The end of my parent's tether

The terrible twosome have made sure that lack of sleep is foremost on our minds. My memory, bad under the best of circumstances, is almost gone. But, despite this, they are adorable.

There are moments when both Claudia and I have looked down at them with a mixture of tiredness, irritation and supreme discontent. When James has refused to settle for two hours, and is threatening to wake his brother with every breath, it is difficult to stop yourself shaking him with frustration. But even at these times (like last night for instance) it is impossible to not fall in love with them.

Claudia needed to go see the doctor yesterday, so the twins got to see their deliverer. They behaved beautifully, just to prove that they can. We even stopped off at Melrose Arch to get a coffee and allow my work colleagues to come and check the little tykes out. Next stop - Vodacom.

Okay, enough with the verbal barrage. You just look here for the update albums anyway ... Cheers.

Week 6

Thomas is home at last

I know, I know - I've been lax in posting photos. Sorry about that. But we have news to report. Young Thomas has joined his younger brother at the home of goodness that is 31 Equity. He marked his appearance with some synchronized screaming from 6 to 10 that same night.

As the saying goes, when he's good, he's very good; but when he's screaming loudly, he's very very loud. Nevertheless we have some good photos to share, and they stretch back to before Thomas came home.

The twins are keeping us awake at night, and we'll need to hire a nurse soon to help out. in the meantime - here you go ...

Visitors, Last few days in hospital, One Month Old & Thomas coming home

Updates, Updates, wherefore art thou Updates?

Sorry to all two of you who read this blog. I haven't been updating it, mainly because I haven't uploaded photos from the camera yet (soon I promise). Also because I haven't slept in a while. James has developed colic, and last night screamed for 3 hours straight between feeds while his stomach was twisting and turning inside him. Poor little boy.

Apart from the night antics, we have done little to warrant an update. Thomas continues to improve slightly each time we see him, but the rate is very slow. He's demand feeding now, and continues to take most of his feed via sucking at the bottle. They have had to tube progressively less and less. When he is taking all his feed consistently, then we can bring him home.

James has blossomed at home, picking up weight at a good pace. When he went for his first inoculations we weighed him, and he is a healthy 2.7 kgs (we were discharged with him at 2.26 kgs). Thomas, by contrast, has slowed. When James was discharged, Thomas read a pleasing (from a purely mathematical symmetry point of view) 2.62. He's now 2.78 kgs. A gain is a gain; but 440 grams (by James) is much more than 160 grams (by Thomas).

We have read that this is common for twins, as they will catch each other up early on, before growing at the same rate. Nature makes up for the differences at birth, bringing them back to the "identical" part of their existence. Ain't it beautiful?

Speaking of which they are still lady killers, and continue (when not screaming blue murder) to make our lives complete. Poor Claudia is dead on her feet, and her mood spirals down at night when Thomas isn't there, and she's acutely aware of it, but it picks up again. We're handling it, and that, at the end of the day, is all that matters.