Teething, etc.

I am in teething hell. I think, I hope that is what's wrong with our little guy.  For the past week he has been so fussy.  He hardly eats and spends an hour fussing/crying.  He sleeps, then wakes up and cries some more. It's horrible because I am home on winter break and want to enjoy our time together, but I am going nuts.  Sean just went to the store to get some of that numbing gel.  I have been trying tylenol, but its not helping.  He has two bottom teeth in already and they didn't seem to bother him at all.  Ugh, this is so unlike him. He usually just plays and smiles all day, only fussing a little for nap time or meal time. Now he's unhappy all day long. Of course, it doesn't help that we just found out I am pg again, my hormones are all out of whack! That is another post entirely. 

On a lighter note: Tater is on the couch sitting with daddy and Gracie, he is crying and I am making bottles in the kitchen.  Gracie takes her pacifier and leans over and drops it on Tate's lap!  He pics it up and smiles and laughs until I am done with lunch. So cute! I was so proud of her trying to help her brother! These moments make twins the best.

Snow Day!

We have had snow the last few days and today is the 2nd day school has been closed so we all stayed home from work.  Today we took the twinnies outside for a few photos!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

My little boy has teeth! Two on the bottom started poking through last night! I could cry I feel like they are growing up so fast! We have taken to calling him "Gummy Joe" b/c of his giant, wide gummy grin. Now there will be teeth! Gracie still seems to be teething , but not the slightest hint of a bump for teeth. I am so glad he is doing something before her! She was hitting all the milestones first and now our little guy is saying mama and has teeth! Can't wait for them to poke through fully so I can take pictures! I will be adding Grace Noel's 2 front teeth to her Christmas list for Santa.

Thanksgiving and the flu

Babies' first thanksgiving went great. We headed down to Puyallup and spent the day with family. My in-laws in the morning and my family for dinner and a sleepover. The babies napped and ate well. We are venturing into solid food slowly.  Gracie hates it all, well everything I have tried so far. And Tater, true to character, is laid back and easily pleased to try anything. Everything changed Saturday when the flu hit the twins hard. They have been completely congested, fevers, coughs and just plain miserable. I think the hardest part is that they don't want to play. You miss the joy they usually have all day.  Instead they just want to sleep, on me. We went to the Dr. and it seems to just be an upper respiratory infection so Tate went back to daycare today and Gracie will tomorrow as long as her fever is down. Thankfully, Sean has a flexible schedule and has stayed home with them the last 3 days.  Then of course he got the stomach flu and threw up all day yesterday. When it rains it pours. I am the last line of defense and am in heavy denial about my sore throat. It is such a pain to find a sub and more work than actually just going to school.  Hopefully I can stop it here and we all can heal soon.  The babies have professional photos Sunday too! Crusty noses weren't exactly the memories I wanted to capture. 

For fun

I am too poor to hire a photographer right now so we are trying to take good pics on our own.  You would think a 12 megapixel camera would be good enough?  Probably need some actual photography skills... ;)  Well here are a couple we liked anyway!

Mama!

I'm such a terrible blogger.  I never have any time or energy.  Tate said Mama last weekend! He said it twice and then once the next day.  I haven't heard it since, but Sean heard it soon so I know I didn't make it up.  This is such a fun age.  Tater is rolling all over the place and babbling non-stop and Gracie just gets CHUNKIER every day.  It's hilarious.  I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to carry in their car seats after work!  I have bruises all over my legs from the seats banging against them. We don't have a garage so I can't leave one in the car.  I guess I need to make time to work out-um, yeah, with all my free time. So excited for Babies' first turkey day and then we can start celebrating Christmas! So fun! My first graders are all wound up now, but soon we will have winter break and I can relax at home with the twins. We are getting professional pics again on the 7th, I can't believe they will be 7 months.  Then Santa pics! 

6 month check up

We had our well-visits yesterday and though it took nearly 2 hours, the babies did pretty well. (no pun intended).  Tate gained 2 and a half inches and 2 pounds since September and Gracie gained 2 inches and 4 pounds! She is such a chunk!  Now she has widened the gap between them by 3 pounds.  He is our long and lean boy, taller than his "big" sister now.  We think his reflux issues may contribute as well as he usually eat about 1 ounce less than her, I guess they just all added up!  

