Around here...

I have extra time on my hands now that the craziness of the holidays and 1st birthdays are over so maybe I can blog more? We will see.  The girls are back to being good sleepers.  We had some bumps along the road like early wake up times or waking in the middle of the night but we worked it out.  They still take a morning and afternoon nap (which I love) and sleep around 11 hours a night.  They go to bed at 7 and wake around 6-630. We are weaning them off formula and onto whole milk.  Once we have done that in a few weeks we will get rid of bottles.  Be gone bottles!

The coolest part of having twins (for me) is the development of interaction between them.  At first, they have no clue that each other exists.  Then, it's like who is this other chick that takes up half your time?  Now, they will hug and kiss each other, try to touch each other's faces and engage in parallel play.  They are constantly by each other's sides doing the same activities, but not really engaging with each other.  As a behavior analyst, I love watching their interactions with each other and analyzing if they are developing social awareness faster than they would as a singleton.  I think they are, but probably not any faster than those who have siblings.

I am the toy police pretty much 24/7.  It doesn't matter if we have two of everything.  If Brooklyn has a baby doll, Ivey wants THAT baby doll, even though she has the same exact one laying on the floor next to her.  If Ivey has something that looks cool, Brooklyn HAS to have it.  Right now we tell them they aren't allowed to take the toy and redirect.  And repeat. And repeat again.  I know they don't have the self-control necessary to restrain themselves yet, and I can't wait for when they do!

My favorite thing is to watch them when they don't know I am there.  Baby A will crawl to an area and stare back at Baby B.  When they make eye contact Baby A will take off to a play area and Baby B will follow. And they will giggle and laugh the whole way.  They spend about 75% of their free time within one foot of each other doing the same activities by choice.  I can't wait to see how their friendship and sisterhood develops.

Trying to pull Xmas lights down

See saw at Gymboree

This is considered a hug

Brooklyn is the unwilling recipient of a piggy back ride

Our favorite toy: the window

Let's get smashed

This past Sunday, the girls turned ONE! I know, I know. It flew by.  They have grown so much this past year and really have become little ladies.  Ivey was born weighing 3.2 lbs and 15.5 inches and at her 1 year appt she was 23 lbs and 30 inches.  BK weighed 3.2 and 17 in at birth and was 22 lbs and 30 inches at her 1y appt.  Currently, both girls are crawling and cruising everywhere.  We expect that they will learn to walk within a month or two.  Some of their motor skills are still delayed from being premature, but we are super happy with their progress and feel that the gap between where they are and where they "should" be is insignificant at this point.  The vocal skills are growing daily.  They both say "Mama" "Dada" "Uh-oh".  Brooklyn can also say "up" "nana" and Ivey can say "moo" in response to what does a cow say. They will also imitate some words like "baby" and animal sounds but not consistently. Ivey does touchdown and I have a new goal of teaching her Praise jesus with only one hand because I think that would be hilarious.  They learn something new everyday, it's so amazing to watch.

I have been taking them to music classes, open gym time and story times at the book store.  They love music (as almost any baby does) and enjoy interacting with other babies.  I do these activities as much for them as I do for myself.  It's hard in the winter time because we don't go on as many walks as I would like, so it's nice to get out of the house and interact with other moms and have a reason to shower in the morning.

The girls had a great Christmas and spent time with J's family and my parents.  My mom was able to come down and stay for almost a week and then my mom and dad came back the day after Xmas for a few days to celebrate I&B's birthday.  We had a lot of fun preparing for the party and just spending time with the girls because they are entertainment all by themselves.

Here are some pics from the party.

Monthly pics

Ivey face planting onto her cake

Brooklyn decided to pick up her cake and smash it! That a girl

The girls buddies made it to the party

Mrs. Claus waiting for Santa to come home

Caution: taking twin girls in public dressed like this will cause a commotion

Fabulous

9 months

I always thought parents were exaggerating when they would exclaim that they could not believe how fast their children were growing up. Now I totally understand.  You give birth and then in the blink of an eye, your tiny babies are 9 months old. These girls are getting more fun by the day. They giggle at the silliest things we do and they have really started interacting with each other.  Most of the time it's a smack in the face, hair pulling or toy-stealing, but sometimes they just look at each other and share the sweetest of smiles.

Daddy just gave me some smoothie...now let me give you a kiss

sister love.  A smoothie smooch

In August we survived our first airplane ride and hotel stay.  The airplane was a breeze.  Both girls ate a bottle upon take off and then took a nap.  Luckily, the hotel we stay in has suites so we set up two pack n plays in the living room area for the girls to sleep in.  Ivey can sleep through anything so she slept very well.  We had to bring Brooklyn in our room a few nights to sleep in our bed.  We had never let them sleep in our bed because 1) we were scared to death to do so and 2) we didn't want them to get used to sleeping in our bed.  But it worked out as a short-term solution.

See our little sleeping marshmallows?

