So, the babies turned 3 months on December 13.
They are both smiling and cooing...Mackenzie is much better at both. Jack say's "agooo" but he doesnt quite open his mouth all the way, so lots of spit is involved :-). Jack does smile but often seems emberassed to do so...he will smile and then quickly turn his head like he is trying to hide. Mackenzie says "agoo" something that sounds like "hi" and she squeaks and squeals...she is definately more vocal and seems to be the more outgoing one for the time being.
This year we spent 2 weeks in Canton, South Dakota for Christmas. How did we get there you might ask...we flew; thats right we flew with two 3 month olds, their double stroller, 2 car seats, and 3 diaper bags in tow. All in all it went pretty well. Mackenzie is definately a better flier than Jack...she slept for a good portion of both flights on the way there and she slept through both flights on the way back. Jack struggled the most on the way home...he refused to suck so he may have had some ear trouble.
Our stay in Canton was nice...it was nice to be around family. John and I even went out to dinner a few nights by ourselves. The babies did pretty well...I'm sure it was kind of a culture shock to them-a 5yr old running around with a 3yr old chasing him-both screaming, then there was that other baby who appeared to be a giant next to them, lots of different people holding them and playing with them.
While in South Dakota the babies...
1)Had their first illness...everyone had a 24hr flu bug including John and I. Luckily we seem to have had it worse than the babies.
2)got baptised
3)And had their first Christmas
We arrived back home on January 1...just in time to start the babies first full year together.
After we arrived home Mackenzie had some tests done as she has still been struggling with eating. She had an upper GI-she had to drink some barium and they watched it through an x-ray type machine to make sure her anatamy was ok and her stomache was emptying properly. Everything was fine. Later that day she had a swallow study done-she had to drink more barium and they again watched through an x-ray type machine to make sure she was swallowing properly and no food was getting into her lungs. Everything was fine again. However, approximately 5 minutes after the test she proceeded to throw up all of the barium all over the floor...good times. A few days later she had an endoscopy-she was unconscious and they put a small camera down her throat to check her esophagus and get some tissue samples of her esophagus, small intestine, and stomache. All of these biopsies came back normal. The doctor said her esophagus was irritated from the reflux which was probably what was causing her to not eat as well as she should, but there were no deep ulcers or anything. So positive results, which is good...but she's still struggling. Since her surgery she has been eating better...she was averaging 12-15oz a day and is now averaging 16-20. She has gained some weight but has dropped percentile wise...she was in the 25th percentile and has dropped to the 10th. So the doctor is having us increase the amount of powder formula we add to water when we mix it so that it is 24 calories per oz instead of 20 in hopes that this will help her gain more weight. Everyone say's she is just going to be a little girl...yes, she is absolutely going to be small and petitie just like her mom, which is fine, but she still has a problem and she is still struggling.
Other than that she is very healthy and active. She loves kicking her legs (a future soccer star perhaps), loves to sit up, rolls over, coos, smiles, giggles, is starting to become interested in toys, and is starting to grab for things.
As for Jack...well, he's got this whole eating thing down. He too is very happy and healthy. He loves loves to stand (his sister stands on occasion but she still seems to have her sea legs), smiles, coos, and just recently started giggling.
The babies just turned 4 months old a few days ago. We have their 4 month check up next week...looking forward to seeing weights and heights, not looking forward to the shots.
