The Burkett Bundle

So many updates, so little time!

Last Friday, I took Karyssa to the doctor to look at her neck. All last week, she decided she wanted to look down instead of up and around like she normally does. The doctor checked her for knots, but said that she didn't have any, and that we may have just been too aggressive with her neck exercises. We've now cut those in half, and she seems to be much better. She has also been sleeping most nights with her head turned the opposite way from normal. We've put a mirror in her bassinet to encourage her to keep her head that way. Both of our babies are pretty vain and love looking and smiling at themselves! I love it!

More good news from her appointment is that she weighed 10 lb, 12 oz...quadruple her birth weight!!! Our babies are getting so big! They are still small compared to most babies their age, and even some their corrected age, but to us, they are huge!

Karyssa's DOC band is on hold at the moment, but we should have her imaging done within the next couple of weeks and we will keep you posted on her progress.

Dr. Bartlett has referred Kyran and Karyssa to BabyNet, a program in SC that provides free therapy for children with developmental delays. While they are pretty much on track for their corrected age, they are definitely delayed for their actual age, so the physical therapy will help them with things like rolling over, reaching, grabbing and eventually sitting up!

Jason bought them new rattles yesterday and they are doing a good job holding on to them and even shaking them a little, so that's a good start!

Both babies are continuing to nurse and take their bottles well. They have also both found their thumbs in the last few weeks. We're trying very hard to replace their thumbs with pacifiers in hopes that they won't become addicted to their thumbs.

Before they were born, "Aunt" Pilly bought them each a Leapfrog doll. "Leap" sings the alphabet song and "Lily" sings a counting song. They LOVE Leap. I'm not sure why they don't like Lily as much. We've been doing a lot of tummy time, and some of it propped up on boppy pillows. The other day, Leap was laying in front of Karyssa's boppy pillow, and she started head-butting him in the chest...to get him to start singing!! I don't know how we got such a brilliant baby girl! If we turn Lily on, she will cry until we turn Leap on.

Kyran also loves the ABCs and was even singing along with him the other day. I quickly grabbed the video camera, but since I'm not quite as smart as my daughter, I didn't press the button down hard enough and missed recording it! We're hoping he does it again soon so that we can show you all what a beautiful voice he has.

Kyran loves to watch me eat. If I have food in front of him, he will just smile and sometimes even lick his lips, as if to say "Mommy, can I have some, please?" It won't be too long now. Our next pediatrician appointment is July 15, and at that point, we'll start with some rice cereal and veggies!

The monitors were downloaded on Tuesday, but as of this morning, Dr. Yajnik did not have the downloads. I am going to keep calling so that we get the results before three weeks pass again this month. I will post that update as soon as possible.

For the past two nights we have slept from the time our heads hit the pillow at 11 p.m until my alarm goes off to get the babies up and feed them at 6 a.m. They are sleeping peacefully and even both woke up completely swaddled this morning! Their leads are also staying on so that helps! That loud alarm in the middle of the night is enough to ruin an entire night's sleep.

This evening after I fed Kyran, he was looking around and I realized that he was looking for Karyssa! She was asleep in her bassinet and he wanted to know where she was. So, not only are they paying attention to each other now, but he notices when she is not there!

Karyssa and Kyran are changing so much, and are usually very happy babies. We love them so much and still can't believe how incredibly blessed we are!