Along with my dad & stepmom, mother & father in law, James & I brought the boys down to Gatlinburg, TN for their first vacation. We're super excited to be away in a very peaceful environment and get some relaxation in. Having two sets of grandparents here guarantees us some time off of being in charge and just hanging out. We plan to have a night out just the two of us and I can't wait!!
It was about a 4 hour trip and the boys slept almost the whole way. We stopped to feed them once and they weren't fans of the stop and go once we hit traffic in Pigeon Forge, but all in all, it was a successful trip here. The grandparents are already on baby duty which is how I have a few minutes to be on here. There is Mountain Berry wine & a hot tub waiting for us later. Oh Boy!!!!
****Update. Apparently the boys aren't fans of sleeping elsewhere because after about 4:30 they were incredibly cranky and restless. They slept off and on until 8:45 but we're not overly excited by this because they didn't get much sleep between 4:30 and 8:45. We weren't sure how they would sleep in a new environment out of their bed so it's not surprising. Tonight someone else has over night baby duty!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
3 Months!
My baby boys are 3 months old (9/20/09). I think I say this every time, but I just can't believe how much they are growing and how quickly. My goal was to get a good picture (one that has both boys in it and neither one is crying) and weigh them but I didn't get either. I got a few good pictures of them individually but no weight. The pictures ended up on two different cameras so I only have one set on the computer.
They boys are doing well. Sunday, the 20th, we upped them to the level 2 nipple. Lucas is our little piggy. He usually downs his bottle quickly but pokie Ethan takes a good 30+ minutes to finish his bottle. They've been at 5 oz for at least 3 weeks now. I decided that it was time to go ahead and change the nipple size because it was just taking too long. Now Lucas can down his bottle in less than 10 minutes (avg has been 8 mins) but Ethan is still taking about 25-30 minutes. Goodness gracious boy. People keep telling me that he's just taking his time to savor it. I guess he's just going to be a slow eater. He doesn't have any problems taking it so I should just focus on that and not speed. They're still taking their daytime bottles every 3-3.5 hrs which is interesting to me. James & I discussed it and we thought increasing their ounces should lengthen the time between feedings, but it hasn't worked out that way. I don't feel like we're over feeding them though. I feel like I've gotten good at distinguishing their cries and we have a good routine (not schedule) that they seem to stick to so we all know what to expect from each other. I don't get the bottles ready until they cry hungry, but it's usually 3-3.5 hrs apart. Their nighttime feedings are a different story. They have their last bottle before bed sometime between 7:30 & 9 depeding on their daytime feedings. After their night bottle we put them down and they're good until 6am. Last night they even made it to 7am. After this feeding we're good for another 5 hours putting it around 11am. That's when the 3 hour time frame kicks in.
They're on 5oz each feeding, sleeping 8+ hours at night, they're in size 1 diapers, and they've outgrown all of their newborn clothing. It's amazing how they're growing. You can absolutely see their personalities and how different they are. They don't seem interested in each other yet. We're looking forward to when they are. Sometimes during tummy time they'll kind of hold on to each other but it looks more accidental than on purpose. Those are still precious moments to us though. Lucas rolled over a few times previously but it has been a long while. Ethan has yet to roll over. Lucas tries so hard during tummy time but just hasn't gotten all the way over. Ethan didn't seem interested in trying to roll over but over the last few days, that's changed. He doesn't look as close to rolling over as Lucas, but he's trying harder now. Lucas is still "talking" all the time. Ethan seems like he has to be in the mood to be as vocal. Ethan has discovered his legs and kicks all the time. When he's in his bouncy seat he bounces it like crazy from all the kicking he does. He looks like he's going to be our little soccer player.
I'm adjusting to it all pretty well, I think. It is a lot taking care of two babies that depend on you for everything. Sometimes I feel bad because when I'm giving one attention, I feel like I'm neglecting the other. I don't know if they mind, but it bothers me. There's been a lot of nonbaby related stress in the house lately, related to the house, and I'm trying not to let it get to me because I can see it gets to James. In other news, I'm down a few more pounds. YAY! I definitely need to find time to work out. I'm not sure how to fit in it though. Maybe that's where I struggle most, time management. There is so much I'd like to get done during the day, both baby related and not, but I usually get almost none of it done. I'm lucky to even start doing something. I guess I'll figure it out eventually.
Lucas was proudly sporting his Cardinal gear Saturday for the big game.
Ethan making some funny faces. (I got a good one of him smiling...on the other camera) The first picture he's watching football intently.
Lucas just finished tummy time and was very happy.