In other news, I started scrapblogging!  I love to scarp book, but of course I don't have the time, money, or space for that anymore.  I am just getting started, but excited for making them a beautiful first year  memory book.  We are also started them on solids today. A little nervous, but excited to see how they react.  It feels like such a huge step, just yesterday (literally) I started them napping in separate cribs, now solid foods! I feel like they are getting so old all of the sudden! Any advice from MoM's about the whole solid food thing is greatly appreciated.  I feel like we are just winging it. 

6 Months

Where has the time gone? Seriously.  Above are their 6 month pics-I can't believe it.  Our lives are so full of love and joy now and it was every bit as worth it as I hoped the IVF process would be.  Gracie is my sweet, smiley, giggly girl.  Tate is my cuddly, hand holding, sloppy kissing boy.  What a difference 6 months can make!

Costume fun

Best Birthday Ever

My husband is the best.  He made me the most beautiful video that is like a photo/video montage of me and the twins to Kanye West's "Hey Mama" song.  I got a card and a gift in the morning and then we watched the video as we fed the babies. Of course I cried all the way through it. If I was tech savvy and knew how to post it I would.  They also made me cupcakes and we spent the day just loving on each other as a family. I am so happy.  There are always things that I could ask for or wish for (like a bigger house), but I am so incredibly blessed to have my family safe and healthy that truly nothing else matters. I am a little weirded out by being 26 now though-I am over half way to 50! yikes!  

I have the day off today! Yay! We still woke up at 6 am thanks to Gracie's high pitched singing from their crib. I think she is teething. This is the 3rd morning in a row she wakes up and just starts singing/squealing.  Tater just lies there and stares at her. This is why we love our video monitor. This morning they gave us 20 minutes before demanding we get up and feed them.  The best part is when they burst out in giggles when they see us at the crib. 

After breakfast we packed them up and had to go to our fertility clinic to sign papers for our cryopreservation. We hadn't anticipated how weird it would feel to be there with the babies. It was sort of surreal.  There was another couple there who looked just like us last year-exhausted, disheartened, and I felt something I didn't expect. Guilt. I wanted to show them the twins to say "see, it can happen for you too!" but then I wished we hadn't brought them and wanted to hide my massive double stroller. I remember what it felt like going to clinic and some "insensitive" woman would bring in her newborn.  The offices have a no children policy, it is supposed to be a safe place for us infertile women not to be bombarded by babies. I would suffer seeing babies out in the real world enough, in my clinic was too close for comfort.  So I understand completely why this couple never made eye contact with us. Not when they were 10 feet away, I recognized their stoic looks and tried to be invisible. It has just been a year since we finally heard we were pg, and this was a sort of full circle moment for us.   I am so thankful to God that He gave us our little miracles and I don't want to ever lose sight of that.  Not everyone is blessed this way.  I am saying a prayer for that couple though. I hope they get to know they joy we have now, it makes the nightmare before it worth while and almost forgettable.

Needing some TQT

Twin Quantity Time!

This week is nuts for me between back to school night, staff meetings, dinner obligation as a bridesmaid and helping my mom move this weekend.  I am definitely feeling like a crappy mom and sometimes I think its amplified as a MoM.  I have little time to begin with and then I have divide it by two!  I have tried and cuddling them at the same time and it is not so fun for them.  Sean and I have been looking forward to Fridays much more than ever (yes, even more than college) and count down the days until another "family day" when we can all be together without work or other responsibilities tugging us away. 

It's a blessing I am a teacher though, I have shorter hours than many and I get days off- like next Friday! So I am trying to keep that in mind. 

We are still trying to decide on Halloween costumes.  Nothing has felt quite right.  I think we've narrowed it down to a lady bug and bumble bee or penguins or a bee and a flower or a mermaid and a pirate. Ideas? Thoughts? 

We have a roller!

