The twins are 1 month old. It's been a looooong month: long nights, late night feedings, doctor appointments, etc. We are so blessed to have so many friends and family coming over to help us with these early days! We've had someone here to help feed, change, rock, and cuddle with the twins, and we have had some amazing friends some and stay with me during the day while Matt is at work. That way I can take a nap, play with Barrett, or both girls can be held and loved on at the same time.
Both girls have had a really hard time gaining weight at first. They are so small that the calories they burn trying to eat are more than what they are actually taking in. So we had to make some adjustments. And we have to continue waking them up every 3 hours around the clock to eat. We took them back to the doctor for a weight check when they were 3 weeks old, and they BOTH surpassed their birth weight. That means we can relax if they don't finish eating, and we can wait to read their cues to tell us when they are full. We have spent so much time trying to keep them awake to finish eating! So this a a small milestone for us, but a milestone nonetheless.
The doctor said we can let THEM start waking us up at night to eat now that they are a month old. So we're just praying that they actually want to eat every 4 hours instead of every 3. That extra hour of sleep at night would be really nice.
Their sleep patterns are all over the place. Everything I've read and heard about twins tells me that if one wakes up to eat, I have to wake up the other one. This will eventually get them on the same schedule so I'm not feeding them all day long. However, they don't seem to sleep at the same time. Parker falls asleep as she's eating, and despite all of our best efforts to wake her back up, she stays asleep until around the time Payton falls asleep. On the one hand, this works out because I can hold one baby at a time while the other one sleeps. On the other, Parker is awake about an hour and a half before she eats and she's just cranky. The one time that they can agree to be awake at the same time is after their 9:00 or 10:00 feeding (depending on the day). This is the time of night where Matt and I are both really wanting to lay down and start getting some sleep ... because we know what lies ahead of us. So those few hours before they eat again seem like the longest couple of hours of the day.
We also think Parker might have reflux. She's reacting to things and screaming the way Barrett did, and I remember how much reflux medicine helped him. So I already called the doctor to get her some medicine, and hopefully that will ease some if her pain. Poor girl.
We also have had a few visitors to come meet the girls:
Papa Fred and Susan
Barrett gets to go play with friends one day each week. This gives me a chance to focus just on the babies. And he gets to play with some kids his own age.
Racing Cars with Friends
The girls saw their first snowfall, but Barrett and Daddy were the only ones brave enough to face the cold!
Lots of Layers and Daddy's Gloves
Little Boy Having Fun
Big Brother LOVES his sisters. He is always patting their heads, helping with their bottles, and kissing them. When they cry he looks at one if us and says "Uh-Oh! She's crying." Then in an effort to console his baby sister, he puts one hand on her head and raises his voice to a high pitch volume (his version of baby talk) and says "Heeeeey sweet girl!" He usually tries to pop a pacifier in her mouth too. It's so sweet.
Admiring Parker
Kisses for Payton
But he also is 2 years old ... and he's used to getting all the attention. He's started being really picky about what he eats (i.e. "I don't LIKE milk!" "I don't LIKE french fries!" Really?), getting out of bed multiple times before finally going to sleep, and being really clingy to Mommy and Daddy. Typical toddler stuff, but behaviors that are a little out of the ordinary for our little guy. So we are making sure that we go out of our way to pay extra attention to him. And really, those special Mommy/Barrett or Daddy/Barrett times are so much sweeter these days. I never knew how much I could love playing dinosaurs. (Although ... apparently I don't "ROAR" correctly. :)) Once things calm down around here, things will get back to normal. Well, our new normal.
And then there are the obligitory twin pictures. We think Payton looks so much like Barrett, but we can't decide who Parker looks like. Only time will tell!
Twin Tummy Time
Twins Swaddled and Snoozing
Shoes!
First Nap in Their Crib ... One Out of Two Successful Nappers :)
Payton
Parker
1 Month Pictures:
Parker
Payton
Seesters
(Aunt Lindsey .... You see anything familiar in this picture?)
Things We Don't Want to Forget:
- their favorite time to be awake (at the same time) is from about 10:00 - midnight
- Payton is more receptive to soothing mechanisms
- Parker is starting to be a better eater (yea!), but she still falls asleep a lot while eating
- they way both of them stare at your face with those piercing blue eyes
- how much their big brother loves both of them (he's an expert at putting a paci in their mouth)
- how Barrett holds the hand of whoever is sitting next to him in the car or the stroller
- how sometimes just a putting my hand on their chest is enough to calm them down (just knowing that Mommy/Daddy is there is all the comfort they need)
