A cause for celebration!

The Schlegel boys have given their parents, friends and family plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend.  To start with, on Friday afternoon, the doctor decided to try Carter out in an open crib.  He was not quite 4 lbs yet, but they thought he could do it.  Ty and I were there to give the boys a bath, and then helped put them in the crib together.  It was pretty incredible.  We laid them in there with their heads turned towards each other and they just kept staring at each other.  I guess they were wondering where the other one had been for so long.  Here is a picture of when we first put them in:

The trend seems to be that Carter is fascinated by Anderson, and Anderson is largely ambivalent.  

Carter had to keep his temperature up for 24 hours before they would be moved into a permanent open crib together.  He did great and they were moved into a larger crib together on Saturday evening.  They use cribs from pediatrics to put multiples together in order to have enough space to change diapers, check temperatures, etc.  Here is their new home:

The nurses are waiting on some tables or shelving to put near the crib to get all their stuff out of the way.  Luckily for now, two babies weighing just under 10lbs combined don't take up too much room.

The sign above Carter's head may have given away his other big news.  He successfully crossed the barrier and now weighs 4lbs!!!  This is great for a number of reasons.  1) Gaining weight is always good (for premature babies), 2) He can now be out in an open crib, 3) He now weighs enough to fit into a car seat, so he will be able to go home at this weight once he gets his other stuff figured out, and 4) 4lbs just sounds better than 3.

Anderson also gave us a great reason to celebrate.  He finished an entire bottle on Saturday night!!  He drank all 47ml fairly quickly.  What made this even more impressive was that he had breastfed immediately before this for 15 minutes and had a fairly good feeding just through that.  We are hoping he has had his light bulb moment and will begin taking down his entire bottle each time we feed him.

The boys are both on the following feeding plan: They can receive 3 feedings per day by mouth, 1 by bottle and either 2 breast feedings or 1 breast feeding and 1 bottle feeding.  If they breast feed for less than 10 minutes, they receive half of their feeding through their tube.  If they breast feed for 10 minutes or longer, they get a bottle to supplement if they are still hungry.  Both boys are actually great at breast feeding and haven't had to get a tube feeding in a week or so.  We are hoping the doctor will increase the amount of feedings they receive by mouth in the next few days as this will be a huge step towards them being able to come home.

Their feedings have increased due to their weight increases.  Carter gets 40ml per feeding and Anderson receives 47ml.  It's pretty amazing that Carter is taking in almost as much as his brother, who currently weighs 1lb and 13oz more than him.  We keep thinking Carter is closing the gap in weight, but Anderson keeps on packing on the pounds as well.  Anderson currently weighs 5lbs, 13oz.

As Carter puts on more and more weight, Ty and I are starting to think they may look alike.  Here are a few pictures that we think show some similarity:

Which baby am I?  

And which baby am I?

As I put these in, I'm not sure if the similarities show up as well in photos, but oh well.  The first one is Anderson and the second one is Carter.  Carter definitely looks similar to the photos of Anderson that we have when he was 4 pounds.

Here are a few more pictures of the boys:

Anderson getting a bath

Carter gets a bath

Anderson avoiding Daddy (but looking like he's thinking hard about when to turn)

Then he gives Daddy a little half smile (He learned this tactic from his Mom; just smile halfway and hope the camera  moves back away from your face)

Anderson is also working on eye contact.  He seems to have it down pretty well in this picture.

Carter takes getting a bath much better than his brother, even though he has much less fat to keep him warm

The sweet sign the nurses made for Carter today to celebrate his achievement

Carter practicing his wink at the nurse holding him