Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Happy 1 Month Nora and Holden!

Nora and Holden are officially 1 month old today! Wow time is flying already! Here they are before we go out to lunch to celebrate their birthday!

Holden's telling Nora a funny!

In honor of their first month I am going to give you a summary of how each baby is doing, their progress, and their personalities.

We'll start with Nora, the Big Sister (by a whole minute, if even that!)

Nora—6.1 lbs now--at birth she weighed at around 4.10lbs (that’s what we think anyway—the scale was off kilter when she was officially weighed after birth so they had to do an estimate birth weight a few days later when they realized the error). After birth she dropped down to about 4.4 lbs. So that is an official gain of 1 lb 13oz in 1 month!
She’s still wearing some preemies and some newborn items-kind of in between the sizes right now. Although she’s gaining weight, she still has a teeny tiny waist that even preemie pants are still a bit loose! But, just a couple inches higher she’s got a huge pot belly! Her head’s getting a little bit bigger too, which is good news for mommy who was having a hard time keeping all those bows on her head!
She eats exclusively breast milk and wants to eat at least every 3 hours. On occasion she will give Mommy a 4-5 hour break . It is obviously hard to tell how much they are eating, but the one time they have taken a bottle, she drank just under 3 oz. There is no set day/night schedule yet. Some nights she sleeps fine and then other times she is awake for the majority of it. Mommy and Daddy are working their hardest to get her days and nights in order so everyone can sleep better!
Nora has started to become much more aware in the past week. She spends less time sleeping and more time looking around taking in her surroundings. She keeps her eyes open and wide for long amounts of time and fixates on lights and moving objects. She also is getting really good at holding her head up during tummy time so she can look around. She needs to always know what is going on!
Nora has an ear-curdling scream that she uses quite often to tell us she’s not happy—although it seems that mommy and daddy can’t always figure out what’s wrong! She’s like a light switch, and as soon as you figure out what’s wrong she gets quiet again. She’s quite independent though and most of the time doesn’t really mind being by herself.

Nora’s likes include:
-sleeping in her swaddle blankets
-making faces
-eating
-swinging in her swing
-riding in daddy’s carrier
-soothie pacifiers
-crib aquarium ocean sounds

Nora’s dislikes include:
-having to wait on brother to eat
-not getting what she wants RIGHT when she wants it
-diaper changes
-any other pacifiers that aren’t soothies
-bath time
-taking vitamins
-bed time
-crib aquarium lullaby music

Here she is in a very "serious" pose


Holden—7.2 lbs now, started at 5.15 lbs and dropped off to 5.3lbs. His official weight gain is 1 lb 15 oz for the first month!
He’s wearing newborn clothing only, and has been from birth although there is quite a bit of grow room in them still. Holden is much thicker than Nora. Although I wouldn’t consider him chubby (yet!) he has thicker extremities—especially his legs and feet.
Holden also is exclusively breastfed and he, like Nora, eats on average every 3 hours. We do our very best to keep them on the same schedule. At night time he sleeps longer than during the day giving mommy on average 4-5 hours of sleep at a time. Mommy and Daddy appreciate this very much! On his one bottle feed, he also drank 3 oz before quitting, but on average he will feed for about 10 minutes longer than Nora, though we’re not sure if he is eating more or is just a slower eater!
Holden is ALL boy. He is constantly making grunting noises and he gets real "huffy puffy" when he’s upset—he even snores at night sometimes! We actually took him to the doctor because we thought he was congested and couldn't breathe…they told us he was fine though and was just a noisy baby! (they also asked if we were first time parents!)
In the NICU the nurses would say that the boys have “wimpy white-boy syndrome”. I would say that Holden fits in that category for the most part. He really hates to be messed with…it seems to worry him a lot. His cries are pitiful and he even sticks out his pouty lip from time to time. When something upsets him, unlike his sister, he tends to hang onto it awhile, brooding, if you will. He also never wants to be alone and is most secure when touching someone else…whether it be his sister or mommy and daddy.

Holden’s likes include:
-eating
-sucking on ANYTHING—pacifiers, clothes, fingers…etc
-rocking and patting
-sleeping with mommy and daddy
-being held
-riding in mommy’s carrier
-swinging in his swing
-sitting in his vibrating chair
-being with his sister—TWIN TIME

Holden’s dislikes include:
-having to wait on sister to eat
-being left alone
-diaper changes
-clothes changes
-bath time
-doctor visits
-photo shoots
-loud music
-the dark
-taking vitamins
-having his arms bundled up

Holden beginning to smile!




Monday, December 28, 2009

Doctors and Shoes

Babies 1 month checkup was today--that's right, in just 2 days the babies will be 1 month old! Our doctor is a NC man, and planning to retire and move back to Fayetteville in February. He's an avid Wake Forest fan, Southern Baptist--used to go to Caswell, brother to a Meredith College grad, and a very nice man. Here he is below with Holden and Nora. Mike and I made sure to dress Holden in Carolina Blue pants and a paci just to taunt him! Funny thing is, he wanted to take a picture of our family too so he could show some of his "Asheboro friends".
Doctor's appointments went well. The most exciting thing about the appointments are finding out how much they weigh--and boy are they growing fast! Holden is now 7.2 pounds and Nora is 6.1 pounds. They are now joining the realm of the normal! You can really tell they are gaining weight in both their cheeks and bellies. Both are getting rounder by the day! Our next appointment is in a month and that appointment will be the first round of their shots. As much as they were fussy about being "messed with" this time, I have a feeling the next appointment is going to be rough!
Also, today was another first for the babies. They wore SHOES! We had some shoes and socks already but they were all too big for our little ones. Even the socks would just fall right off when we put them on. So I guess Santa heard our dilemma and brought the babies each a pair of shoes that fit perfectly...now they can go out on the town fully dressed! See below for pics.