At home we put the girls into separate bedrooms.  It felt really wrong...they have always been in the same womb, NICU room, bedroom.  In fact I felt so uneasy the first night we split them up that I went sleepwalking (or running as J put it) off the end of our bed!  We have a sleigh bed frame and I actually broke it.  I guess I ran off the edge and fell right on the floor.  I had a mean bruise but luckily I didn't do anything really crazy.  Anyway, Ivey could sleep through the night and Brooklyn was having some issues.  We were able to get Brooklyn back on track, but now that they are separated I think we will keep it that way until they are old enough to choose to be together.

Both girls started sitting unassisted around 7 months.  No one is crawling yet, but Ivey has started trying to pull herself up on furniture.  I really believe Brooklyn will skip crawling all together because the girl just wants to walk.  They both take steps forward when we hold their hands.  Life with two 9 month olds is very busy.  We are lucky because they are on great schedules and sleep a total of approx 12 hours at night and take 2 naps during the day, but I am usually worn down at night.  I would have to say this phase is more tiring than the newborn stage, at least for me.   I had no issues at all waking in the middle of the night to feed them then, but now if there is one night-time wake up, it kills me!  But I would not trade them for anything in this world, they are just the sweetest little girls I could ever imagine.

Twin Life Part 2

* Pumping/Nursing: While pregnant, I decided that I was going to breastfeed.  Since the girls were born at 30 weeks gestation, they came without the ability to suck.  They needed to be fed through a feeding tube until around 34 weeks when we were able to introduce bottles.  It was only around that time was I able to begin practicing breastfeeding.  I have to admit, I probably didn't try as hard as I could have.  As soon as the girls were born I started pumping, and man was it a lot of work.  In the beginning I was pumping 10-12 times a day to kickstart production.  I was actually pretty lucky that my milk came in almost right away and I produced enough for the girls feedings.

The only way for the girls to learn how to breastfeed was to pump milk, feed milk through a bottle and THEN actually try to breastfeed.  Talk about a lot of work- especially with two babies!  I had help from the lactation consultants a few times, but the girls just didn't seem to latch so I put it on the back burner and decided to become an exclusive pumper.  For about the first 3 months I pumped religiously every 3 hours.  While they were in the NICU I felt like it was my duty to get up in the middle of the night (as I would have if they were home) to pump.  I was able to fill our entire deep freezer full of extra milk.  Eventually I settled into pumping 4-5 times a day and for the past month I only pumped 3 times a day.  I set a goal of doing it for 6 months and I made it!  I felt guilty for "giving up" at 6 months so I stuck it out for another month.  I quickly ran through my freezer stash and now that the girls are almost 7 months I decided to stop completely. The first time the girls had formula was this month, so I feel pretty good about that.  There is nothing wrong with formula, but breast milk is pushed so hard in our culture these days that it is hard to avoid feelings of guilt when you decide to stop nursing especially if there is no medical reason to do so.

* Staying at home: Before getting pregnant and even while I was on bed rest I was dead set on going back to work.  I really enjoy my profession and love working with children.  Working has been part of my identity since I was 14 (yes, you can have a job at 14 in Pennsylvania!).  I felt that without work I would be bored or lose a part of myself.  Well, once the girls came home I realized that I didn't want to go back to work, at least not right away! My babies were all-consuming and I just wanted to spend all of my time with them.  Not to mention- it takes a lot of energy to take care of my little nuggets.  J and I had a discussion about it and we felt that it was best for me to stay home with the ladies.  We had a test run of what finances would be like if I did not work while I was in the hospital and we realized that it was totally manageable to live off one salary.

I admit, some days seem to drag on especially in the afternoon.  It's so hot outside that I prefer not to take the girls outside for a walk and with them being so little our options are kind of limited right now.  Thankfully, we have family that have offered to watch the girls while I go to the gym or run errands.  It is so nice to get a break for a few hours a few times a week.  I feel refreshed when I get back to the girls.  We also made a big step and left the girls at the drop-off center at the Y.  It was so difficult the first time and I felt so nervous even though they were in the same building with me, but the staff were so kind and took to the girls that I can't help but feel more relaxed with the situation.

Twin life Part 1

Now that the girls are almost 7 months old, I've had some time to reflect on what worked for us and things we could have done differently.  I swear, the first few months of having twins was easy! Everyone would probably want to slap me in the face for saying that, but my babies were very cooperative with what I wanted them to do.  As we approached the 5-6 month mark things started to change.  They started teething and it affected their sleep...which in turn affected my sleep! I never minded getting up with them 3 times (or more) a night in the beginning.  They started sleeping 10-12 hours a night around 3.5 months.  During their sleep regression, even getting up once a night made me feel exhausted the next day. They also never napped at the same time during the day, so I was constantly in "on" mode.  Things are slowly getting back on track and my little ladies are napping in their cribs as we speak.

So what makes this twin life work?  Here's a few things:

* Same feeding schedule:  When one eats, the other eats.  I lay one baby on my lap and the other next to me, plop those bottles in and feed away.  When they are both finished I burp one and change her diaper.  When the other finishes I burp and change her.  The whole process usually takes around 20 mins.

