Living a Sain Life in an Insane World

Brad had to go out of town for work and has been away from the babies for the first time ever this weekend. We are missing him SO MUCH! Thankfully we were able to catch a glimpse of Daddy on tv for a few seconds tonight since their football game was on tv. I paused the game and showed him to the babies and they both just looked and stared at him right where I was pointing. It looked like they were looking right at him and it was soooo cute :)



Back in July Brad and I were brave and took the babies to the beach for three nights. My mom came along so we weren't by ourselves. At the time, Faith and Bowen were 10 weeks old and we were finally starting to feel like we were in a good routine and we knew with Brad's work schedule that if we didn't go then that we might not get a vacation until who knows when!

We got a great last minute deal on an oceanfront room so we just decided if all we did was sit in the room all day at least we could look at the ocean. I had never stayed in an oceanfront room before (except one time when I travelled alone for work so it doesn't count) and it was sooo awesome!

We took the babies out to the ocean a few times, but mostly we kept them in the room because it was pretty windy while we were there and it was just too much for them. Besides all of the other reasons that you don't want your 10 week olds on the beach - haha! Plus, we got really judgemental stares from people because Faith and Bowen were so small I guess people thought we drove straight from the hospital to the beach.

The one thing the babies did love was the lazy river. Our hotel was huge and had several lazy rivers so in the evenings when the water was super warm we would get in with them and they would melt. Obviously they didn't fit into the little swimmers diapers so they just suffered through it with huge wet diapers. I think the diapers weighed more than they did at the end!

Anyway, not much to say here, except that I wanted to post these pictures because I'm not sure what is much cuter than a newborn sized baby in a bathing suit!!

**This was a draft post that I found on my dashboard. I guess I had forgotten all about it, but since it's so detailed I guess I will go ahead and post it for my own memory.**

Since I don't have much time to blog I thought I would outline what we do on an average day at two months old so that I can look back and remember.

Right now, each daytime for us is defined as the hours between 9am - 8:59pm and the nightime is 9pm - 8:59am. This is just what works for us right now and I'm sure it will evolve as Bowen and Faith grow and learn to eat more and sleep longer.

I really wish I could have documented one of our earlier days, but thinking back on it there really wasn't much of a schedule. We just fed around the clock and tried to figure out how to keep our sanity! Faith couldn't take full feedings and until we got her on Zantac she would eat small meals all the time and do a good bit of fussing/crying between feedings.

Now, the Zantac helps so much and because Brad has been home most days this summer, we've  been able to keep them on an almost identical routine since they turned about six weeks old. It just sort of clicked one day, and since then, we've realized that our schedule is MAJOR.

No matter what times either baby wakes up during the night we wake them both to eat at 9am.  This time basically came about because they were always on the 3,6, 9, 12 schedule and with so little sleep it was always easier for us to officially wake ourselves up at 9am instead of 6am. Even if they eat at 7:30am we still wake them up for an official breakfast at 9am and that keeps them on the same routine for the whole day. If they aren't on the same eat/sleep schedule through the day then we are, excuse my words, screwed. You might as well not take a shower and not even change out of your pajamas. So, no matter what, their routine has to be identical in order for us to do anything - including basic things like eat or go to the bathroom ourselves.

During the nightime hours we let them sleep as long as they can. They both usually drink a bottle that is a little bit bigger at 9pm and from that moment on we let them wake up on their own. Brad and I each take a baby for the night and usually we sleep in different rooms so one baby doesn't wake the other up (or us!). Bowen usually does a little bit better during the night because he weighs a little more, but he also has nights where he is extremely fussy and cries for about an hour after a feeding. He only has those fits ever so often so when it is a "Bowen night" that person usually has a little bit more pep in their step that day.

Faith is actually getting much better about her nightime routine, but for the most part her body is like clockwork and she wakes up every three hours on the dot. She has had a few nights where she went five hours from the start of one feeding to the start of another and those nights Brad and I basically do a happy dance in the dark kitchen as we pass each other in the night. It literally makes us SO happy when she gets more than an hour and half of continuous sleep because she so rarely does.

During the daytime routine, we wake them every three hours to eat and usually they are both waking up for these feedings without our prompting. The sleep patterns during the day are still varied and it's rare that both babies sleep for the entire time between two feedings. Either Brad or I will have to sit with them for almost the entire day because someone is either awake/fussy/crying at some point during the day. They are however, starting to get better about sitting awake by themselves without being held and that does help a lot.

