome!

a couple of pictures

I know I promised some more shots, and here are a couple.  I am still collecting some phone captures.

Just got into the house.  First nap in their own crib!

Monday, getting ready for their first venture out of the house, to see their pediatrician.  Shortly after taking this picture we remembered that outside is an Oregon June, not an Alaskan January, and abandoned parkas for more appropriate gear.

Grandparents from Boston are here!

My parents arrived from Boston Saturday night and delightedly met their grand-kids.  They heroically jumped into the fray, along with Alla parents, swaddling, burping and changing.  Over all, the second night was a breeze compared to the first - the kids were warm and happy, extra helping hands were on deck, and the place is happier, if a little more hectic.

Sunday was another rather smooth day, with lots of helping hands, the first (out of town) visitors, several great meals in the kitchen.

A few trends continue: the kids, G-D bless their stoic characters, continue to fuss only when is called for, s.a. needing help burping or swimming in an extra-full diaper.  Grandparents of both sides fret and help at the same time, dealing with every situation with a mixture of anxiety, resolve, affection, and good humor.

True to form, all house project involving yours truly continue to not go easily.  Case in point: installing car seat adapters onto the stroller.  The operation should have taken about 40 seconds, 10 seconds per plastic part being snapped onto the frame.  Partaking in the project were Alla's dad (experienced engineer), my dad (theoretical physicist and teacher of physics and chemistry, including labs untold), and yours truly, physicist turned engineer.  Our higher education degrees alone outnumbered the moving parts in the entire endeavor.  And yet...the snapping parts refused to snap, and that was it.  An internet search turned up nothing.  A letter was sent to the manufacturer of the stroller. About 30 minutes later, along with a few choice words, we threw in the towel.  Round one for the stupid plastic pieces.

Let me finish on a calmer and happier note.  The boys have done well today, and so did the parents and grandparents.  We had a few laughs, and some of them did not even involve bodily fluids.  Mommy gets extra points for detecting a slight change in the boys' condition, which was caused by a total of one large burp wanting out and two diapers needing change, one truly overflowing.  Like I said, most laughs did involve bodily fluids.

first night

The first night was surprisingly rough and, as expected, the fault of the adults.  In short, the room was too cool.  Beresh, true to his style, mostly managed the hardhsip stoically, with an occasional shiver and a whimper.  Zev (who has a bit harder time maintaining body temp) had to resort to yelling for about an hour and a half at his thick-sculled father.  I finally figured it had to be cold, by eliminating feeding and diapers, and they clearly did not have a fever.

Once I figured out what was up, things went better: Beresh got an extra swaddle and a super-warm blanket, and Zev spent some quality skin-on-skin time with daddy (who happily, if not smartly) caught a few zz's of his own.

By next feeding we were back to the "nicest twins I've ever met" picture, with the room a couple of degrees warmer and extra blankets all around.  By the time mommy took over the post-feeding watch, it was hard to imagine that the two snoozing angels kept daddy pacing between 2 and 3:30, talking them into not waking mommy up.

finally home

We knew we were heading home today and were understandably anxious.  We asked lots of question, stocked up on supplies ('stole' is more like it, but with the understanding approval of the staff), received the "go ahead" from a couple of docs, filed some papers, bid the amazing staff good-bye, stocked up on meds, and were finally ready to load the kids into the car seats.  As I arranged the boys in the seats and adjusted the straps, for some reason words "NASA", "space" and "monkeys" were going through my mind.  After the loot... errr supplies were loaded into the cart, the boys onto the cart, and mom into a chair, we were on our way.

Of course, this being Friday, nearly 5pm, "on our way" was more of a concept than a literal truth.  The boys, however, were totally cool with moving at astonishing 8 miles per hour, with an amazing view of Oregonian clouds crawling past in the rear window.  In their usual manner, Beresh slept and Zev occasionally let us know he was there.  Better still, as the feeding time came and went, the boys continues to enjoy the ride, as I fought an occasional urge to pull over and check on them when they were too quite.

Not long after we were home.  Our dear friends (you know who you are!) were waiting for us at our place, with some additional supplies and willing to lend a hand moving things and people into the house.  The boys were introduced to their crib (sharing one for a time), positively palatial compared to their hospital sleeping arrangements.  The kids were fed, swaddled, and put to sleep.

Among firsts today - the first car ride, arrival home, a shared large crib, and vomiting on dad - performed cheerfully by Ben, who overestimated his consuming capabilities a bit.  I felt initiated.

I should also mention, that while I have had poop on my hands already, I have not yet been properly shat upon.  It is only a matter of time, I am sure.  An attempt has been made (by Zev, I think) to projectile-piss on me during a diaper change, but his aim was off.  A flaw that shall have to be remedied - such lack of aim is simply unacceptable, especially for a weapon that is practically an extension of self.

While not a global 'first', another significant event was Alla's first raw fish sushi in about nine months.  Here Alla's sister Victoria takes the credit.  With everyone fed and somewhat rested, I was given leave for a few hours while Alla's mom helped.  Following that - we settled in for the first night at our place.

names, finally!

