9 Months and Snow Already!

I'm pretty sure I say this every time, but I cannot believe my little girls are getting so old! 9 months...already?? Wah!

During this month, the girls experienced their first Halloween. :) Of course, they are much too young to partake in the usual festivities and Lord knows, I don't give them candy so, instead, they just wore their little Halloween onesies and cute hats. 

 Thinking back to how they used to be as newborns, there are definite differences compared to their current age. For instance:

• They are much more independent. I can remember those long, awful days when I was by myself in California trying to deal with two fussy, needy babies who wanted to be held all day long. They even went through a phase where they didn't nap, so I had no peace. Now, they can play with toys and play with each other for periods of time which gives Kyle and I a chance to do something for ourselves (mainly Kyle, since he's the one at home with them all day).
• They are allowed to sleep at night for as long as they want to. I do not miss the days where we were required to wake them up and feed them every 2-3 hours. Oh. My. Gosh. I thought I was going to die during those first few months. If we overslept and the girls went 4-5 hours without a feeding, I would literally have a freakout and bawl. I'd get mad at Kyle for not waking us up and feel awful that I let my newborn babies starve. Exaggerating? Absolutely. Though, I do think my feelings were justified. First time Mom and all....
• Their feeding schedule is not as rigid as it once was. Kyle has established a good routine with them for the day and he sticks to a pretty good schedule. It's not as stressful as it used to be, though. 
• I HATE pumping. I used to think pumping was so much easier and saved time. Boy, did that change. They did used to want to nurse for an hour at a time, every 2 hours. Lord, have mercy. I would sit on the couch for hours everyday just nursing two babies. I couldn't do anything but sit there. Finally, they became much more efficient nursers and the time slowly decreased. Now, they'll nurse for only about 5-15 minutes which is awesome. When they would nurse for forever, I'd prefer pumping almost just to save time. Now, that I'm a full time employee, I have to pump. Ugh, I hate it so, so much. Then, at night, when I'm home, after the girls to bed, I do a final pumping just so Kyle has some breast-milk to give to the babies when they wake up in the middle of the night. It's nice so I'm not the only one who feeds them and has to wake up. But, I hate it.
• They're mobile. Duh. This one is a pro but also a con at the same time. It's cute that they can go places. I like to lie down on the opposite side of the room and watch them battle over who can get to me first. However, you have to be much more careful about watching them! They love cords and various things they find lying on the floor. Of course, they're also notorious for putting things in their mouth...shocking! 
• They recognize people...especially me and Kyle. Emmalyn absolutely adores looking at Kyle and trying to figure out where he is. If he goes out of her eye sight, she'll lean really far towards whatever direction he went to try to find him. It is one of the cutest things to watch. She's definitely a little Daddy's girl and I still think Harper is more of a Momma's girl. They both also get really excited when I come home from work. They bounce and kick their legs and throw their arms in the air while making excited noises. I hate being away from them all day, but seeing them get that excited about seeing me warms my heart. 

At their 9 month appointment, we realized they hadn't gained much weight since their 6 month appointment. However, the doctor didn't seem concerned about it. He could tell they were very active babies so that just meant they burnt a lot of calories. Emmalyn weighed 14lbs 15.5oz and was 26.5in long; Harper weighed 15lbs and was 26.25in long. I can't believe Harper finally passed up Emmalyn in weight! It's the first time, ever! Originally I thought they'd receive shots, but the doctor said they were all caught up on their immunizations so they didn't need anything until their 12 month appointment.

We've had snow this month. Not very shocking since Kentucky's weather is notorious for having bipolar tendencies. The girls were born in February, which is usually one of the coldest months of the year...but they've experienced colder weather in Oct/Nov than they did in February. I find it somewhat humorous. Although, I shouldn't be surprised since they were born in southern Cali! 

The desire to stand on their own is real! They are both pulling up on everything they can. They even do yoga poses (downward dog) because they want to stand up on their legs, but they have nothing to pull up on, so they have their head on the ground and butt in the air. It's rather funny to watch. You can tell they want to stand up on their own without needing to hold onto anything.

Emmalyn says ma-ma now. They both have been saying da-da for probably 1-2 months now. Finally Emmy actually looked at me and said ma-ma! I was super excited!! I think she is learning that me and Kyle have a name. :)

They wear 6 month, 6-9month, and some 9 month clothing.

They recognize the sign for EAT...on top of the word MILK. I think I've seen Emmy try to sign MILK a few times. She used one hand and makes the motion of squeezing a stress ball which is similar to the sign for MILK. She tends to do it right before I nurse her and she knows it's food time.

The girls have experienced fruit! Ah!! They've only had vegetables for a while because I didn't want to just start them off on sugary goodness. Let's face it...fruits are usually more yummy than veggies. That's why I'm glad I kept them only on veggies for probably 2 months before introducing vegetables. I will say that they haven't had straight fruit. I get the fruit/veggie mixture because they have less sugar than solely fruit. I've also attempted making baby food! So...nothing special or crazy. Just canned veggies (without added salt, of course) pureed. It was cheaper than buying baby food so I'll probably start trying to do that a little more. It will definitely be helpful moreso now because they're eating 8oz of food a day.

We finally were able to visit with my side of the family since we've moved home. It took way too long!

We love our little life together. We are even more excited for next month when our house will hopefully be finished! It will be nice to spend Christmas together as a family in our new home. We'll definitely have to baby proof, though. They are already accident prone. Emmalyn just healed up from her black eye. 

 

This next month, we celebrate Thanksgiving. I cannot wait!! It's been several years since either Kyle or myself have experienced Thanksgiving at home. Plus, it's the girls' first one! I can't wait for that yummy-ness!! =)  

Enjoy your thanksgiving! :) Remember all the reasons you have to be thankful. I know Kyle and I can think of at least two things we're thankful for this year! 

