Growing...growing...growing (oh and SLEEP!)

Four month appointment was Wednesday. It went well. Shots suck but I didn't cry this time. They didn't really cry too badly either.

Then, poor Harps got her ears pierced while we were there. Our doctor's office does ear piercing which is great! I feel like everything is sterile and safe this way. Plus these people know what they are doing instead of a teen from the mall! She cried but again not for long.

They are growing like crazy!

Max weighs 14 pounds, 9 ounces. He is 24 3/4 inches long. He is such a big boy! I can't believe how little he was now. I look back at pictures and he doesn't even look like he used to.

Plus...don't want to jinx anything but they slept 11 hours last night! We got 7 straight, uninterrupted hours ourselves. It was just what I needed. Hopefully, they are back on track!

Daddy loves bath time just as much as we do!

I weigh what?!

Harper weighs 13 pounds, 2 ounces. She is also 24 3/4 inches long. She is just the sweetest snuggle bug. She has changed the most, I feel. She looked like a preemie with no fat on her at all and now she has the chunkiest cheeks ever!

New bling

Soap beard!

-Lisa-

Sleep{ier} Frustrations

I posted about sleep deprivation due to sleep regression here a few days ago. Well...somehow, Max has gotten worse about sleeping at night.

My sweet, precious little boy doesn't cry. But he definitely has been waking every hour or so to yell at us. He just wants to play. We go in and he is kicking his little feet, talking, and giggling. It is so hard to be upset at that! After a couple nights of 3 nonconsecutive hours of sleep...we are tired. Luckily, Harper is unaffected. She still sleeps through the night just fine.

So, I just know when Max's phase is through...Harper's will start. Thankfully, it is just a phase. Most say the sleep regression lasts a few days. So there is an end in sight.

Harper is still growing two teeth. They have broken skin but not growing too much beyond that.

Max is an excellent roller and never stays in the same place or position long!

We go to the doctor tomorrow so I will have an update later on growth and shots.

Mom, you don't need sleep! Look how cute we are.

I may not sleep but look, Mom, I hold my bottle.

-Lisa-

Sleepy Frustrations

So I am beyond frustrated with this stupid BLOGGER!! I am not a computer person. Leave me alone with a computer and something awful is bound to happen with a few clicks of the keys.

So...trying to recode my HTML. Holy crap!

After hours of frustration, this is as good as it is going to get for now. I wanted to redesign all parts of the blog but have given up for now. I wish I knew how to do more. But I am lame and somewhat miss the days of AOL where I was a "G".

Anyway...let's talk about sleep regression...and teething...and how that means we are NOT SLEEPING!

I have read about it and heard about it but nothing has prepared me for the deprivation.

Max and Harper have been really great sleepers their whole life. Granted, I do not miss the days of newborn 3 hour stints. But they slept and went back to sleep fairly easily.

Flash forward to nearly a week ago...they were consistently sleeping 10-12 hours IN A ROW. This meant I had a good 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I love those little guys!

Still love them but we need to have a serious talk. A couple days ago they started waking up in the middle of the night. Mainly just Max. When we knew for sure that he was not going to be soothed...we woke up Harper too. (We still are afraid to get them off the same schedule. I am not in the mood for tempting fate. I have fears of being up all night because they are off.)

I know that their "regression" is not bad. I have heard horror stories. I am hoping that this new sleep plan doesn't get any worse. They still go down pretty smoothly. They are asleep by 7 on most normal nights. They have been getting up around 1. Then they want to be up for an hour or so and go back down until 7. I know! Why am I complaining?

Well...I got accustomed to a certain level of restfulness. And it isn't happening anymore. It is going to get worse. I know. We cannot be this lucky. Many mommies are experiencing newborn-like regression. So I will stop complaining (out loud).

Harper is still cutting those teefers. She has the tip of her two bottom front teeth showing. Max just has extremely white gums. Our amber teething necklaces work. No kidding. I don't know how and it seems odd to some people but they are magical beads! Daycare doesn't allow those wonder necklaces so we take them off while they are there. Amazingly their fussiness ceases within a half hour of getting the necklaces back on them. Now to just get Max's necklace exchanged. His clasp broke. Jeremy swears it was fine when he took it off this morning but it was broken when I got home. Hmm...not so magical!

We go to their four month appointment next Wednesday. We are also getting Harper's ears pierced at this doctor visit. Should be great for the whole sleeping thing, huh?

