Momentous Occasion

Momentous occasion, not because we've acquired photos of Brad Pitt's body double from the movie Troy. His in-very-much-need-of-a-tan-and-a-workout body double. No, momentous because Molly and Jacob each fed from the bottle for the first time today. Total success with each taking in about 4oz (over 100mL) with nary a complaint. Fitting in time for Kate to breast-pump is of course the next conundrum. Our plan for the coming weeks is to do one feed per day from the bottle, keeping the kids prepared for relying on the bottle when Kate is at work.

We paid a visit to Box Store Hell today down in Barrie. Purpose of the trip was to go to BabysRUs to try on a variety of baby carriers. Half our friends have sworn by the Bjorn and the other half by the Ergo. There seems to be no lukewarm, middle ground on this issue. We put off our decision and managed to walk away with only a few minor purchases of items not available at our friendly, local baby shop. Kate also went into the maternity store, possibly to gloat to herself that she's now an extra-small in maternity sizes. Given that she's no longer pregnant, some might consider this a somewhat hollow victory. Kate's husband is not to be counted amongst these ungenerous "some". And, most importantly, we came home with Indian food and lots of it. The Tara Indian restaurant on Dunlap seems to be the very best thing about Barrie, so far as we've seen.

By the way, for fans of The 40-Year-Old Virgin ...
- You know how I know you're gay?
- How?
- Cause you have homoerotic photos of Brad Pitt on your blog.

The Kids in the Great Outdoors

Here are a couple of photos of the kids in the backyard from yesterday morning. In the evening we trekked out to Tudhope Park (pictured at bottom) and did a feed on a park bench overlooking the lapping waves of the lake. Very romantic. Very romantic in that "You clean up the mess while I try to quiet her down" kind of a way.

Birkenstock - Swedish for Ridiculously Expensive Sandal

Kate says that's not a funny joke because Birks are German, not Swedish. But come on, say it again, but with a Swedish accent like the guy in this Ikea commercial and that's comedy.

Anyway, here's a photo of Kate's brand new Birks. Note the swollen little toe - a casualty of midnight stumblings in the dark.

More One-Month Photos

Here are a few more photos. Molly and Jacob in their natural habitats, on their beds getting dressed before going out for ice cream (which they only indirectly benefit from). Molly in the blue lion outfit (from my mom I think). Jacob in the red. This is a great, preppy little sailor overall/shorts outfit (from Darryl & Justine) that Jacob doesn't quite fill out yet.

Finally a new photo

Here are the kids a couple of days ago getting ready to go out for dinner. Molly is resplendent in the blue giraffe outfit, while Jacob is dashing in stripes.

My mom returned home from a few days away to find no new photos on the blog, just a "book report", so this one's for you mom.

One-Month Old!

The kids turned one-month old yesterday. We celebrated with an early morning drive to T.O. for Molly's 3rd set of casts. Everyone seems happy with the progress of her feet. And her hands continue to loosen up too, so she'll be even more perfect in the coming months. We used the cast-less moment to weigh them in the hospital. Jacob is up to 7lb3oz and Molly to 6lb13oz, so all is well. They seem really big to us, until we meet older babies. We stopped by Priya and David's for lunch in Toronto, and Rowan is twice their size at 4 months. And she has enormous eyes and actually smiles. That looks fun. Earlier in the week we actually made it out to dinner at Mike and Lisa's (who have been like the super welcoming committee for us), and the kids were practically peepless throughout. It is definitely best to begin our socializing with people who have lots of kids so expectations are low!

And just so it doesn't seem like everything is bubble gum and roses, we've definitely been through a couple of crazy-tired spells this week, where the tedium of the endless cycle of feeds and sleeps (or feeds and fail-to-sleeps) has felt like our own version of Groundhog Day. I can see that the social smile and occasional feedback will make an enormous difference when that happens. But the little guys really are fantastic.

Books

I just finished "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri. Great story about a Bengali family immigrating to the US, and the resulting impact on each generation of the family. It was a pretty good movie too, but the book naturally has more layers and depth.