Sunday, December 27, 2009

The Best Christmas Presents We've Ever Received

I know I'm biased and all...but you can't tell me they aren't the cutest things you've ever seen!


















"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day"

This was my 2nd Christmas in Hawaii and Mike's first. Christmas Day here is very different from when we are at home...it's a LOT slower paced! We had a good day that started out with a good nights rest for all 4 of us! That's a great Christmas present right there!

This picture below is our first family pic of the day, and right before we had our worst diaper "blow out" yet. Nora let out a good one that got all over Holden and myself--so Mike took Nora and I took Holden and we had about 1 hour re-group session of bathing, changing and clothes washing before we could go on with our Christmas morning.

While mommy and daddy were making sausage balls for breakfast, Holden was telling Nora all about the reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh. He especially likes to talk about their antlers.

Santa brought lots of gifts to our new "house residents". Nora got a Dressy Bessy, just like her mom had when she was little and then Holden got a matching Dapper Dan.

Santa also brought a Zippy just like Grandpa Caudle had when he was little. This Zippy is quite a bit bigger though and has a banana!

Nora received a special gift this year from her Great-Grandpa Butt and her Grandpa Caudle...a handmade baby crib. Great-grandpa started it, but didn't get to finish it before he died, so Grandpa finished it up when he found out that Nora was coming! Grandma Anne made the beautiful bedding that goes with it. Nora is going to love playing with this one day i am sure, but for now she's so little she actually fits in it herself!
Here's our best family photo for the morning. The babies were so content and quiet that we just left them in their chair to sleep while opened presents. I'll bet this is the last calm Christmas we are going to have for many years!





Here are the babies with all their presents before they were opened. For their first Christmas i think they "racked up"!

Holden got his first truck from Grandma Carlisle!


And here is Mike with his new Bike T-shirt.




Mommy bought this book for her little babies. It's actually quite sweet, don't be fooled by the title!



And here's their present from Daddy!



Aunt Vicki sent the babies cute matching shirts. And just FYI...i didn't pose them, you'd think they were twins or something!


And here's a family present that i am especially excited about. The wide mouth food processor from Kitchen Aid so I can make baby food easily and in bulk when the time comes! I am already excited about it and looking up yummy recipes. Of course I am sure I can use this to make yummy adult food for Mike and I too!




Mike gave me a very special ring with Nora and Holden's birthstone in the center and a small diamond on either side to signify each baby. I love it!


And here are the babies, post opening presents...still sacked out!

I have to sneak this picture in here, because these two sock people are my most favorite ornaments. They were given to me by my grandfather a few Christmases ago because i liked them so much. He heard I was plotting to "steal them" and he wanted to "keep me honest", so he gave them to me as a present. This year they were the tree toppers for our table tree...so cute!



Christmas night we went to eat dinner at our friends, the Williamses, house. Here is Marybeth giving Holden his first bottle. He took it like a champ!


and Daddy is giving Nora her first bottle! She also did great, and finished her bottle in record time, leaving Holden in the dust! Who says little people can't eat a lot? Although eating like that, she prolly won't be little for long!

Before we left to go back home, Mike and I tried to get a family photo with the babies. They weren't going to have any of it though. This is the best it got..after this picture it was nothing but screaming, flailing babies! Don't they know that they are going to want these pictures one day??



So, it was a good first Christmas with our babies. I guess next year, if all goes as planned we will be back in NC for a real Christmas--cause although it was a good day, it's just not the same away from home! It's crazy to think that next year that our little ones will be moving around and aware of what's going on. Geez, Mike and I are so shocked that they are already a month old...time sure is flying, but we are loving every minute of it.
Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones. We missed you all!
~If you wanna see all our Christmas pics, check our pic website~

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas *Sneak Peak*

Hope everyone had a wonderful day with their family and friends. We missed you all!

We're just halfway done with our day, so check back tomorrow for a real post! But until then if you wanna see more pics check our pics website.

~Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!


Thursday, December 24, 2009

Photo Shoot

We had a mini photo shoot this morning since the babies had on matching jammies. Thing is, our sleepy babies very quickly turned into........ mad, hungry babies!if you wanna see the rest check our photo website at
http://picasaweb.google.com/jessi.burns in the "Welcome to the World Holden and Nora" Album



Monday, December 21, 2009

Holden Houdini

Watch me set my hands free!

A Little This and That

This is how Mike and I feel about the Survivor results....i mean really, Russell definitely deserved to win! We really are appalled!


We've had a lazy Burns Family weekend. In honor of the snow all of our family and friends have been experiencing, we too decided to have a "snow day". So basically we stayed inside, in our pj's, and just "vegged out". It was nice to have some family time with nothing to do and nowhere to be.


Mike and Nora



"Family Photo"


In between feedings today i worked on decorating the wooden letters for the babies nursery--its one of the things i have been meaning to do for months. Without the big belly i can again easily sit on the floor, spread out all my supplies and have plenty of space to work--it was nice to do something crafty again. Honestly, i can't say enough how glad i am to have my babies on the "outside"! Things are so much more enjoyable now that i can get comfortable again--and of course it's nice to love on my little ones!



Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Just a little update...

Nothing exactly monumental has been going on thr past few days, but i thought i would post a few photos just case you were missing the babies!

Also, here are some videos, mostly of Nora during her small window of "wakefulness" today--Holden hasn't had his yet as you can see in his video. It's been a very sleepy day for him!

Nora and her paci

looking a little bored


Holden "sacked out"

Me and my babies

loving Nora, like her shirt says. She kinda looks like..."aw mom!"

cutie pie


Nora Awake

Nora and her Paci

Sleepy Holden