They boys are doing well. Sunday, the 20th, we upped them to the level 2 nipple. Lucas is our little piggy. He usually downs his bottle quickly but pokie Ethan takes a good 30+ minutes to finish his bottle. They've been at 5 oz for at least 3 weeks now. I decided that it was time to go ahead and change the nipple size because it was just taking too long. Now Lucas can down his bottle in less than 10 minutes (avg has been 8 mins) but Ethan is still taking about 25-30 minutes. Goodness gracious boy. People keep telling me that he's just taking his time to savor it. I guess he's just going to be a slow eater. He doesn't have any problems taking it so I should just focus on that and not speed. They're still taking their daytime bottles every 3-3.5 hrs which is interesting to me. James & I discussed it and we thought increasing their ounces should lengthen the time between feedings, but it hasn't worked out that way. I don't feel like we're over feeding them though. I feel like I've gotten good at distinguishing their cries and we have a good routine (not schedule) that they seem to stick to so we all know what to expect from each other. I don't get the bottles ready until they cry hungry, but it's usually 3-3.5 hrs apart. Their nighttime feedings are a different story. They have their last bottle before bed sometime between 7:30 & 9 depeding on their daytime feedings. After their night bottle we put them down and they're good until 6am. Last night they even made it to 7am. After this feeding we're good for another 5 hours putting it around 11am. That's when the 3 hour time frame kicks in.
They're on 5oz each feeding, sleeping 8+ hours at night, they're in size 1 diapers, and they've outgrown all of their newborn clothing. It's amazing how they're growing. You can absolutely see their personalities and how different they are. They don't seem interested in each other yet. We're looking forward to when they are. Sometimes during tummy time they'll kind of hold on to each other but it looks more accidental than on purpose. Those are still precious moments to us though. Lucas rolled over a few times previously but it has been a long while. Ethan has yet to roll over. Lucas tries so hard during tummy time but just hasn't gotten all the way over. Ethan didn't seem interested in trying to roll over but over the last few days, that's changed. He doesn't look as close to rolling over as Lucas, but he's trying harder now. Lucas is still "talking" all the time. Ethan seems like he has to be in the mood to be as vocal. Ethan has discovered his legs and kicks all the time. When he's in his bouncy seat he bounces it like crazy from all the kicking he does. He looks like he's going to be our little soccer player.
I'm adjusting to it all pretty well, I think. It is a lot taking care of two babies that depend on you for everything. Sometimes I feel bad because when I'm giving one attention, I feel like I'm neglecting the other. I don't know if they mind, but it bothers me. There's been a lot of nonbaby related stress in the house lately, related to the house, and I'm trying not to let it get to me because I can see it gets to James. In other news, I'm down a few more pounds. YAY! I definitely need to find time to work out. I'm not sure how to fit in it though. Maybe that's where I struggle most, time management. There is so much I'd like to get done during the day, both baby related and not, but I usually get almost none of it done. I'm lucky to even start doing something. I guess I'll figure it out eventually.
Lucas was proudly sporting his Cardinal gear Saturday for the big game.
Ethan making some funny faces. (I got a good one of him smiling...on the other camera) The first picture he's watching football intently.
Lucas just finished tummy time and was very happy.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Pics
Here's a pic of the new hair. LOVE IT! And Lucas in the first picture to capture a half smile. They both smile a lot but we've not been able to catch it on camera.
One other thing.....today would've been my first day back at work. I just couldn't imagine leaving them at all. I am so THANKFUL that my husband was willing to make sacrifices so that I could stay home with our babies.
One other thing.....today would've been my first day back at work. I just couldn't imagine leaving them at all. I am so THANKFUL that my husband was willing to make sacrifices so that I could stay home with our babies.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Interesting Week
Happy 12 weeks babies!! I just can't believe we have twin boys and they are 12 weeks old. I was talking to James about it today...it's just amazing. I went through the pregnancy, through the delivery, through the recovery, loved them instantly and somehow it still feels unreal. They are beautiful babies that just make us the happiest two people in the world. Do I know how incredibly blessed I am? Every moment that I look at them I know I am looking at a piece of heaven.
Now that I'm finished being mooshy gooshy....
This week I started packing away the maternity clothes. Yeah Baby!! Not all of my clothes fit, but it seems that each day something new fits. It all doesn't fit well enough to wear out. Some yes, but not all. I'm thrilled nonetheless. I did manage to fit back into my favorite jeans!! Wednesday was my first day of wearing a whole outfit that was mine prepregnancy. That's right, first day of not wearing a single maternity item. Let me tell you just how excited I was!! Now I have the room in my closet to get out all of my real clothes and organize them. I'm interested to see what fall clothes fit. My favorite season is fall and my favorite thing to wear is a quarter sleeve shirt with jeans.
