the boys

(whitman- left, charleston - right)

The boys are doing great these days. They are around 10 - 11 lbs. They are 4.5 months old and despite being 2 months premature they are tracking developmentally as if they were about 4 - 5 months old! They also sleep through the night, love to go on walks, and (I will post a video soon) love to coo and goo. They will have 30 min conversations with you if you can handle the cuteness. My face starts to really hurt after about 10 min of smiling so hard. I think when people talk about how fun babies are, they are talking about this stage right here. Its fantastic!
And because I don't like to sugar-coat - Its also hard.
They sleep through the night but because they've gone for so long without food, they are pretty irate in the morning.
They will coo and goo and smile but by the evening, they are tired and will often cry for 10 - 30 min just to get their last bit of energy out before their final feeding and bed. They also usually cry when we force them to do tummy time.

(charleston - left, whitman - right)

BUT
that's really not that bad.

They are really very cute and sweet boys.

Whitman has taken to sucking on his whole hand. He has gagged himself a number of times because he doesn't just suck on his fingers. He tries to get his whole fist in his mouth.

Charleston never sucks on his hand but I often find him sucking on his brothers hands. Maybe Whitman's hands taste like candy? I'd stick my whole fist in my mouth if it tasted like candy...

...mmm candy.

oh
yes

What else?

Um, Whitman is much more of a talker and smiler. He is very flirty and has recently gotten more coy. He always wants to be moving and he really fights falling asleep. In the NICU, Whitman had a breathing mask on called a CPAP that covered his eyes. I think he has tried to have his eyes open from the moment they took that thing off.
Charleston on the other hand is super chill and will just cuddle with you and easily falls asleep. He is VERY observant and really takes in his surroundings. He really loves his dad and will smile at him anytime Doug looks at him. Charleston is also very (ahem) regular and is an excellent eater. He really seems to focus when he eats, finishes quickly, and burps on cue.
Whitman, in contrast, is very distracted when he eats and is generally not interested in eating much. He has a much harder time with gas and bowel movements and usually doesn't do anything on cue except fart loudly when you're trying to have a polite conversation.

Anyway, they both love music. They both love reading books (yeah - they still poop on themselves but they can read. Wha What! )

I'll post good non-phone pics and a cute video soon. Then we can all melt over their sweet coos and handsome smiles. :)