Gracie Noel rolled for the first (second and third) time last weekend! So exciting!  We were screaming and scrambling for the camera, she was just like "what's the big deal?" It was great fun. In the advice of a friend I told our daycare lady not to tell us if they do anything "new" at her house. This way we won't know if the first time they speak to us (or whatever) isn't the REAL first time. It would make working so much harder if I knew I missed an important first. Ignorance is bliss!  But she did say she hadn't seen her roll yet, so we did reach that milestone at home.  Tate just looks at her like she's doing something strange and/or pointless when she rolls, but daddy saw him leaning to the side yesterday.  Maybe his sense of twin competition will spur him along.

The weeks seem to be flying by now that school has started.  We have a pretty good routine down and I think the twins are happy which is what matters most.  We are trying to save for a bigger home soon and give them a yard to run around in (as soon as they can run). I can't believe it will be my birthday in a couple of weeks, that's always the beginning of the holiday season for me!  Before we know it we will be celebrating babies' first Halloween, Thanksgiving and then CHRISTMAS!! We can't wait!

Not much to report here.  We are all dealing with a cold and getting through another busy week of work/school/daycare. Yesterday daddy stayed home to give the babies extra cuddles and love since they had runny noses (daddy included). I am glad that he has that kind of job flexibility. This weekend was too fast but we had a great time at an end of the summer BBQ with friends and watching our first Colts game with the twins!  

Here is Gracie and I at the BBQ- Baby Got Barack!

Here is one of 100 pics we took when the babies were all decked out for the game:

The Colts lost, but I made chili and they got to enjoy the whole experience anyway (Ok, it was more fun for us). When they get older we will take them to watch the game with my dad and brother as has been the tradition for many years now.  For now evening games will have to take a back seat to bed time.

On a fun side note, we got called today by the photography studio that did their 2 month shots and they want us to sign a release so that they can use the twins pics for advertisements or samples they show other families. How fun!  I know it's not really a big deal, but it's nice to have someone else recognize the cuteness of our twinnies!  Plus we get free wallets, I'll take those any day!

We Are 4 Months Old!!

4 Month Stats:

Gracie is 13 lbs 9 oz and Tate is 12 lbs 9 oz!  They both are 24 and 3/4 inches exactly!  My babies are getting so big!

It's been awhile...

This working mom thing is tough!  I haven't had time to shower, much less blog!  Things are going well. I started teaching full time again yesterday and it was like riding a bike.  I was afraid after all that time off I wouldn't remember a thing!  I actually like working half days last week, right about the time I started missing the twins I could just go pick them up.  Now I pick them up about 2 and a half hours after I started missing them :( 

We also have our first cold. The three of us actually have it, I don't know how Sean lucked out.  Turns out another baby at daycare had it last week. Luckily they had their 4 month check up Tuesday so she was able to calm my fears and tell me it was totally normal and not in their lungs, etc.  They just have the saddest little coughs and sniffles. Breaks my heart to leave them like that, but with no fever, I need to go to work.  It hasn't affected their moods or sleep either and from what I am told, that's pretty good.

My one concern from daycare is that I pick them up at 3:30 and she says they have only eaten 2 bottles! I drop them at 7:15 (with them fed) and so they should at least be starting the 3rd by time I get there.  She says they didn't want it yet. I don't know. I am just feeding ravenous babies as soon as we get in the door at home. It's fine because I like having at least 2 feedings with them before they go down for the night at 7, but I want to be sure they are getting all they want to eat during the day.  I just feel timid about pressing the matter with her. I don't know. 

Thank God this is only a 3 day work week.  I am missing them like crazy and can't wait to spend a full Saturday with my little ones!  Please tell me this will get easier...