It is official - the boys have names!
'Baby 1' = Zev Rosen and 'Baby 2' = Benjamin Beresh

The tradition states that children should be named after dear deceased relatives.  On Alla's side everyone has either someone named after them or is, thank G-D, alive.  Which leaves my grandparents, all departed, to name the kids after.
Zev is after my matermal grandma Tzilya (transliterations vary), which is in fact a version of Zillah.  Also, we both really like the name Zev.
Rosen is after shorter version of "Rozenhaupt" - my mother's father's last name.  The Israeli part of the Rozenhaupt clan shortened the name to Rosen.
Benjamin is after my father's mother Bella, whom I sadly have never met.  And we both like the name.
Beresh, finanlly, is after my mother's father, grandpa Beresh, who influenced me tramendously.

Now, my observant reader, you may ask: "And what of your father's father? Why is no one named after him?"  Well, my observant reader, my father's father was Daniel, and he also passed before I was born, so I am named after him myself.

Day 4, evening

Lean on me, brother
When you need a hand
We all need somebody
To lean on...

Grandma Rita with baby

Day 4, morning

Riii-ight face!  Commence sleep!

Following a good night the boys are snoozing before the 8am feeding.  The visit from the pediatrician went great, the boys checked out just fine.

Mom checked out fine as well.  At the moment the plan is that we stay in the hospital at least one more day.

Day 3, lessons

In the evening the kids began teaching us a few things.

Lesson 1, anatomy
While changing Baby 1's diaper, I saw that his shirt was pulled down.  I then spotted a pale mark on his chest.  I wondered if it was a bite of some sort, or maybe a self-inflicted scratch.  While I was wondering that, I noticed an identical mark on the other side of his chest.  I found my baby's nipple.

Lesson 2, quality control
At the 11pm feeding Baby 2 refused the breast.  He is a little stinker for doing that, but we figured he was allowed one instance, since he's been a very mellow guy so far.  To our chagrin, he then proceeded to use the bottle as a pacifier, and suck in not a drop.  His brother, in the mean time, had a nice meal and was snoozing.  We continued to fret and got him to suck for good few minutes, only to find we've been faked again - no drop in level of formula.  We finally asked for nurse's help, and Baby 2 pulled the same "fake suck" trick on her.  The nurse, however, proceeded to notice that there was no whole in the rubber nipple!  Evidently, the first of this particular kind of equipment failure for her as well.  Once the nipple was replaced, Baby 2 proceeded to have a nice supper and left for the night nursery with his brother.  Leaving the parents to finally breath and rest.

Day 3

Daddy spent the night and a chunk of a day out of the hospital.  As a result the car now has two installed car seats, and about two inches less of space than an average size adult needs to drive it.

In other news: daddy got to spend time as a baby warmer again, this time with Baby 1.

napping side by side after a meal

first impressions

The boys, evidently, subscribe to the theory that sleep deprivation is an important part of parenthood.  And they wasted no time.  Alla's water broke on the morning of the 6th, taking away our opportunity for the pre-delivery sleep-in.  We gamefully arrived at the hospital, got Alla admitted, and were told some 30 minutes later, that the water break could not be confirmed.  Nor denied.  CIA would be proud.  Fortunately, our OBGYN was in the house and said that we may as well get the boys out earlier.  Delivery started at 10:30 and at 11:01 we were introduced to baby 1, followed by baby 2 at 11:03.  The boys, for their part, clearly stated their opinion of the whole operation by arriving butt-first, both of them.

The rest of the delivery went uneventfully, as did the post-op.  The difference in opinions was evident early, as baby 2 was rather chill throughout the process, while baby 1 was having none of it, and protested loudly.  There is even a difference in feeding styles: baby 1 consumes the food quickly and vigorously, but if he looses interest in the process, he is simply done.  Fortunately, he is mostly interested in both items on his menu.  Baby 2, on the other hand, takes his time - sucks thoughtfully and deliberately, living by the rule "easy does it", or the Russian equivalent "тише едешь - дальше будешь".

Baby 1 also likes travel and extra attention.  To that end he deliberately dropped his body temp by a mere 0.1 C below the threshold (cool 36.5C), which landed him 4 hrs of (OBSERVATION ONLY) in NICU, in the company of several nurses.  Following the observation, the ladies figured out the ruse and sent the young player unceremoniously back to his brother.

At the moment they are both happily snoozing, having consumed some milk from mom, some formula from the bottle, and pretty much all the sleep from both of us.

Day 2, boys hanging out

While Baby 1 is getting fed by mom, Beresh and dad are having some some boy time.  Mommy insisted on snapping some cute pictures.  I was told I am not allowed to post the goofy one.  :-(

Also, Benjamin Beresh has his first introduction to the harsh reality of false advertising:
skin - check!
warmth - check!
hair?? - check (hmmm)
milk - nada

Day 2, morning

Baby 1, the dark haired one.

Baby 2, a.k.a. "baby B", a.k.a. "Blonde", a.k.a. Benjamin Beresh, a.k.a. "little Bear"

Day 1, recovering

their first nap.

shortly after, getting some quality time with mom

they are here!

Quick update for now: Baby 1 (5lb 7oz) and Baby 2 (5lb 5oz) were born just after 11am.  The babies and mom are doing great.

If you are planning on visiting, please call my cell first.  There is a lot of feeding, swaddling, and recovering (by mom) going on.

P.S. Names are being finalized

Pictures to follow within a few hours.

standing by

The room is ready.  The parents are a slightly different story...

new plans

The expected arrival date of the two new family members is now the afternoon of Monday, the 6th.

first post

On this blog I shall post on various subjects.  Stand by for updates.

I am rather new to the blogging business, so please be patient.  Appearance, content and features will improve with time.