My sister bought a new house and moved in over the Labor Day weekend. It is a beautiful house. I took the boys over to see it on Monday. It's a good thing she bought it too because the day she took me over to see it, Ethan spit up on the carpet. Granted we cleaned it up and it basically blended into the carpet anyway, but he wanted to christen the house. In visiting their house, it has inspired me to finish decorating our house. Two weeks after we moved in we found out I was pregnant so that took over and decorating came to a halt. The only room in the house that is completely finished/decorated is the nursery. I have things to go on walls, we've just not had a chance or made the time (pre-babies) to hang them. Along with that, we've had a hard time keeping rooms clean lately. My goal: once a room is clean....KEEP IT THAT WAY! It's just so easy to leave something out with everything else going on demanding time.
Tomorrow is a big day for me. When I found out I was pregnant my hair was short. After 9 months of taking prenatals and not cutting it, it obviously grew out. Well, after much consideration and chickening out each time before, I've decided to finally chop my hair. I'm going for the style Jen Anniston had in season 7 of FRIENDS when she chopped her hair. I don't know if it will look good on me, but I'm going to do it anyway. I've always wanted to do it but was too afraid to do something out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone = plain. I will probably not like it at first because it will be so different than the mop that is my hair now, but I'm sure after a few days I'll grow to love it. At least I hope so :) It's just hair. It will grow back. I just hope James likes it. With the transition that my body is in now, I don't want to take anything away from the sexy that he manages to see.
I've experienced some frustration this week. James has been called out twice now after hours to deal with stupid stuff. I get frustrated that other people's stupidity and poor choices pulls him away from his family. Yes I know it's the nature of the job, but it doesn't make it any easier. I feel bad for him too. I know he doesn't want to leave and I don't want my reaction to make it harder on him. It's very hard for me to keep my feelings in, but I'm working on it. When he goes off to work after hours, I don't want him to be worried about leaving me to handle things on my own when he should be focusing on his safety. Because he was called out Monday night he was out all night and all day Tuesday so Tuesday night he wanted to sleep, rightfully so. That meant two days straight of no help, no break. It was a rough week because they boys wouldn't take a full nap so they'd wake up fussy and stay fussy until their next feeding and that takes a toll. I've gotten soooo much better at being patient when they cry, but my patience have been thin this week. To make matters worse....no mother wants to hear her baby cry. It breaks my heart when they're crying and I can't get them to stop because I just want to make it better. But one thing I've learned over the last 12 weeks, when Lucas gets very mad, his screams are at a certain pitch that hurts my right ear so much that I feel like my eardrum is going to bust or bleed. It's awful. I feel horrible, but I want to cry when he cries that way. It is literally painful and sometimes it's hard for me to focus more on him than on the discomfort I feel. Of course if they're both crying Lucas gets handled first every time in my attempt to silence the screams leaving Ethan to wait. However, Ethan cries to be held more often so I guess they're kind of even.
Uncle Griffin brought up a point a couple of weeks ago. At what age do babies/infants have jealous feelings? It seems, sometimes, that if one of the babies is crying and I pick him up, no matter how content the other one was he will just look at me and start crying. It's almost as if they're saying to me, "I want to be held, why aren't you holding me?" I've not bothered to look this up, but it seems too convenient that once I'm holding one the other will look at me with big eyes and just start crying. It's almost comical sometimes. I guess this is something I really should look up dealing with two babies.
In non baby related news (I realize I'm going on for a long time, but I've not had the chance to blog in a long while) I watched GLEE after So You Think You Can Dance and I loved it!! Maybe it's because I was in show choir all 4 years of high school and it reminds me of that in a way. I just laughed when they did Kanye's "Gold Digger" and Salt-n-Peppa's "Push It". The girl who has the lead role musically has a beautiful voice. The lead high school guy looks like Chris Kline and I'm fine with that :) I'm super pumped that The Office starts on Thursday.
It's almost midnight and I'm exhausted. Think I'm going to forego waiting on the husband to get home and just get in bed.
Now that I'm finished being mooshy gooshy....
This week I started packing away the maternity clothes. Yeah Baby!! Not all of my clothes fit, but it seems that each day something new fits. It all doesn't fit well enough to wear out. Some yes, but not all. I'm thrilled nonetheless. I did manage to fit back into my favorite jeans!! Wednesday was my first day of wearing a whole outfit that was mine prepregnancy. That's right, first day of not wearing a single maternity item. Let me tell you just how excited I was!! Now I have the room in my closet to get out all of my real clothes and organize them. I'm interested to see what fall clothes fit. My favorite season is fall and my favorite thing to wear is a quarter sleeve shirt with jeans.