1st day at work

Today was a big day.  We took the twins to a woman from my church who has an in-home daycare and will be watching them while I return to teaching. Today I had to start meetings to get ready for school next week so it was the first official day care day. It was really hard.  Not in the ways I expected though.  I felt pretty comfortable dropping them off this morning and then my husband accidentally locked the car with my purse still in it (and keys) and hopped on the bus to work. So I was stuck at the sitter's house for an extra hour waiting for him to come back and open the door.  When It was actually time for me to leave I felt ok and and was just thinking about work.  As the day wore on I worried about everything they could be doing. I was supposed to get them at 1 PM, but meeting ran late so I got there at 1:30PM. Gracie was being fed and was crying and Tate was sitting in a swing. I immediately worried bc they were supposed to eat at noon per our schedule, so I don't know if that means they were eating way late or early or what. Plus i feel bad for poor Tater swinging in the dark while the older toddlers she watches were napping on the floor next to him.  Next she told me that they had only eaten like 3 ounces and piece and I worry because they usually eat 5 or 6!  Is this going to be a hard transition for them, having someone else feeding them?  The sitter also looked tired which made me feel bad-are the twins too much to handle with other kids around? I know she has help, but will this work out?  The worst was hugging them and they didn't smell like my babies. They didn't stink or anything, they just smelled like someone else's home and that left me feeling unsettled. 

I took them right home and tried to feed them, they each at 6 ounces-so were they starving?! We played, applied baby lotion to get their sweet smell back and now they are napping. For the rest of the week I will be picking them up early, but next week school starts and I won't get them until about 4PM!  How much will I have missed? Will they have cried for me and not understood why I am gone? Will they feel scared or lonely?  I am so glad at least they have each other! I've heard the first day is the hardest so I am praying it gets easier for all of us. I never thought I had the temperament to be a stay at home mom, but I caught a glimpse today of how badly I will miss them. 

"Hey, I know You!"

The twins finally are seeing each other! This is so exciting in our little world!  We have been sitting them up face to face every so often to see what they will do, and usually they avoid eye contact at all costs, but while in California they started STARING and then smiling!  So much fun to watch, I think I could for hours (though they top out at about 15 minutes). It is just amazing to me, one will smile and they other will, one will cry and the other laughs.  They also started cooing at each other last night. This was particularly amazing for Tate since he normally doesn't coo much to Sean and I.  He was sticking his tongue out at Gracie and she was grabbing his feet and then they'd make eye contact and just stare. *sigh* So great. I can't believe I have to start work so soon, I don't want to miss any of this!

A Week in Review

We made it to Cali and back!  All in all it was a great trip.   We saw (and the babies met) so many family members on both sides and everyone loved them. The babies were fussier than I would have liked during the week, but really they did well considering how we uprooted their world . The plane rides went well and there was just fussing on take off and landing from Gracie-Tate was all smiles and sleepy. I was happy to let everyone hold the babies, but I think we made a mistake in letting too many people feed them.  Tate started eating a lot less and spitting up a ton, like he used to. By the end of the week I was happy to come home and have them all to myself again.   Some highlights were going to Downtown Disney a few times, the Pier at Huntington Beach,  babies first dip in the pool and Sean and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!  The whole family babysat while we went out to a nice dinner and relaxed, it was great. I think we are all happy to be home, returning to our routine though. One more week until I go back to work! I am getting more and more nervous, luckily the nesties are giving me some good advice and schedules and whatnot. 

Tooting my own horn

Tomorrow is the big day!  People keep asking me if I am excited to go to CA on vacation and I always look shocked, like what vacation? Whose going on vacation? I'm taking my twins on a long trip during which I will probably work harder than at home.  Oh well, I am very excited to see family so that is a plus.  I am happy we are going, it just is going to take a lot of work and organization. We have 2 large suitcases in the living room now and I have been trying to add to them all day.  This is what we are planning to pack for the twins: 

1 pack n' Play

1 Bouncer chair

1 activity mat (Great -grandparents house has zero baby stuff)

2 swaddles

2 baby Bjorn's

1 stroller

2 car seats

7 bottles

10 bibs

18 onesies/outfits

2 swimsuits :)

1 pack of diapers and wipes

1 can of formula (we will buy more when we get there)

6 pacifiers

10 burp cloths

---and some other odds and ends. 

This doesn't even touch all the clothes and things my husband and I need for ourselves. But when it's all said and done we will be so glad they got to meet their great- grandparents and we had our first ever family vacation. It is always special for us to visit that area since we started going almost once a year since we were dating in high school, got engaged there (Disneyland), went for our 1 year anniversary, etc. So it's only fitting for our 4 year anniversary (we will celebrate while there) that we have our twins with us this time. 