While one person is with the babies the other person is usually scrambling around like a crazy person fixing bottles, washing bottles, washing clothes, folding/putting away clothes, cooking, cleaning or some other baby-related task.

During the day, if we want to get out of the house it requires the intricate planning and organization similar to what I imagine goes on before President Obama takes a step outside the White House. We have to plan down to the exact minute when we will leave, where we will go, where we will be able to stop in case of emergency and so on. Even before we leave we usually need at least three to four hours to make sure all of us are bathed, fed and clothed appropriately to go out in public. We also have to decide beforehand if we will all go inside wherever we are going versus an adult sitting in the car with the babies. If we are all going inside then we have to decide whether or not to take our enormous stroller or how to carry them both and all the bags we have.

Most days, we don't go anywhere, or if we do, it's just to get out of the house for a quick trip between feedings. Going out for more than an hour and a half at a time is very difficult right now and we've only done this probably three or four times since they've been home.

We've learned that if we keep the babies awake between the 6pm and 9pm feedings then the babies usually fall right to sleep after their 9pm bottle and we follow as well by 10pm. There is no time to waste at all by staying up late! If we do get caught up in something and stay up late it usually ends up being the night that the assigned baby will sleep until 3am and then you just about want to kill yourself for wasting so much potential sleep time by staying up to do whatever it was that seemed important at the time - haha!

 

The days go by so quickly that I often have a hard time knowing what day it is. I try to take in as much as I can each day and enjoy the time with my babies but sometimes it seems as if I blink and it's already 3pm. At that time my mind is already racing with all the things I have to do before the 9pm feeding so that I can go to bed as soon as I'm done with my last feeding/pumping session.

Edit: Now at three months I can already see much improvement in their schedule than this. At two months old, it would have been very difficult for me to care for them alone for an extended period of time, but now I can actually care for them all on my own all day (and good thing since Brad has already gone back to work). Faith still wakes up a good bit at night but if she does it is usually a quick feed and back down to sleep. I don't usually wake them up at 9am anymore just because I'm by myself so whenever one wakes up between 7-10am I usually start the day then by feeding the first one and then waking the second one up as well. I don't mind as much when they eat as long as they do it one right after the other. I also still feed them about every 3-3.5 hours during the day and usually one of them is waking up and by the time I feed that one the other is ready as well. The big change is actually that we all sleep in our bedroom now, with a baby in a rock-n-play on each side of the bed. I usually get up with whoever wakes up first and then Brad will usually do a shift in the early morning. For about a week now Bowen has slept until at least 7am or even 9am and that is just amazing. So our next step is to get them to sleep in their own room and that will be happening very soon!!

Three months old! I can't even believe how fast time is flying by. And how different our world is now!  I wish I had more time to blog, but my days go by in such a flash that sometimes it's just all a blur. Here are some updates from the last three months.

Bowen's stats:

Bowen and Faith both seem so big to me, but unfortunately I'm still getting Facebook status updates with people saying their newborns are bigger than my three month olds :( I didn't even look up the average percentages to go along with their stats because it's just depressing. They don't even really tell us at the doctor's office and I think it's because they are so low unless you use their adjusted age, which is one month off of their actual age. I know at the last well visit the doctor briefly mentioned Bowen's stats and they were in the 5-7% but that's about all I know. He didn't say anything about Faith - and probably because she's not even on the chart yet!

Right now, Bowen is wearing 0-3 clothes but he can also wear 3 months and even some 3-6 depending on the brand and what the outfit is. Pants or shorts, no but regular onesies, yes. He is wearing a size 1 diaper and he eats 4oz or close to that at each feeding, except for his night feeding when he eats around 5oz.

Also at 3 months, Faith is wearing Newborn size clothes and her Premie smocked outfits still fit. No one told me smocked outfits are like two sizes bigger than they say. Or maybe it's just my daughter??  She has been wearing size 1 diapers for a week or so, but that's only because we only have two big boxes of Newborns left and we thought it would be more frugal to bump her up to 1s and exchange those Newborns for more 1s or even 2s. We always offer Faith 3.5oz to eat, but her feedings are still somewhat irregular with her eating anywhere between 2-3oz whenever she feels like it.