My sister bought a new house and moved in over the Labor Day weekend. It is a beautiful house. I took the boys over to see it on Monday. It's a good thing she bought it too because the day she took me over to see it, Ethan spit up on the carpet. Granted we cleaned it up and it basically blended into the carpet anyway, but he wanted to christen the house. In visiting their house, it has inspired me to finish decorating our house. Two weeks after we moved in we found out I was pregnant so that took over and decorating came to a halt. The only room in the house that is completely finished/decorated is the nursery. I have things to go on walls, we've just not had a chance or made the time (pre-babies) to hang them. Along with that, we've had a hard time keeping rooms clean lately. My goal: once a room is clean....KEEP IT THAT WAY! It's just so easy to leave something out with everything else going on demanding time.
Tomorrow is a big day for me. When I found out I was pregnant my hair was short. After 9 months of taking prenatals and not cutting it, it obviously grew out. Well, after much consideration and chickening out each time before, I've decided to finally chop my hair. I'm going for the style Jen Anniston had in season 7 of FRIENDS when she chopped her hair. I don't know if it will look good on me, but I'm going to do it anyway. I've always wanted to do it but was too afraid to do something out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone = plain. I will probably not like it at first because it will be so different than the mop that is my hair now, but I'm sure after a few days I'll grow to love it. At least I hope so :) It's just hair. It will grow back. I just hope James likes it. With the transition that my body is in now, I don't want to take anything away from the sexy that he manages to see.
I've experienced some frustration this week. James has been called out twice now after hours to deal with stupid stuff. I get frustrated that other people's stupidity and poor choices pulls him away from his family. Yes I know it's the nature of the job, but it doesn't make it any easier. I feel bad for him too. I know he doesn't want to leave and I don't want my reaction to make it harder on him. It's very hard for me to keep my feelings in, but I'm working on it. When he goes off to work after hours, I don't want him to be worried about leaving me to handle things on my own when he should be focusing on his safety. Because he was called out Monday night he was out all night and all day Tuesday so Tuesday night he wanted to sleep, rightfully so. That meant two days straight of no help, no break. It was a rough week because they boys wouldn't take a full nap so they'd wake up fussy and stay fussy until their next feeding and that takes a toll. I've gotten soooo much better at being patient when they cry, but my patience have been thin this week. To make matters worse....no mother wants to hear her baby cry. It breaks my heart when they're crying and I can't get them to stop because I just want to make it better. But one thing I've learned over the last 12 weeks, when Lucas gets very mad, his screams are at a certain pitch that hurts my right ear so much that I feel like my eardrum is going to bust or bleed. It's awful. I feel horrible, but I want to cry when he cries that way. It is literally painful and sometimes it's hard for me to focus more on him than on the discomfort I feel. Of course if they're both crying Lucas gets handled first every time in my attempt to silence the screams leaving Ethan to wait. However, Ethan cries to be held more often so I guess they're kind of even.
Uncle Griffin brought up a point a couple of weeks ago. At what age do babies/infants have jealous feelings? It seems, sometimes, that if one of the babies is crying and I pick him up, no matter how content the other one was he will just look at me and start crying. It's almost as if they're saying to me, "I want to be held, why aren't you holding me?" I've not bothered to look this up, but it seems too convenient that once I'm holding one the other will look at me with big eyes and just start crying. It's almost comical sometimes. I guess this is something I really should look up dealing with two babies.
In non baby related news (I realize I'm going on for a long time, but I've not had the chance to blog in a long while) I watched GLEE after So You Think You Can Dance and I loved it!! Maybe it's because I was in show choir all 4 years of high school and it reminds me of that in a way. I just laughed when they did Kanye's "Gold Digger" and Salt-n-Peppa's "Push It". The girl who has the lead role musically has a beautiful voice. The lead high school guy looks like Chris Kline and I'm fine with that :) I'm super pumped that The Office starts on Thursday.
It's almost midnight and I'm exhausted. Think I'm going to forego waiting on the husband to get home and just get in bed.
Friday, September 4, 2009
It's Official.....
I'm now a Stay At Home Mom!! I couldn't be more excited. I love these little guys more than anything and every moment I spend with them makes me a better person. I understand it's not for everyone, but just the thought of leaving them for 8 hours a day just makes me horribly sad. It is truly a blessing that it has worked out for me to stay home, at least for a while. James is making this possible and he couldn't begin to know how much this really means to me.
