2 Months!

My little ladies turned 2 months old on Sunday the 6th. Boy, does time fly by. We took them to the doctor for their 2 month check up and they are both healthy as can be! Here are their stats:

Leah:

Weight: 9 lbs. 3 0z (>10 %)

Length: 21 inches (3-5%)

Head: 36 1/2 cm (3-5%)

Alexis:

Weight: 10 pounds, 5 oz (25-50%)

Length: 21 inches (3-5%)

Head: 38 1/2 cm (50%)

Some interesting notes:

Alexis weighs the exact same at 2 months of age as Chloe did at birth. Wow! And by 2 months of age, my older kids were CHUNKY! Chloe was 14 lbs 6 oz and 23 1/2 inches long and Mitch was 14 lbs 8 oz and 23 1/2 inches long (they were almost identical in size).

For a quick comparison, here is Chloe just 3 weeks old, roughly at her birth weight, which Alexis weighs right now. Although Alexis is Chloe's size at birth, I think she looks a lot like Leah. What do you think? Chloe thinks so too- when she saw this picture of herself she asked, "Is that Leah.... or me??"

Here are some recent shots of our beautiful and growing 2 month old sweeties.

We need these little hats to stay warm these days..... it is FREEZING here!

They did great at their checkup yesterday- both waited very patiently for the doctor. Leah even surprised the nurse with a blown out poopy diaper, which she must have worked hard on in the car ride over. Alexis saved her show while waiting for the doctor to come in.... I was so glad Ben was there to help me change these blowouts quickly....

The girls are still just over a pound apart in weight, which is what they were at birth as well. And Alexis' head is 2 cm bigger than Leah's, which is easily noticeable. Ben was asking me the other day what the first feature is that I look at to identify which girl is who. I said their heads, he said their eyes. Sometimes I can't see their eyes or their eyes are closed, but I can always see their heads and can tell right away by the size difference, different color of skin, and amount of hair.

I do have to say that for me, it is no problem to tell them apart, at all. I can even distinguish who is crying from rooms away. Ben can most of the time, but he did pick up Leah yesterday at the doctor's and put her on the table. The nurse asked, "Which one is that?" Ben replied automatically, "This is Alexis." I was busy doing paperwork and didn't notice until I looked up that he had Leah and that the nurse had been getting stats for the wrong baby!

Each girl also has her "color." I decided this before they were born that if they ever had outfits or toys or blankets that were not identical that Alexis would get anything with pink in it and Leah anything with purple in it. (I decided this based on purple also being called Lavender and Leah starting with "L" like Lavender...) This has been an easy way to hand out blankets and toys and outfits without having to think of who should get what color every time and mixing things up. They share lots of things, like binkies (which ever binky is handy is what they get) and onesies are the same, but when we received gifts and things that we have bought them, it's just easier to give Leah the item that has a trace of purple in it and Alexis the item all covered in pink. It's also another way to easily identify them, especially if they are covered by a blanket and you can't see their face or any part of their body. If they receive items that come in one girl's color and the other item is not the other one's color (for example: we get a purple (Leah's color) and a green (no one's specific color), Leah would get the purple item, Alexis would get the green one. It all works out fair because Leah gets to wear lots of pink stuff because 90% of their stuff is matching at this point.

At just 2 months old, these little gals have quite distinct and separate personalities. Leah is the more dominant personality and our little high maintenance princess. She wants to be held long and often and needs more help falling asleep. Her first reaction to anything new or even slightly unpleasant is to cry and/or scream. She has a harder time pacifying and soothing herself. Her little cry is a sad cry and breaks our hearts to hear it. She demands more attention and will cry the second she wants anything. But we love "maintaining" this little drama queen.

She sleeps pretty well, especially if she is being held, but is famous for little cat naps rather than a few big naps. She has the biggest, most beautiful eyes and can really focus on our faces now. She is more smiley than Lexi and loves to "talk" to us and coo, especially with her Daddy. When she smiles, they are wide open mouth smiles and she sticks out her tongue in the process. With her big beautiful eyes, she loves to look around at everything surrounding her and is fascinated by lights and bright objects. She is a great eater and would nurse all day if Mommy would let her. She takes a binky, but has a hard time keeping it in very well on her own. She has the most beautiful porcelain skin and long, skinny fingers and toes.

She has a special love for her Daddy and he is the one who can get her calmed down the quickest and easiest. She fits just perfectly into the crook of his elbow and buries her little face into his arm and will fall asleep.

Alexis is our little sweetheart. We really should have named her "Patience" because I have never seen a more patient baby. She rarely cries and when she does cry, it is a loud and angry cry, most likely to tell us, "I have been waiting and waiting so patiently, please help me now." She is a fantastic sleeper and will take marathon naps everyday. She is a great eater and very efficient- she gets what she needs and is done. If nursing doesn't put her to sleep, she is content to be laid down and when she gets bored, she will quietly put herself to sleep without making a peep.

She sleeps a good portion of everyday, but the time that she is awake, she is very quiet and mellow. She has only smiled once or twice and is not a cooer (yet), but she is so pleasant and sweet and so fun to snuggle with. She rarely gets annoyed with any rough behavior inflicted upon her by her older siblings and is very patient with them as well. What would make Leah scream and cry does not even phase Alexis. If she does get fussy and needs to cry and no one can hold her or help her, 90% of the time she will "give up" after a minute or two and either sit quietly and wait, or just fall asleep. She is a joy to put to bed at night- we can lay her down awake and she will fall asleep with ease when she wants to, usually with little to no fussing.

Poor Lexi has terrible cradle cap and extremely dry and irritated skin right now, but it doesn't diminish her beauty at all. She has chubby little fingers and a cute double chin. She loves to be held by all and even when big brother is holding her in an awkward position, she will peacefully fall asleep without any protest. She is a wonderful binky taker- when she starts to fuss, most of the time she just needs someone to put her binky in for her and she will calm down immediately and be just fine. She has a powerful suck and sometime we have to yank the binky out with force when it's time to eat.

She never fights Leah for attention and sweetly allows Leah to take as much of the attention as she needs, but Lexi loves to be snuggled with and held whenever she can. Her little disposition seems to be that of the peacemaker and she emits a spirit of love that seems to say, "I'm ok. Take care of my sister first. Make her happy, I'll be just fine while I wait."

We can't imagine our family without either one of these little angels. They are so perfect- separate and together. They make a beautiful pair and and we have loved every minute of the last 2 months.