Further evidence for my theory that if you're looking for a good book, you can do a lot worse than perusing past winners of the Pullitzer prize for fiction. Lahiri won in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies, which I haven't read yet. My favorite read of the past year, Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead" won in 2005. The Pullitzer list also introduced me to Richard Russo, whose "Empire Falls" won in 2002. I loved that one and am about to start another of his. Roth's "American Pastoral", Shields' "Stone Diaries", Tyler's "Breathing Lessons" and McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" are all amongst my top-25 or so novels and all have won the Pullitzer in the last 20 years.

In contrast, I can rarely get through Booker Prize nominated books, which seem to be chosen for their intellectualism and "cleverness" rather than for telling a great story. Out of the 2004 and 2005 Booker nominees, I read Barnes' "Arthur and George", Isghiguro's "Never Let Me Go", Ali Smith's "The Accidental", and Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" (actually I didn't get beyond the 3rd chapter of the latter). I had issues with every one of them and none passed the tests of, "can't put it down" or "insist that everyone you know reads this book".

The Molly Turnover

After a week of turning to the left while flipping from front to back during "tummy time", I brought out the camera today and Molly chose to mix things up, doing the turnover to the right. Very historic moment.

Reached for comment after this remarkable achievement, Molly said, "It hasn't really sunk in yet. You dream about this as a kid but you never believe it'll happen to you. I'm proud of how our guys hung in there. We've overcome a lot of adversity. We really played Molly-style turnover today. I'm just happy to be here. This turnover is for all our fans out there. I couldn't have done it without my teammates. We'll use this turnover as a building block for the future."

Click here to see the video.

Note: despite the cacophony of yelps and squawks, the producers wish to assure the viewing audience that no Mollys were harmed in the production of this film.

The King of Kensington

It's quite an experience walking around town with the twins. I feel like quite the King of Kensington, being swarmed with well-wishers, feeling like everyone knows us already. We went to the very busy farmers' market yesterday and couldn't walk two feet without stopping to chat with passersby. I thought this was maybe a smalltown phenomenen, but the same thing happens when we go to Sick Kids in Toronto. It's a childrens' hospital - you would think people would be used to seeing babies, but everyone goes gaga for our little guys.

There is a definite gender divide on reactions though:

Women are fascinated by the little ones: how old are they, boys or girls, how adorable, oh you're so lucky, what are their names, do you have twins in your family, are you getting any sleep?

The men are impressed with the stroller: nice wheels, how does it handle, sweet ride, righteous vehicle, what's the pickup like?

The Due Date, a Movie and Who Looks Like Who

The kids' due date was supposed to be today. I feel pretty sorry for anyone who goes the full 40 weeks - I wouldn't have wanted to miss any part of the last 3 1/2 weeks with these two. Easy to say now that they're healthy, growing and problem-free. Not to mention that we're continuing to get our sleep in 3-4 hour stints overnight.

Here's a brief movie of the kids today. It's no Bruckheimer action picture, but it gives a sense of the kids squirminess. Jacob is on the left in the movie and the two photos.

So, the big question... who do they look like?
In the early days, Molly was definitely more the looker of the two, with her round face and occasionally open eyes. Jacob, with his skinniness and long limbs, had more of an E.T. thing going on. As a result, both families were trying to claim that Molly looked like one of them. Jacob's freakishly long toes, however, made it clear that he was a Rheault hobbit. As the kids have filled out a bit in the past few days, Jacob is looking a bit more like my baby photos (although I weighed as much as the twins combined when I was born), and Molly a bit like her mom (and a bit like Yoda, without the ears). But that's still a stretch. In actual fact, they look more like each other than like anyone else. We get asked all the time if they're identical. Which leads to this rough conversation, which has occurred with 3 different people so far:

Stranger: Oh, twins??
Me: Yes
Stranger: Ohhhhh, boys or girls?
Me: One of each
Stranger: Ohhhhhhhh, are they identical?
Me: (fight smart-ass response, fight smart-ass response) No, they're fraternal

Sleep, glorious sleep

After a restless evening, the kids both conked out over night, giving us four (count 'em, four) consecutive hours of sleep. What to do with all this energy? We strolled down to the Mariposa market for coffee and muffins and then continued the walk down to the waterfront. Here are photos of Jake sleeping (his hands escaped the attempted swaddle), and then Jake sleeping some more during "play" time later this morning.