Sweet Dreams!
-Lisa-

3 Months with a Full Heart

Three months ago, Max and Harper came into our lives! How crazy is that?!

We get a lot of comments about how hard it must be...we either don't know any different or our babies are rockstars. It isn't difficult. They are the happiest and easiest babies. I know that at any milestone this could quickly change but they are amazing.

We have been battling a stint of stomach bugs between the two of them, but they are still cooing and smiling even though I know they must not feel well. What champs!

They are on a pretty consistent schedule now. Just in time for them to start daycare on Tuesday! I know we are leaving them in very capable hands but I still worry daycare will disturb our flow. Here is a good run down of their day (granted I am back to work but Jeremy has done awesome at adhering to a consistent schedule):

Go to bed between 7:30-8:00pm (This is after our bedtime routine which I have posted about before)
Wake around 4:00-5:00am
They eat and go right back to sleep.
Wake for the day around 7:30am.
They play until late morning and eat around noon.
After they eat, they have been going down for a 1-2 hour nap.
They will play a couple of hours and eat again around 4:30pm.
They will sometimes nap another 1 to 2 hours or have another play session. Then they are ready to eat and do it all again.

They are still rocking the whole sleeping in their cribs thing. We are also getting great sleep because of this. I know some babies have a hard time transitioning to the cribs but we have really just been lucky. They LOVE their cribs. I love hearing them when they wake in the middle of the night. Yes, I just said that! But they don't cry. They just squeal or yell to get our attention. When we go in the nursery, they are kicking and cooing. It is the best part of having to wake up in the middle of the night!

They have upgraded to the larger bottles. Max eats 6 ounces consistently at every feeding. We probably need to up this because he is getting to where he acts hungry still. They only have around 5 feedings in 24 hours. The doctor says to figure 2.5 ounces for every pound of baby when figuring the amount of formula in 24 hours. I think he is close to 13.5 pounds so he could easily have 6.5 ounces at each feeding. Harper hasn't been eating as well as Max. In fact, we took her to the doctor on Tuesday and she only weighed 10 pounds 15 ounces. This is only a couple ounce gain since her two month check up. We think she lost a pound during this sickness she has had. She is on the mend so she should be packing on the pounds now. She eats anywhere from 4-5 ounces. We are hoping she will start eating more when she is feeling 100% again.

They both roll all over the place now. It is almost instant to placing them down for tummy time. Max is close to rolling from tummy to back. Either way, they can maneuver themselves all over their cribs during the night. We never know where they will end up in the morning!

Going back to work has been difficult but is getting easier. I miss them terribly during the day but cherish our weekends and evenings a lot more. I still have great hopes that I won't have to teach next year and I can stay home with them. Just praying that it is possible for our finances. I hate the thought that "strangers" will be spending more time with them than I do!

Here are a few recent pictures. I also included a couple pictures from our family session nearly a month ago now. Our friend, Rachel, did an amazing job and we love them!

-Lisa-

What Does the Fox Say??

**Max does not have a hernia. Woo-hoo!! Instead it is fluid that they expect to dissipate in a few months and isn't dangerous. Prayers answered for sure!**

Some milestones for the babies this weekend...(all a tad sad for Mommy).

1. We started transitioning them to their cribs on Friday night.

I was not ready. However, Dr. C said it is best to do this when I am off of work. He also recommended doing this before they were 3 months old. I felt so far away from them. I wanted to sleep but a part of me also wanted them to NEED me so I could go snuggle them. But they slept! Wonderfully. And...we slept. Wonderfully. We use our same bedtime rituals and so that made it easy on all of us. Here is our bedtime ritual:

• Wipe down or bath time (We give baths on Wednesdays and Saturdays.)
• Lotion them up with calming, lavender lotion
• Dress in their jammies
• Feed them in low lit nursery
• Storytime (We read together as a family. I got lots of books as gifts but we also have made trips to the library for more variety.)
• Turn on their "Baby go to Sleep" music. (It is lullabies with heartbeat sounds in the background.)
• Lay them down when they are drowsy.
• Sometimes Max takes his paci but not always.