We get back on Friday and then I will turn around and go to the Gorge to see Tom Petty in concert with my mom, sisters and some friends for her 50th birthday.  Then it will be time to start getting things organized in my new classroom when I get back Monday! Ack! School is looming! I am going to miss my babies so much!

One more thing, I have to celebrate my super mom-ish achievement today. I left the house with the twins by myself for the first time!  It's not that I was afraid to before-it was the logistics of parking lot parking and my wimpy arms not able to carry both car seats.  So now that we have baby bjorns, I went for it.  I put Tate in the bjorn and held Gracie and my diaper bag/keys in my arms.   I locked the door (with her head wobbling all over) and then walked to the car! That easy! Then I put her in her car seat, undid the bjorn and put him in his seat! Yay!  I immediately called my mom and dh to gloat. We met a friend and her little guy for lunch and then on the way home I got cocky. I drove through Starbucks to get myself a drink.  When I pulled into our parking lot I realized what an idiot I am.  How am I supposed to carry both babies AND my iced tall skinny vanilla latte? BAM! I am humbled. So I negotiate that baby A in bjorn can hold my cell phone and keys while I hold baby B and latte and the diaper bag (and leftover pizza from lunch) can stay in the car until Sean gets home. This worked out pretty well except for Baby B's screaming because my cold drink was held at the back of his neck while I carried and unlocked the door.  I thought there was a chance he'd appreciate it given our recent heat wave-no such luck.  No doubt the pizza in the car will really reek in a few hours as well.  Anyway, we made it home and as my husband would say I revolutionized the game.

Another weekend

I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like each week just picks up speed.  I can't believe my babies are 3 months old now!!  This weekend was nice and low key.  Friday both grandmas watched the twins for an hour or so and we went grocery shopping and hit the BRU sale. Then home and bed. Saturday we hung around the house most of the day, but did an extended photo shoot for the 3 month old b-day!  We decided to try on the new swim wear we bought them for California.  Too cute for words.  Gracie in a bikini is hilarious and my Tater looked like such a big boy!  We rented a couple of movies and ran some errands. Sunday was church, went to my classroom to pack up some boxes (I am switching grades this fall) and went to our friends' house for some pre-season football and BBQ. They have a boy, Jackson, who is 3 weeks older and Gracie's boyfriend (their moms are convinced it's love). A fun time was had by all except Gracie who screamed for about 20 minutes of her nap.  I have NO idea what that was about.  Sometimes they cry mid-nap and we soothe a little, but usually wait it out and they will fall back asleep in 10 minutes or less.  This time she was screaming for so long, when I finally went to pick her up her little eyes were so red and swollen and she was doing these kind of sniffle breaths.  Oh broke.my.heart. I could have cried myself!  I think she was just over-tired from a wacky day and not getting good sleep.  We fed them and all were happy again. 

Last night we also bumped bed time again!  The last bottle was at 8:30 (instead of 9) and they were asleep by 9:00pm!  They slept great, they woke at 6:45  as usual, so I am stoked.  This will give us more time at night!  I think we will try it for another 2 weeks and then hopefully have them going down at 8pm before I start teaching in September.  This might be selfish, but we don't want to put them to bed before that because then we would hardly get any time with them after work!  Sean gets home at 5:30 as it is-that's not even 3 hours!  I am going to miss them like crazy. I know I couldn't be a stay at home mom (financially or emotionally), but this transition is going to be rough.  Sometimes I wonder if I am more protective because they were preemie and I can still see them hooked up to machines and barely eating anything.  Feels like if I'm not careful, they could be that fragile again.  I don't know, we have a fantastic sitter lined up so I know from church, so I will get through this. 21 days and counting. I will end with a few pics from our swimsuit debut!

This morning's photo shoot

We are sending some pics to Sean's grandparents in CA to get them excited for our visit in a week. I thought this would be a fun idea-the twins did not disappoint. :)

Gracie and her sock "cast"

I made my baby bleed!