Both babies are now on Zantac and that, in my opinion, is a miracle drug. Brad and I are both lucky that we've never really been on a lot of medicine in our lives, and I never thought I would have my infant children on a prescription at this age, but let me just say that it has made all the difference in the world. Faith especially suffers from pretty severe reflux and as soon as that medicine was in her system her feedings went from all over the place, to almost on a regular pattern with her being able to eat enough to keep her full for a couple hours at a time. She also stopped moaning in her sleep and crying out in pain as she ate. Actually after I got her the medicine I felt like a horrible mom because I didn't catch on that something was wrong sooner than I did. Bowen didn't need the medicine as soon as Faith did but a few weeks later I noticed him rejecting the bottle and needing to burp constantly so I called and got him a prescription too. Thankfully when you have twins you can call the doctor's office and say "the other one has "it" now" and they believe you and just call you in a prescription. Haha!

Both babies nap during the day and sleep at night in their Rock-n-Play sleepers and these things are also life savers to me. We received two of these as gifts, but we actually borrowed a third and went out and bought ourselves a fourth just so we could have two on each floor of our house. Our children love them that much and it's just more convenient that way. At first Faith and Bowen didn't want to sit anywhere else, but now they both have favorites. Bowen loves the pack-n-play with the vibration setting and Faith is obsessed with the swing.

We do have a little bit of a routine now, at least much more so than we did when they first came home. The babies eat every three hours during the day and then sleep as long as they want at night. The Zantac has especially helped their nights because they can eat enough to sleep for a bit, but Faith still gets up at least once, but usually twice during hours that I consider to be "sleeping hours". For the past few nights, Bowen has slept at least six or more hours at night, with one 11 hour sleep period. Amazing! (for Brad)

I still don't have a lot of time to do anything between feedings other than cleaning clothes or bottles, but I do usually get a shower in at some point and then we try to do tummy time and maybe a walk if it's been a good day. Maybe. I usually try to set at least one goal a day whether it is to do something like write a blog post, make a phone call or just write a few thank you notes. You can see how successful I am by the number of blog posts I've written over the last three months. Maybe two?

Right now I'm not too fond of going out alone in public with both of them. Usually it's just more trouble than it's worth and it's easier to do without whatever it is I think we need. If Brad is with me it's not too bad, but we still have to feed them at home and then make a mad rush dash out the door. Usually we make it to one store and then we have to find a place to feed them again. There is just barely any time in between feedings, really.

Developmentally, both babies are pretty much right on track or maybe on the slower end of the track if anything. They are following objects and people with their eyes and I can hold their attention now, usually whenever I want even if it's just for a minute. They can both hold their head up very well, with Faith doing a bit better than Bowen. I actually put them in the Bumbo seat the other day and it was successfull for at least ten minutes!

Neither can roll over yet, but Bowen has come fairly close once or twice when he gets to rocking/kicking. At this point, it's actually just easier if they stay where I put them, if you know what I mean! Both babies give us big, adorable smiles all the time and a little laugh here and there. Bowen will do his little inhailing air laugh more often than Faith, but I know it's just around the corner for her.

This summer with the twins and Brad has been the best time of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything and I wish it would continue forever, but unfortunately Brad has already gone back to work :( I love being with the twins all day and watching them grow. I wish I could stay home with them forever but my maternity leave is quickly coming to an end. Right now I'm just enjoying every moment and trying to soak it all in!

A few days after Faith and Bowen came home from the hospital I was able to get in a photo session with April Carpenter. She graciously offered to come to our house to take the pictures since we were just released from the NICU and weren't supposed to be travelling too much. Actually, the thought of traveling an hour and a half away, even now that they are almost two months, makes my stomach turn to knots.

Faith Pictures

The pics all turned out great because April was very patient and knew exactly what to do. Taking newborn pics requires major talent! She also took my maternity pics which I never posted so I put a few of those at the end as well. She's awesome and I recommend her to anyone in the Lincolnton area.



Bowen Pictures

I didn't include any of the pictures from their birth announcements. Just in case anyone wants to be surprised when they get it in the mail. Not that anyone should want to be surprised, but I just feel like that is what you are supposed to say when you have a blog. Anyway, at the rate I'm going it'll be Christmas by the time you get that announcement so I wouldn't camp out at the mailbox if you know what I mean.

Twin Pictures

Family Pictures



Maternity Pictures