2. We both went out without Max and Harper.

Jeremy and I are huge baseball fans, especially our home team-the Kansas City Royals. We usually go to several games a season. We didn't pre-purchase our tickets this year because of the twins. I was hugely pregnant for the first half of the season and even on bedrest. So we didn't go. Then we weren't going to take newborn babies to a baseball stadium. So...we decided since this past Sunday was the last home game, we needed to go. My sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece kept them while we went. I felt much better leaving them because they were in great hands. They love those babies so much! It was odd for both of us to be together without them. By the end of the 8th inning, I started staring at pictures of them on my phone. And wouldn't you know...it went into extra innings! I was ready to abandon the game at 0-0. But I am glad that Jeremy convinced us to see the amazing bottom of the 10th inning to see the game winning homerun. The babies were fine and Mom and Dad survived too!

I forgot how much I missed one on one time with Jeremy.

3. This next one has nothing to do with a milestone but the title. I am so obsessed with this ridiculous fox song. If you haven't heard it, you must. Jeremy is fed up with me singing it or humming it constantly. Last night, I sang it to the babies. I think it is a great way for them to learn the animal sounds--ha! You must know what the fox says!

-Lisa-

Twin Update-7 weeks

My babies are 7 weeks old tomorrow! Ah! It has gone so fast but at the same time I can't remember what we did before them. How did we spend our days? What did we talk about? What did I worry about? Everything before July 11 just seems to be a blur. They have changed our lives for the better.

I had to take Max to the doctor to get acid reflux medicine. He was having projectile spit up. I mean it was awful! He also screamed and cried for the first ounce of his feedings. You could literally hear the acid in his belly when he started eating. It was such a painful cry...it was heartbreaking. He also would often gag or cough randomly throughout the day. Feeding time was such a sad time for him. Normally he smiles and is just a happy, laid back little man. However, the medicine seems to be working. They put him on Axid twice a day and so far...no spit up. He still seems uncomfortable at feedings but not nearly as bad as before. He is 10.5 pounds!! What?! He isn't fat either. He is just solid as a rock. No many rolls on him but definitely a chunky monkey. I love his double chin and his chubby cheeks.

Both babies are in this FUN stage. They are starting to play and be alert more often.Their smiles melt my heart. With those smiles, it will be difficult not to spoil them rotten (although, I think they already are!).

They are eating a lot! The doctor said that it is fine but they are just little piggies. They eat 4-4.5 ounces every 3-4 hours. However, at night they are sleeping 5 hours in a row!!! Woo-hoo! I love that we are starting to get more sleep.

Jeremy is ready for them to move into their nursery and cribs. I am not. He hasn't brought it up in awhile which I am glad. I know that before I am back at work, we need to start making the transition. I have started putting them in their cribs for nap times.

They are both really good at getting to sleep on their own. We will lay them down awake and they will get to sleep on their own. They just need their pacifiers and they are out. Now, Harper still needs to be bounced or rocked sometimes but for the most part they can self-soothe themselves to sleep! This is awesome and hope they keep it up. It is hard for me to resist the urge to rock them all the time. However, their sleep habits will be much better if they can get themselves to sleep. (I still cuddle with them all the time though!)

Max went into size 1 diapers about 3 weeks ago. However, Harper is still in newborn sized diapers. We are on our last pack of newborn diapers. (We have not had to buy any diapers so far thanks to everyone!) Once these are gone, Harper will move to size 1 too. It couldn't come at a better time since Harper blew out her diaper today while in the car seat. I had to wash everything!!

Newborn clothes don't really fit Max anymore either. He is mainly in 0-3 months. 3 month clothing is still a little big on him...especially the pants. Little man has short legs! Harper can still wear newborn clothes but they are snug. I am going to cry the day that I pack away those adorable newborn outfits they have been wearing.

Another milestone...they moved up to the Avent size 2 nipples on their bottles. It has made feeding time go much faster. The size 2 nipples are for one month and older but we waited a bit after their one month birthday because they were doing fine with the size 1.

They are growing so fast. Harper rolled from tummy to back at 4 weeks and Max is nearly there. He can get to his side before he gives up and plops back down. Miss Harper is now working on back to tummy rolling. I swear that girl is going to be an athlete. She is so strong!

Now for the show-off pictures over the last couple of weeks:

Our church is growing! Here are 7 of the 8 babies born since May!!



My FAVORITE!! Even crying, they are so cute!

Max snuggling with Mama

My favorite place in the whole world!

Harper is out!!

Max using his pacifier as a joystick!

LOVE!



Playtime!

-Lisa-