Project Nursery Part 3

We're hoping Gabrielle will be home sometime in the next few weeks which means I really need to finish the girls' nursery. DH and I tackled some of it last week so now there are just some little things left to do. I have to wash all of the sheets and the changing pad covers and we're missing the curtains and some art for the walls but overall, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I didn't really have a theme for the room but I wanted a fun, funky space that would grow with the girls so I used a lot of bright colors and went with sleek modern furniture.

The cribs are Oeuf Classic and I had the bedding custom made by Oh Petit Bebe. I cannot rave enough about the work Sara did. For two bumpers, two crib skirts and a reversible comforter, I paid $210, which is way more than I would have spent had I bought two sets at a store and because I bought the fabric, it's exactly what I wanted. Here's a close up of the fabrics I picked -- the floral is for the bumpers, the polka dot for the crib skirts and the embroidered linen will be for the curtains which my mother is generously making for us.

The quality of the bedding from Oh Petit Bebe is terrific and Sara was super easy to work with. She makes everything from fitted sheets to Boppy covers and I highly recommend her if you're looking to have something custom made.

Our glider is by Monte and I absolutely love it! It's so comfortable and the microfiber will be easy to clean. The floor tiles are Toy Poodle by Flor in Fluffy Fuschia, Lala Lime, Zozo Yellow, Lush Lilac, Toto Teal and Fifi Orange. DH and I love floor tiles because you can create a unique look for your space and if one gets stained or ruined you can replace it with another. We have them in our dining room, office and entry hall too.

Our dresser/changing table is Babi Italia Scandi from Babies R Us. I like that it has drawers and a cabinet with shelving -- that means room for lots of goodies!

I've been looking everywhere for a bright lacquered mirror to go over the changing table. I finally found an antique frame that I'm going to paint and use with a mirror instead. The style is similar to this one but it will either be a bright teal or lilac.

Here's some of the artwork we've hung in the room so far. I had a wall quote -- Precious ones so small and sweet, dancing in on angels' feet, straight from heaven's brightest star, what miracles you truly are. -- screen printed onto two canvases by Etsy member GeeZees. Stephanie did a phenomenal job and she has tons of other great stuff in her shop.

And I found this adorable piece by Etsy seller thehomespunraven which I think is perfect for twins girls.
We also put this wall decal of a colorful tree up next to the cribs. Quite a few sites carry it but we got ours from Land of Nod.

Last but not least, I saw these butterflies at Pottery Barn Kids and loved the idea of them but wasn't crazy about the patterns so I found an Etsy seller who made a bunch for me to match the nursery. They're going to go on the wall with the tree and the canvases. I'm hoping to put them up tomorrow and will post pics then.

So that's Gabrielle & Alaina's nursery so far. I can't wait until the girls are home to enjoy it!

Getting Bigger By the Day

Since her surgery, Alaina has been fed via TPN, which is intravenous, since her intestines needed to heal. On Saturday, the doctors decided to start giving her nourishment through a feeding tube again. She started out getting .5 cc's of Pedialyte every hour and on Sunday they started her on formula and breast milk. Since she lost so much of her small intestine, the challenge is to see how much of the milk she's getting she's able to digest. Alaina will continue to get TPN until the doctors see that her small intestine is working properly and she's getting enough nutrients from the milk to sustain her so it feels a bit like we're back where we were three weeks ago hoping she'll tolerate her feeds. It's going to be long process but hopefully the small intestine she has left will be able to do its job. In the meantime, the TPN is obviously agreeing with her because Alaina now weighs 3 pounds 1 ounce. The surgeon calls TPN "steak in a bag" which is right up the alley of any child of DH's! And milk is doing Gabrielle's body good -- she was up to 2 pounds 14.5 ounces today. Her skinny little chicken legs are finally filling in!

Daddy's Girls

Yesterday was Gabrielle and Alaina's five week birthday and boy did they celebrate! First, the girls put on their best duds aka their very first outfits. Here's Alaina loving her heart ensemble:



And here's Gaby in her little ducky dress. We took this after she got put back in her Isolette so she's not very happy...



Then the girls got to snuggle with daddy. Seeing these little bundles in DH's arms was such an amazing moment. They're so small, he doesn't even need two hands to hold them!

Alaina was mesmerized by daddy.