* Night Sleep:  Sleeping has been a work in progress, as I assume it is in most families. We set the environment- "train ride" app on as loud as the Ipad allows, ceiling fan and floor fan on, Merlin Magic Sleepsuit, and room darkening shades.  At night we do man on man coverage.  We each put the girls in their sleepsuits, feed them and put them in their cribs.  I always insisted the girls sleep in their cribs, because I thought the transition of a bassinet or rock n play was unnecessary and I didn't want to have to fight that battle.  We try to rock the girls and shh them until they are drowsy, but not completely asleep.  It was important to us that they both knew how to comfort themselves to sleep so that if they woke up in the middle of the night it wasn't always necessary to cry for mom or dad to come rock them to sleep.

* Day Sleep: Still working on this one! I am trying to get them on a real nap schedule instead of just letting them fall asleep whenever.  They have started waking up around 6am each morning. Pretty early, but that's ok with me. I am just happy that they are showing some sign of having a regular wake up time. My plan is to put one in her bed (my short napper) and the other in the swing downstairs two hours after wake up.  I want to separate them because one may have a harder time falling asleep or she may wake up early and wake up the other.  I would like to establish one afternoon nap 2-3 hours after the morning nap and so far this week I have been successful in doing that. I also want to limit naps to 1-1.5 hours.  One baby would sleep all day if I let her!

Of course we don't have everything figured out and when we feel like we do, the babies throw a curve ball at us.  I intend to write more parts of this "Twin Life" whenever I get a moment to myself, which if nap time keeps going well, will hopefully be soon!

Merlin Magic Sleepsuit...seriously it's magic

6 Months

Look at the belly.  Can you believe she was born at 3.2 lbs?

Spa day for My Little Ladies

So in love

I've been wanting to blog, but I just never knew where to start! I suppose I will just jump in.  I LOVE having twins.  When I go out in public with the girls I will get about 10 comments from strangers telling me, "You have your hands full!" And while this is a totally unhelpful observation (thanks!), I also do not feel like it is true.  My girls are so good and since my husband and I are pretty organized individuals, I feel like we got this having two children at once thing down.  J helps me with everything to do with the girls and just loves to spend his time playing with them.

I love the morning time when I go to one crib to say good morning and I get a big beautiful smile and giggles.  Then I go across the room and say good morning to the sister and get more smiles and giggles.  I love their unique personalities and even though I am not supposed to, comparing the ways they are similar and the ways they are different.  It truly has been a double blessing.

The only time I don't LOVE having twins is when I am having a special, sweet moment with one baby and I feel guilty because the other is left out.  There are times when I wish that I could shower all my attention and love on one baby, but the reality is there's two babies and I will always have to divide myself between them.

The girls are 5.5 months now! They have been sleeping through the night for 2 months. We were really diligent about sticking to a feeding and sleeping schedule and it paid off.   We have two good sleepers and two good eaters.  B is my sweet, bashful and cuddly baby.  She loves to imitate and move her mouth when we talk to her.  She always looks like she is trying so hard to speak! I is my vibrant, happy and curious baby.  She loves to look around and watch what is going on around her.  She has a BIG smile and flails her arms around when she gets super happy.  She loves to be sang to and will coo back at us.

We have been lucky that the girls are so healthy.  They weigh about 12-13 pounds. They had two colds so far, but that is it!  Both girls developed plagiocephaly, which basically means they have flat spots on their heads.  To help correct the flat spots we opted to get helmets.  They will wear them for 3-4 months.  We were a little sad that we couldn't kiss their sweet heads whenever we wanted, but we think it is for the best to do it now.

Here they are at 4.5 months...making their first blog appearance!

I

B

The transition to motherhood

Ever since B & I were born, I have been adjusting to the "new normal".  For 6 weeks the girls were in the NICU.  The very beginning was so hard and nothing can ever prepare you to see your baby girls in incubators for the first month of their lives. It is not the worst to see them there in the hospital, but when you aren't able to hold them, kiss them, feel their skin against yours...that's the worst.  But you adjust.  It becomes the new normal.  Driving to the hospital two times a day, day in and day out.  Sitting and staring at your babies.  Reaching in through two arm holes to touch their soft skin.  Holding your babies for 20 minutes after they have been fed through a g-tube.  Having someone tell you, "your time is up" meaning, it's time to stop cuddling with your little miracle and lay her back down in isolation.

Then your babies begin to eat from a bottle! And you get to hold them while they eat!! Oh, how we relished this extra time to hold our girls and stare into their eyes.  Sometimes the nurses would leave the room and we would get to hold them for an extra 10-15 minutes and it felt like an eternity.  Everyone says it is not possible to spoil an infant, but as parents we sure felt like we were being spoiled by these precious extra minutes.  Eventually, the doctors tell you that you are able to hold them whenever you want! You adjust again, in a good way.

Then you bring your babies home.  It has been six weeks of inching along to motherhood.  No baby was placed in my arms after delivery for which I was solely responsible for.  There has always been a nurse taking care of them and when I came to visit I was more like the aunty who got to feed them and rock them to sleep.  The girls are all ours to care for and I am absolutely loving it!  There are no time restrictions and no one is looking over my shoulder as I spend time cuddling my babies.  The transition to motherhood is complete.