Justine, in her comment to a post a couple of days ago, may have landed me in the deep trouble by saying that she was impressed that my thank-you cards have been sent out. Shhhh, Justine! I sent you guys a card and some books to make up for the fact that I completely whiffed on your own birth announcement a few months back. I only respond quickly when motivated by guilt!! All the other poor schmucks who have sent us best wishes and other wonders are still being rudely ignored.

At our family doctor appointment on Monday, Jacob had added another 3 ounces since the weekend. At this rate, he should weigh 100lbs by the time he's four years old, and 200lbs by the time he's eight. And yet, people are still exclaiming at how little they are.

Another day of firsts

First visits with a pregnant mom-to-be (Lindsey) and a real live European (Serge).
First visit with one of the local adopted grandmas (Donna, Scott's mom).
First night under sole supervision of Chris and Kate - Kate's parents left this morning. So far, they're pretty wired from the day so they aren't sleeping much.



Here's a photo of tummy time. They're pretty young to do much in the way of activity, but we do get them squirming on their tummies during most feed times. The physio we saw for Molly's hands was telling us that the old milestone charts for babies (holding head up, crawling, standing, walking, etc.) are pretty much out of date because the movement to have all babies sleeping on their backs (to lessen SIDS), has had a developmental impact on babies. Because they spend less time on their fronts, they get less of a work-out on the muscles in their necks, backs and stomaches. So it's important to have them spend time on their tummies while they're awake. As a side benefit, it's really entertaining to watch them wriggling around, trying to get their heads and legs off the ground. Molly managed to flip herself over from back to front, and appeared quite overwhelmed by her accomplishment.

Fly away little starling

Perhaps I've got a bit of sleep deprivation affecting my brain function, but I'm launching a crusade against the hordes of what I believe to be starlings that have taken over my birdfeeder. They're bullying the chickadees, cardinals and blue jays, and I'm not happy about it. Kate says it's really sexy when I get all ornithological like this. I'm sure she's not teasing.

Six whole pounds

Jacob is becoming the bruiser in the family (if that moniker can apply to a gangly, all-limbs kind of a guy). We went into Kate's office today to use the scale and he now tips them at an even 6 pounds. Not bad considering that 2 weeks ago he was below his birth weight of 4lb 15oz. Because of Molly's casts we can't do a weight comparison for her so we'll be weighing her weekly in Toronto during the window of opportunity when her casts are off.

I had a soggy walk this morning in search of a Globe & Mail. It seems the fine citizens of this town shared my desire to read gleefully about Conrad's impending incarceration, as I had to go to three different stores to find a paper. However, I'm sure the glee on this day belongs mostly to that other Canadian swindler, Jean Chretien.

Here's a photo of Kate, proving her boundless energy. Who reads a novel on no sleep?

First Visit to Sick Kids

We had a tremendous experience at Sick Kids in Toronto yesterday. We got referred there to treat Molly's club feet. Every single person we dealt with at the hospital was friendly, professional, positive and helpful. We met with an ortho fellow and the ortho surgeon, who laid out the treatment plan for us (they follow the Ponseti approach) and then with the physio who, in their multi-disciplinary approach, is responsible for applying the casts each week. The first casts were put on yesterday, with very little discomfort for Molly. We'll go back weekly for probably 4 to 7 cast changes. Once her feet are set in the proper position, then she'll wear a "boots and bar" 24/7 for about a year, and then at night until she's about 3 years old. After the casting, she will probably have a tenotomy, a procedure to loosen the achilles tendon, which will be done under local anaesthetic. Out of the 300 people they've seen at Sick Kids in the past 5 years, only 3 have required surgery, which is exactly what we wanted to avoid.

The surgeon and the physio were very optimistic for Molly's prognosis. They're confident that she'll have full, normal use of her feet. The doctor said the only thing she might not be able to do is be a foot model! So, it won't always be convenient in the coming months, but the long term situation is really positive.

You don't always hear a lot of positive encounters with the health care system, but this one could not have been any better.

Now We're Getting Civilized

Two weeks into the parenting thing, with yesterday's confirmation that the kids are plumping up, we decided to inject a little sanity into our routine. With Kate's folks watching the just-fed kids, Kate and I went out for coffee and a muffin (just like the olden days!) and a bookstore visit. Later in the morning, we dressed the kids in outfits other than sleepers for the first time, and we strollered down to the waterfront. It's almost like we have a normal life!