And Gabrielle was so excited to be with daddy that we had to put her CPAP back on!

Who Needs CPAP?

Gabrielle and Alaina don't -- at least not all the time! The nurses at Columbia started weaning Alaina off of her CPAP for a few hours a day earlier this week and yesterday, it was Gaby's turn. She's on CPAP for three hours, then off for another three and she did really well. She loves not having the big tubes attached to her head -- when I went to see her yesterday morning, she had pulled them off herself!

They still have the velcro mustaches on but here are some pictures of our CPAP-free cuties.

Alaina:



Gabrielle:







I used to think the girls looked exactly alike but now that we get a better look at their faces, I can see the differences. Alaina looks more like her daddy -- she had a darker complexion and DH's eyes -- while Gabrielle is starting to look more like me -- she's more fair and has a longer face. It's so amazing getting to know these little girls!

Gabrielle Gets Sprung

Gabrielle had her first excursion out of the Isolette yesterday and she loved it! She had to keep her CPAP on, but Gaby was wide awake and totally alert while she cuddled with her mommy. We had to shut the lights off so they didn't hurt her eyes so this video is a little dark, but you'll get a better peak at Gabrielle's pretty little face.



When we put her back to bed, I got to take a quick picture of her without the CPAP on. She's such a cutie if I do say so myself!



Not one to be outdone by her big sister, Alaina showed off a new trick yesterday. In the past week, she's become addicted to her binky and would to cry until someone gave it to her. Now she does something new...



And her new trick obviously works on mommy -- here she is just seconds later.



So yesterday was a great day and Gabrielle and Alaina are looking forward to cuddling with their daddy this weekend!

The Girls in Action

It's been a while since I posted any video of Gabrielle and Alaina so here are two clips. Even though the girls don't do all that much at this age (they're 32 weeks gestation which is basically -8 weeks old based on their due date), you definitely get a sense of their personalities from just these one minute clips. Little miss Gabrielle is my mellow baby (except when someone wants her to do something she doesn't want to, like lay on her back!). She literally spends her days sleeping and growing, which is what she would be doing in the womb right now. Here she is trying to stay awake while she eats her dinner.



Meanwhile, Alaina is the drama queen. She's always squirming, wriggling and letting you know what's on her mind. She spends a lot of her day with her eyes wide open trying to take everything in. I filmed her yesterday with her CPAP off and you can tell how happy she is to be free of all of the gear. Without her hat on, you can see the crazy haircut she has thanks to all of the IV's the doctors had to put in her head (she still has her PICC line on her right side).



The girls are growing like crazy now. Gabrielle is up to 21 cc's of milk per feeding and weighs 2 pounds 10.32 ounces. Alaina is on TPN again and it obviously agrees with her because she's up to 2 pounds 11.73 ounces. At the rate they're gaining, the girls could break the three pound mark in the next few days!

A Big Day for Gaby & Alaina!

Boy, are we long overdue for a day like this one!

Nonna and I went to visit Gabrielle this morning and she was doing really well. She's kept all of her feeds down, is back up to 18 cc's of milk and even though she missed a bunch of meals this week, she weighs 1140 grams (which is 2 pounds 8.21 ounces)! She spends almost her entire day sleeping on her belly (which is why she gains weight easily -- she's not doing anything to burn any calories!) but I managed to snap a few pictures of her with her pretty eyes open.

When we went to visit Alaina, her new nurse (who I love and it has nothing to do with the fact that we have the same name!) had given her a baby makeover. She'd had a bath and the tube that was going into her mouth had been moved to her nose so her chin was free of tape for the first time. Alaina looked like a new baby! She's been breathing so well that the nurse also decided to give her breaks from her CPAP. She spent an hour breathing on her own before we got there and since she didn't have any episodes, the nurse said it would be fine for me to hold her. I've been waiting for this day since we got the positive pregnancy test way back in April! First, Alaina got dressed in her first outfit:

Then I got to snuggle with my little munchkin for the first time.

And here's Alaina finding her fingers:


Alaina loved her first excursion out of the Isolette. She didn't cry once and breathed on her own without any issues. You would never know she had major surgery 10 days ago that we weren't sure she'd make it through.

So that was our exciting day! Alaina can't wait for her daddy to hold her and we're hoping we'll be able to cuddle Gabrielle very soon too.