I am wallowing in shame!  I can't believe I made my poor baby girl bleed.  Here's what happened: I had changed Gracie's diaper and she was being all smiley and cute, I, the competent SAHM decided to give her finger nails a trim. I am getting a sharp corner when I know I snipped off some skin!  her little face contorted into crying  in slow motion.  Then then the bleeding started.  I thought it would just be a spot and stop, but no, it kept coming!  I quickly went through all of my mommy baskets below the changing table looking for ointment, band-aids, anything!  Turns out I had not prepared for this! By this time she is done crying (thank God) but it getting spots of blood all over her out fit and the changing pad. I wrap her little hand in a washcloth and run to the bathroom.  I look through the band-aid box and grab butterfly closures (what are these, and why do I have them anyway?)  They look like they would be the right size for her tiny hand,so I race back to the nursery.  I try putting it on and quickly realize this is so not going to work-it's not even sticky!  So I race back to the bathroom and grab a big band-aid.  Have you ever tried putting a band-aid on a 3 month old's tiny fingernail?  If she wasn't squirmy enough, there is blood dribbling all over her hand making me more nervous and shaky.  I finally get the band-aid on in some sort of clump around her finger and I am 99% sure that the bloody spot is on the absorbent part. At this point my adrenaline slows down and my mommy guilt kicks into high gear.  We cuddle for 15 minute and I promise to buy her a pony, a Tiffany bracelet and anything else she wants. We are calm and she lays down to play on her mat. Fast fwd 10 minutes.  I come to check on her and Tater (who has been happily playing in his bouncer the whole time) and she has lost the band-aid.  Underneath her the finger is still bleeding and now there is a blood stain on the play mat (so that when  CPS comes they will see now two locations I let my baby bleed!)  I try to re-attach the band-aid and it won't work. Then, in a stroke of mommy genius, I grab a discarded baby sock (I knew there was a reason I didn't clean yesterday) and put it on her hand as a sort of cast/mitten.  It stays put.  She looks pitiful, but at least she a) can't suck on her bloody finger and b) can't stain anything else.  My poor little girl. I am supposed to be the great protector and provider, not giving my baby botched manicures in my free time! I took a picture to show Sean when he came home. I will post it when I figure out how.  I'm sure she won't be scarred for life, but I might be.

We did it!

So our first night away from the babies went pretty well. We dropped them off at 10 am at my mom's on Saturday and my aunt showed up ready to help.  I gave them the printed schedule and instructions with misc. info in case they do something out of the ordinary.  I didn't realize how much stuff we would pack with bouncers and play mats, clothes, bottles, the pack 'n play-all that stuff. I barely remembered to pack anything for myself! We fed and cuddled one last time and it was really hard to actually walk out the door knowing I wouldn't see them for 24 hours!   We had to drive 5 hours to central Oregon for a wedding.  It was actually fun for the first couple of hours, but then my mommy paranoia started to kick in and I called to check on them.  I called the rest of the trip after every feeding. So about every 3 hours or so: did they spit up? Poop? Nap? Are they fussy?  Fussier than normal? Are they smiling?  Do they miss me?!! :) My mom and aunt did a great job of trying to follow our schedule and make them nap. I don't know what was harder-calling and hearing them cry or hearing them coo and gurgle happily! Napping is the hardest part to tell people about because the twins always wake mid-nap and sitters want to pick them up then, but really I know that after about 10 minutes they will fall back asleep if you leave them in the crib!  So other than explaining my logic on a few things to my mom, things went great.  We woke up at 6:30 am and sped out of Oregon to head home.  We both were so excited as we got closer and closer to the freeway exits!  I was bouncing up and down in my seat when we saw my mom's house and I flew out of the car as soon as we stopped.  Sean and I had to race b/c we both wanted both babies to cuddle first!  I really don't think I realized how much I missed them until I saw them again. My heart was full again! It was great.  So we fed and cuddled and spent the afternoon with my family for a birthday party and I tried to let a couple of people hold the babies too,  but really I still wanted them all to myself.  It helped to hear how other moms have done it and to call all the time. Dh and I had a great time dancing and catching up with old friends (and showing off pictures!) At one point we were dancing and I said, "hey, I remember you".  We get so caught up in all the baby business that it was nice to see the guy I married again.   I don't think I will be leaving them again for a long time, but our next challenge lies ahead-a plane ride/trip to California in a few weeks to see great-grand parents.  We must be crazy.