Molly is styling in the brown kimono. Jacob's in blue with the old school MC Hammer pants.

1st Visit to the Family Doc

The kids survived their first visit to the family doctor this afternoon. Molly & Jacob now weigh 5lb10oz and 5lb9oz respectively, so they're continuing to gain well. Close in weight but not in body shape. Molly looks very solid while Jake is all limbs (think Ray Lewis vs. Kevin Durant). Not too close in temperament either. Molly got pretty wired from the moment we put her in the stroller to walk to the doctor's office (which is right next to Kate's). She was fussing through the whole visit. Jacob, on the other hand, slept soundly. Neither of them even noticed the massive thunderstorm that just passed through.

Video of Molly Waking Up

Kids under 2 weeks of age don't seem to do much of interest to the general population. This video doesn't show the kids juggling, playing musical instruments, hot-dog eating, or kicking a soccer ball. But it does capture my favourite part of the day (and it happens 8 times a day on the current schedule). Watching Molly wake up, stretch, yawn, stretch some more, and begin to root.

Hopefully the video will play if you click here.

By the way, I suspect that a video of Molly's uncle Ben trying to wake up would be very similar, except with more sighing and groaning.

Bathtime

Bathtime in the sink this morning. Molly on top and Jacob on bottom. Our house had an upstairs kitchen when we moved in, which is a great spot for bathing the kids.

All went well until I mistakenly dunked Jacob's head in the water. He was not amused and his grandmother was definitely not impressed.

When I was first learning to swim, I was traumatized by having buckets of cold water dumped over my head at my first swimming lesson in Crystal Palace, England. My sister went on to Olympic glory, while I'm lucky to make it across the pool. Hopefully I didn't inflict any similar, permanent damage on the Jakester.

Cap'n Molly and Sleepless Jake

Kate has taken to calling Molly "the pirate" because she peers up at Kate with one eye closed and says, "Aaaaarrrgh".

Both kids ate well today but we ran into our first struggles with putting them down. After one feed this afternoon, we spent the next 2 hours trying to get Jacob to sleep. We ran through about 100 theories: maybe he doesn't like the window open, maybe it's too dark, now maybe it's too bright, maybe he doesn't want to be swaddled, maybe he needs to be swaddled more tightly, etc. Eventually, after 2 hours we fed him and he ate like a horse. During his third slurp he glanced at me with a somewhat disgusted look which said, "Hey Mr. Smart Guy, I'm 10 days old, I only do two things - I sleep and I eat. If I'm not sleeping, guess what I need." Next time we'll consider the fact that he might be hungry.

The First 36 hours

We've been home from the hospital with the kids for 36 hours now. Sorry it took me awhile to post some photos. So far so good. The kids were on a 3-hour feeding cycle in the hospital and we seem to be sticking to that schedule so far at home. If it ain't broke, don't let Chris try to fix it.

So, it takes us about an hour to wake up, change, feed, and dress the kids. Which leaves them about 2 hours to sleep until the next feed. It's much easier for us than a shorter cycle that would be typical of pre-term kids, but they're eating so well that this seems to be working. I wouldn't say we're well-rested but it is fantastic to be home.

Jacob barely registered that we had left the hospital. Home is where the breast is.
Molly was pretty wired at first. She couldn't sleep at all during the first cycle, but she seems to have calmed down since.

Kate's mom's maternal instincts seem to be in overdrive. I think she figures that if Kate is feeding her kids every 3 hours, then Lois had better have meals, baked goods and hot drinks on offer at least that often. The good news is that we're not wasting away anytime soon. The bad news is that I could use a little wasting away.

First Day at Home

Molly (left) and Jacob (right) trying to stop the papparazzi.















Here's Jacob having his first sleep at home, under Kate's home-made mobile.

The Long Journey Home

Here we are, halfway home from the hospital. One more block to go.




















New family in front of our new house for the first time.















Proud Rheault grandparents. Yes the kids are in there somewhere.