I'm seriously behind in updating because we've been busy and I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write. I'm awful because there are so many things to write that I forget most of them :(
Yesterday I happened to find a pair of jean capri's and for fun I tried them on. As of last week I had not been able to fit into ANY of my jeans. When I tried them on they pulled up no problem. So I'm thinking, ok they pulled up but there's no way they're going to buckle. I was WRONG!! They actually buttoned and fit to where I could actually wear them out of the house. I was so excited!! I have not tried on any other pair because I don't want to be disappointed by them not fitting. Regardless, I felt at that moment successful. I felt happy about my body and after the things having twins did to my body, that was a great feeling!!
The boys had their 2 month checkup on the 21st of August. They are growing like crazy! Ethan was 9lbs 12oz and 23 in. Lucas was 8 lbs 15 oz and 22 3/4 in. I can't believe how big they are! It's so hard to believe they were both under 6lbs at one point. Thankfully, they're reaching all their milestones on time. Sometimes they act like they're ready to walk. It's quite comical. They are smiling and "talking" like crazy. Ethan is more of a smiler and Lucas is more verbal. It's incredibly hard to burp them now because they like to stand up while you're holding them upright. It's cute though. We have established a routine. Does it always work? No, but it definitely helps during the day. It's also helped me to decipher their cries. Right now, they are sleeping 5 hours between their night feedings which means we're really only getting up once during the night and having an early morning feeding, usually around 7. Daytime feedings are still about 3 sometimes 4 (if I'm lucky) hours apart. We up'd them from 4 to 4 1/2 oz but for Ethan he doesn't seem ready so we're backing off and for Lucas it doesn't seem to be enough so sometimes we give him 5 or whatever is leftover from Ethan. We are using the Mylicon with every feeding and it has helped a lot with their gas issues. We've also changed back to the sensitive formula they were on when we left the hospital. That has also helped with their gas. We're getting out a lot more. Took our first trip to Target yesterday. Enjoyed it so much we went back today! It's so easy to want to buy up all the clothes :) We're taking our first trip to the zoo tomorrow....I think daddy is more excited about it than anybody. I think it's cute :)
I think breastfeeding is about over. I'm pumping less and therefore the supply is way down. I have come to terms with it. I'm off to breastfeed now since I haven't bf or pumped at all today.
I'm seriously behind in updating because we've been busy and I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write. I'm awful because there are so many things to write that I forget most of them :(
Yesterday I happened to find a pair of jean capri's and for fun I tried them on. As of last week I had not been able to fit into ANY of my jeans. When I tried them on they pulled up no problem. So I'm thinking, ok they pulled up but there's no way they're going to buckle. I was WRONG!! They actually buttoned and fit to where I could actually wear them out of the house. I was so excited!! I have not tried on any other pair because I don't want to be disappointed by them not fitting. Regardless, I felt at that moment successful. I felt happy about my body and after the things having twins did to my body, that was a great feeling!!
The boys had their 2 month checkup on the 21st of August. They are growing like crazy! Ethan was 9lbs 12oz and 23 in. Lucas was 8 lbs 15 oz and 22 3/4 in. I can't believe how big they are! It's so hard to believe they were both under 6lbs at one point. Thankfully, they're reaching all their milestones on time. Sometimes they act like they're ready to walk. It's quite comical. They are smiling and "talking" like crazy. Ethan is more of a smiler and Lucas is more verbal. It's incredibly hard to burp them now because they like to stand up while you're holding them upright. It's cute though. We have established a routine. Does it always work? No, but it definitely helps during the day. It's also helped me to decipher their cries. Right now, they are sleeping 5 hours between their night feedings which means we're really only getting up once during the night and having an early morning feeding, usually around 7. Daytime feedings are still about 3 sometimes 4 (if I'm lucky) hours apart. We up'd them from 4 to 4 1/2 oz but for Ethan he doesn't seem ready so we're backing off and for Lucas it doesn't seem to be enough so sometimes we give him 5 or whatever is leftover from Ethan. We are using the Mylicon with every feeding and it has helped a lot with their gas issues. We've also changed back to the sensitive formula they were on when we left the hospital. That has also helped with their gas. We're getting out a lot more. Took our first trip to Target yesterday. Enjoyed it so much we went back today! It's so easy to want to buy up all the clothes :) We're taking our first trip to the zoo tomorrow....I think daddy is more excited about it than anybody. I think it's cute :)
I think breastfeeding is about over. I'm pumping less and therefore the supply is way down. I have come to terms with it. I'm off to breastfeed now since I haven't bf or pumped at all today.
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