A few extra minutes

Blake and Jenna are sleeping right now so I thought I would hop on to post again while I have a chance.

Both Blake and Jenna's personalities continue to blossom. Today Jenna had a long period of "wake" time. She is becoming more curious of her surroundings and is looking around in an attempt to focus in on things that are close to her. She tolerated her tummy time this evening, i think the trick right now is all about timing. As soon as she shows us what part of the day is her favored time for things like tummy time, I think she will enjoy it more. She has been able to lift AND turn her head for a long time now. She amazed us one day while still on CPAP and under 3 pounds when she lifted AND turned her head as far as her CPAP tubes would allow her. She did this frequently which surprised us all. She kicks her legs together at times and in a bicycle motion at others. We hear a coo here and there but her favored mode of self expression is grunting-just like her brother. These two grunt while awake and during sleep. In fact, we have come to use their different grunts as cues. We can pretty much plan feeds and/or prepare our plan of action according to when and how they start their grunting just before waking up. Jason and I often find ourselves laughing in amusement over this. Tonight while Jason was watching Blake and Jenna on his own, he said that Jenna was up for quite some time after her 7:30 feed looking around and taking things in. He did say that she preferred that he spend time with her helping to keep her entertained and was not enjoying swinging or tummy time. She is quite the snuggle bug. She loves to rest on your chest. When she does sleep, she sleeps real well. She can sleep anywhere and in any position. If we let her, she would probably sleep at least 5-6 hours throughout the night. At this time though, we are waking her after four hours to feed. We will see if that changes after their next check up. Gosh, it would be wonderful if she continues with being able to sleep so long. We are already soooo looking forward to getting more that 3-4 hours sleep at night. We do feed fortunate that they are on 4 hours as opposed to waking up every 2-3 hours to eat.

Blake is vvery active and has much wake time each morning and evening. So far he stays pretty content with looking at his "jungle gym" stuffed animal friends, mobile, or looking towards the windows or lights. We tease and say he is great at entertaining himself as long as he has something stimulating to look at. He spent quite some time tonight on his play mat looking at the animals and mobile. He cooed a lot and kicked his legs in a bicycle motion. When he was tired, he gave a little cry so I snuggled him up tight and he was out like a light! Wow, he is pretty easy to please.

Jason and I are thoroughly enjoying spending time bonding with our precious lil miracles. There are times during the day that we stop and think back to our stay in the NICU and recall an event or milestone and then look at Blake and Jenna in amazement. To see them now, you would never guess they were barely over a pound at birth. Each day we sink deeper into a "normal" routine. We dreamed of this for four months. Now that we are living our dream, reminiscing on our NICU days remind us how special each and every minute truly is.

Here are a few pics.