Leaving Hospital

We brought the kids home from the hospital on Friday morning. Here are photos of them the morning of departure, without their nose tubes!! Molly is looking straight, Jacob to the left. And here are Kate and I pushing them out of the hospital in the stroller.

Coming Home!!

Both kids put on good amounts of weight today on exclusive breastfeeding, so we'll be bringing them home tomorrow morning. Very exciting!!

The Hair

I understand that a significant proportion of readers come to this site to see pictures of my ridiculously out-of-control hair, rather than to read about my adorable children. One young reader tells his mom, "I want to see the man with the stand-up hair". Others have mocked me for looking like Carrot Top, Screech or Varejao. I'll let you be the judge.

Can you tell that I'm wasting time until 8:30pm, when we have the big weigh-in to see if the kids can come home?

Babies in Yellow

I know it's cutesy to have the kids in matching outfits, but I'm crusading against the emerging tyranny of the "yellow is the new pink" concept that yellow is exclusively for girls. Plus, the kids keep nailing me with the "wait until he's switching to the new diaper before pooping everywhere" tactic, so we're exhausting the hospital's supply of clothes. And damn if Jacob (on the right) doesn't look just as fine as his sister.

Exciting news - we find out at tonight's weigh-in whether we'll be able to bring the kids home tomorrow. The hospital has been great, and so supportive, but it is definitely time to get them home.

Tuesday Photos - Brent & Jacob

Molly's fingers

The proportion of breast-feeding has been increasing quickly over the past couple of days, and we're going to try going exclusively that route today in the hopes of getting the kids home soon. They're eating better and better and continuing to grow (although noone would describe them as chubby just yet). No health problems and we're all happy (if a little tired).

We had our first real parental pangs yesterday. The physio and OT came to look at Molly's hands. The 2 middle fingers on each hand are contracted so she can't straighten them on her own. They manipulated her hands for some time, making her howl. Then they put little splints on her hands to hold the fingers in an extended position. While I was tube-feeding her, her little body started shaking with the effort to bend her fingers back to a comfortable position. She managed to push the straps back and get her fingers to escape, then fell asleep exhausted. We decided not to put the splints back on. We have an appointment at Sick Kids next week for her feet (which is great news, to get in there so quickly), and we'll get them to look at her hands at the same time. It is going to be much more emotional than I had expected. These are correctable problems and she won't remember any pain but it hits you in the gut. It makes me feel for many of the other parents in the special care nursery, whose kids were born much more prematurely, who are dealing with serious worries and stress every day.

It's bathtime later today, so I'll try to post some splashy photos later today. If first baths are anything to go by, Molly has more of her aunt Beth's swimming genes, while Jacob is a sensible lad who prefers to keep dry.

Competitive Multi-Tasking

Earlier today, Kate managed the double-breastfeed for the first time. Not to be outdone, while Kate was pumping, I accomplished the never before attempted, (drumroll please....) double-gavage. In addition to feeding them and comforting with the occasional finger in the mouth, I avoided internecine carnage as Molly continually tried to swat her brother in the head.

I also think I deserve some credit for managing to take a tasteful photo of my wife double-breastfeeding.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Not to be confused with one step forward, two steps back.

Kate attempted and succeeded in feeding the kids simultaneously this morning. They did so well that they didn't need to be "topped up" with the tube-feeding (also for the first time). We went back for the next feed 3 hours later, hoping to duplicate this effort. The kids were still passed out when we arrived, and never really woke up despite various creative efforts. So we went back to tube-feeding for that round (assisted by my folks, as pictured above). But, definitely making progress. The kids will likely stay in hospital until the tube-feeding is eliminated and they're growing on breast milk alone. All the doctors/nurses seem very impressed with their rapid improvement.

Canada Day at the hospital

Molly & Jacob's first Canada Day brought the arrival of the Hazel grandparents. The kids also slept in the same crib together for the first time last night, ostensibly to keep each other warm, but more to create good photo ops.

I'm beginning to understand why new parents are so dull (not our friends of course, but other new parents). Most of our conversations involve either: the colour of poop; the quantity of milk consumed; the degree of bias involved in our judgment of Molly & Jacob as the cutest and smartest kids ever; and how many minutes until the next feeding. Not a whole lot of Sartre or Dostoyevski.