5 Months

Yesterday Ryan and Evan turned 5 months old and I found myself wondering where the time has gone. Preemies really have two ages--their actual age and their adjusted or corrected age. The actual age is the chronological age; the corrected age is the age the baby would be if he was born on his due date. As preemies get older, their ages will stop being corrected. This usually happens by age 2. Think about it; there's not that much difference between a 24 month old and a 27 month old. Since they were born 3 months early, the boys' corrected age is 2 months. This is the age that the pediatrician and Birth to Three (an early intervention program) use to determine how well the boys are doing. We are pleased to report that the boys are actually performing ahead of their adjusted age! This is fabulous news! In honor of their fifth month of life I will share 5 fun facts about Ryan and Evan.

Ryan:
1. We call him Ry-Guy and I made up my own special name for him--The Big Brother Baby Boy!
2. Ryan was born first and his emerging personality proves it! He is extremely demanding. He wants what we wants and he wanted it 10 minutes ago. He's not afraid to let you know when he is not happy.
3. Ryan is a noisy baby! He makes the cutest moans, groans, and grunts! When he first came home I jumped at every single noise he made. We've noticed that as he gets older he makes less noise. I've gotta try to catch him in action on video though. I think I'll miss his noises!
4. Ryan is so silly! He can go from crying to laughing and back to crying in 0.3 seconds! He does this little lip quivering thing when he's mad and when you talk to him, he starts laughing! Hilarious:)
5. Ryan's nails are lethal. I mean really. He has given himself and us some nasty scratches.

Evan:
1. We can him EvMan, but I have my own special name for him. I don't think he'll ever live this one down--he's my "Baby one!" (Baby one as in little one, not baby #1) We think we are done having children, so Evan will always be the baby of the family!
2. The Baby one loves his binky! For him, the bink makes it all better. No bink = a very fussy Evan.
3. Evan is very mild mannered. He really doesn't cry a lot. If he's unhappy about something he'll whine a little and that's about it. But he does have a cry that brings me running! When I hear him cry and really cry, I know that something is not right.
4. Evan has the biggest, dreamiest eyes I have ever seen. A close up look at his eyes will make you think that he is wearing eye liner. Simply gorgeous...in my unbiased opinion! LOL
5. Evan is very expressive with his hands. It seems that his hands are always moving. His favorite pose is the "talk to the hand" pose. I even have an ultrasound picture of him giving someone the hand! His newest thing is patting your back or arm while he's being burped.