2 days and counting...

Until we leave them overnight for the first time!  We are going to a wedding in Oregon and it would just be too hard to bring the babies on that long of a drive, and sit through a wedding. They are staying with my mom and my aunt is going to stay with her overnight to help.  I am so nervous, every time I think about leaving them I tear up!  Sean went camping for a night when they were a few weeks old so he is fine with it and wants us to just enjoy the break, but I can't stand the thought of missing the cuddles and not putting them to bed myself.  This will be good, I know, it will refresh me and all that, but SO hard! I am also nervous about what this will do to their schedule.  We have it down pretty well now and with 4 nights in a row of 8 hours of sleep, I am hesitant to mess with anything!  Who knows if they will nap well at my mom's or sleep though the night. Will they even miss us or notice we are gone?  How will my mom know how to cuddle Tater just right when he has reflux and is fussy or how to get Gracie to fall back asleep mid-nap? OK, stop, I am going to make myself cry. It's one night! I am going to type up a list of things to do and schedule for my mom, she probably won't follow it, but it will give me some peace of mind.  That and I will just call her every 2 hours. 

STTN!

We slept through the night! Getting 8 hours of sleep never felt so good!  We moved their bed time up to 9pm, did the last feeding and put them down.  Then we didn't hear a peep until 6:30 am this morning!  They did this once last week, so I am hopeful it will happen more often!  We also went back to using out swaddle me blankets because they always bust out of the regular blankets by morning.  I have no clue how, but Tate still managed to get his legs free!  Seriously, I don't know how he got the Velcro undone, but whatever makes him happy ;)  They ate 6 and 7 ounces at 6:30 and were up for a little over an hour then falling asleep so now they are napping and though I was tempted to crawl back into bed myself, I washed bottles and ate breakfast instead-you never know if you will get time for either again during the day!

I am a little worried about Tater because he keeps crying during his feedings.  It's not every one, but he will just cry through the whole thing-take the bottle for a few drinks and cry, let daddy burp him for a few minutes and then cry-back and forth.  We get frustrated not knowing what he wants us to do.  It seems just holding him and soothing for like 5-10 minutes helps, but it makes for a longer feeding for sure.  They already eat so slowly some days!  They were consistently taking an hour to eat until our Dr. said we could get them fast flow nipples, so we started and then they were eating in like 20 minutes flat!  I loved it, it felt like we gained all this free time!  Then they jut started slowing down again, now we are back to 30-40 minutes.  I even had a few hour longs last week. It seems like all of my friends' newborn suck down bottles in like 15 minutes, I don't know why mine can't/don't.  Maybe it's because they were preemie?  Or maybe they just like to dine slowly and take their sweet time. :) I won't complain too much because they really are speedy during the middle of the night and I appreciate that the most!

It's amazing how quickly the weekend went by. Friday night we had our moms over and they babysat so we could go see batman (a real date night!)  It was great having a break, but I was aching to see them on the ride home. Saturday we hung out at home and went to the mall twice- the first time all of the power was out.  That was so annoying to pack the babies/stroller back in the car and sit through traffic to get home for nothing.  So we went to a different mall a few hours later and they did pretty well.  I swear they can tell when Sean leaves though.  They will be sleeping  so soundly and he will walk away to a different aisle and they both wake up and start crying, then I am left trying to soothe them both with strangers looking at me with pity. Then as soon as gets back they conk back out. Go figure.   Sunday was church and just hanging out at home again. It sounds boring, but it goes by so quickly when we feed ever 3 hours.  The day just gets divided into chunks and before you know it, it's over. I am so glad to have Sean home on weekends though, it feels so much easier than weekdays when it's just me.  Today should be a good day, they both were smiley and happy during the last feeding and I swear they are so close to laughing!  I can't wait!  That is my favorite art of the day, waking them up when they smile and coo at me :) It makes all this mom stuff worth while!

schedules

The twins had a tough day yesterday-okay, I had a tough day.  They just don't seem to want to wait until the 3 hour mark for their feeds.  They have been wanting to eat every 2.5 hrs or so and my pediatrician was just telling me to start stretching them to 3.5 hours.  So  I was pretty frustrated.  They eat, stay awake for an hour or a little more and then get fussy/tired so I put them to bed for a nap and they only sleep about 30-40 minutes!  Seems like my friends' newborns are all taking longer naps!  Then they wake up and want to eat immediately, but it isn't time yet.  So They cry and I either try to block it out and make them wait or give in and feed them early.  I am afraid I will teach them they can eat every 2.5 hours, but my nerves can't handle the screaming for very long. The good news is today has been happier for everyone.  They slept an extra hour this morning (a wonderful gift to mommy) and though they still woke early from their last nap they waited to eat!! Amazing!  They sat in their boppys with pacifiers and just hung out for 15 minutes with me. That really did wonders for my mood.  I have even been able to do some laundry and write some emails this morning!  I have some visitors later today and I was able to clean a little too.  I am hoping that this last week of fussiness has been a growth spurt and we can get back to our "schedule".  

Sleep!

We have had two nights of pretty good sleep!  I don't want to count on it, but they have been going down at about 10:15 (we do our last feed at 9:30 pm) and they slept until 5:20 am this morning!  Yesterday was about the same and Sean has just and to go in and re-swaddle them around 2 or 3 am when they cry.  I am really praying that this means they will start to drop that 3 am feeding and we can stretch out until the morning feed which they usually do around 7:30 am. That would be so incredible.  We have been doing baby wise for about 6 weeks now and while they are a couple of weeks behind what the book says (now 10 weeks) they seem to get there!  They dropped their 1 am feeding about 2 weeks ago and that was SO nice for mom and dad! We had one blissful night where they slept straight through, but I am not holding my breath for that to happen again for awhile.  It did give us a glimmer of hope though!

Tate had bis circumcision yesterday and I cried as soon as he came home and then I keep tearing up every time I see it.  It just looks so awful-red and gooey and painful!  We are giving him tylenol even though they said he won't need it, I do!  This morning when I changed him he didn't cry as much though.  The awful part is that we are supposed to pull down the skin around it to keep it from healing up too high or something, that does bother him and I hate it.  People say it heals quickly so I am praying for just that. 

Tonight we are going to look at our daycare, it is an in-home with a woman who attends our church and I feel so blessed that she has space for both of them!  She is very reasonable priced so we can keep saving for a bigger house.  I really believe God is working things out for us! I go back to work the last week of August and I feel like it is coming at me quickly. I mean I have a hard time taking care of them alone, but I know I am going to miss them like crazy once I am at work.  They will be 4 months then at least, I'm glad I got to stay home for this long and as a teacher my hours are great for picking them up early and having days/vacations off to spend more time with them if I had some other full time job.  Later I'm having a much needed night out for dinner with girlfriends, our wonderful husbands are all going to babysit together (2 toddlers and 5 babies!)  I feel bad we bring two newborns, but I think when they are all together one more doesn't really make a difference!

Our blog

We wanted to start a blog to keep track and have memory of what the twins are up to week to week-so far the first 10 weeks have been a blur! I love reading the blogs of other Moms Of Multiples so this is my attempt. 

Today Tate is getting his circumcision!  We waited (maybe too long) because he was too small when we left the hospital.  I am staying home with Gracie and Sean is taking him alone.  I have heard it's too hard for moms to watch anyway!  I am so nervous for him!  I am hoping at least this will force him to get some good sleep this afternoon.  He is just not napping during the day as well as Gracie-even she only naps for about 40 minutes, but he will do 15-20 of I am lucky.  This morning he didn't nap between feeds at all.  Then he just gets cranky. I am so grateful my friend Amy recommended I make them start napping in their crib during the day.  I had tried that when they were about 5 weeks old but they didn't seems happy so we have been napping in swings every day, but they seemed to startle awake at everything I did around the house and when their soothies fell out.  Now they just lie in there and stare around or sleep and I feel like I get more alone time and much needed breaks during the day!