8 Months and Fall Weather

Only 4 more months and they are 1 year old. Are you serious? I used to think the time went quickly...and then I had children. Now the time flies! 

• Harper has had a clogged tear duct in her right eye since she was born. Of course, she has a lot of gunk that is constantly coming out of it. The doctor said they don't do anything about it until 9 months so we are waiting to see if it clears up on its own (which I'm doubting with happen). However, we did need to take her to the doctor because that same eye was really red (the eye lid) and she rubbed it so we needed to check it out and make sure everything was okay. 
• At that doc appointment we were able to weigh the girls.  Emmy was 14lbs 14oz and Harper was 14lbs 10.5oz. Harper is trying to catch up since they were 5oz apart at their 6 month check up.
• We have 2 mobile babies! Two!! Both girls can officially crawl. Harper learned it first, of course, but Emmalyn was only a week behind her.
• We have upgraded the girls from using their infant tub to putting them in an actual bath tub. I started out and put them in laundry basket so they don't fall over and they can have a few toys that stay in a centralized location. However, that was a little bit of a hassle and they were sitting right on top of each other so we stopped using it.

• They are doing well with their baby foods. No fruits yet. Only veggies. They haven't had any turn-offs either. They eat them all very nicely! However, it makes for messier diapers. 
• Harper still growls. At what? We have no idea. It's hilarious though. She also loves to hear her voice do strange noises. 
• Emmalyn loves to collect pacifiers.
• Harper also seems to catch onto things a little more quickly. Not that Emmalyn is far behind. I think that Emmy seems a little more content with life than her sister who is constantly on the go.
• Both of them are trying to pull up on things. It's really neat to watch them learn each new task, but things like Pulling Up come with a lot more boo-boos because they fall over. That part is not so much fun.  
• They recognize the sign for MILK and get really excited when we sign it to them.  
• They love the Mickey Mouse clubhouse show. I don't like to let them sit and watch TV, but if times get tough and they're fussy, and that show is on...Lord knows I use it! It can buy about 10-20 minutes of quiet. 

Sadly, I cannot keep up with pumping and how much they drink at home during the work week. So, we have to supplement with formula a little bit at night. I hate it. I know some people won't think it's a big deal but formula is freaking expensive, first of all. Secondly, we have to buy for twins. Thirdly, breast milk is the best thing for them and I want to be able to feed them that only! (other than the baby foods of course). It just makes me sad that I can't pump well and therefore they have to get the supplements of formula. We do have a little stash in the freezer but I'm trying not to use it all up because on weekend days when I'm gone or we have a babysitter for the girls, I want there to be enough milk in those situations to give them, too, instead of just formula. As much as I hate to give it, I will do whatever I have to. I'm thankful that I've been able to give them breastmilk as long as I have! I'll keep pumping, too, unless I dry up. My new goal for breast feeding is 1 year and I have no doubt we'll make it. The girls seem to enjoy nursing too much for me to stop any time soon.

The girls and I had the privilege of meeting Baby Ana this month, too. She's one of my best friends (Kristi) baby girls who is almost exactly 6 months younger than the girls. You don't realize how much 6 months makes a difference. For adults, 6 months is nothing. For babies, it's a huge difference. Baby Ana is such a doll baby and I wish I had a picture from our trip to visit them.

 Kyle and I had been house hunting this month. We'd seen quite a few homes in the Richmond and Berea area. Kyle is also still job searching. I know that everything in his job area hasn't quite worked out, but we are trusting that everything is in God's plan. Right now, Kyle is such a good stay at home Dad. I mean seriously. I think he does better at taking care of the girls, cooking, picking up the house, etc. than I ever did. Kudos to you, Super Dad. I wish I had your patience and skills.

Anyway - back to the house hunting. We found the house we want! The only problem is...it hasn't been built yet. We worked with a builder, and came up with a slight modification to the model the builder already had in place. We have even signed a contract for it. Talk about scary. Buying a home is such a huge investment and commitment. We are excited though. We had to do it all on our own though. Of course I wanted Mom and Rainer to come look at the model first and let me know their opinion...unfortunately they were traipsing around Tahiti for 3 weeks and we didn't feel like we could wait until they got back to make a decision. We will hopefully be closing and getting the keys to our new home on Jan 5, 2015. =)

We took the girls to Evan's Orchard and Cider Mill one weekend. We had a great time. There is a section of the area that you can pay and it's primarily for kids to do all sorts of things. The girls are way too young to participate in those kinds of activities so we didn't pay for that. We did walk around the orchard, the pumpkin patch, and the corn maze. It was a good time. They wore typical fall apparel (jean overalls and pumpkin hats) and we had a lot of comments about how cute they were (specifically the hats). Maybe next year we can actually participate in stuff...we'll see! This is my favorite time of year so I really enjoyed going. We enjoyed some apple cider flavored donuts, apple pie, and some hot apple cider which was to die for. Seriously.

They have started sleeping better at night. It seemed kind of all of a sudden that this occurred. I'm definitely not going to complain though. The girls really only wake once a night. Maybe one of them will wake up twice.  I'm averaging about 7 hours of sleep every night which is fantastic! Now that I've tasted a little bit of more sleep...I'm hungry for more!!

It's fun to watch them interact with each other...which they seem to be doing more and more. One of Kyle's favorite things is to notice them smile and laugh at the other. It really is precious to see it. My goal is for them to grow up being best friends. I realize that twins are siblings and some siblings just do not get along, but I hope my girls don't experience that dislike for one another. It's cute because when one is crying, sometimes the other will reach other and hit them. Of course, it isn't meant to be mean to add salt to the wound...we think it's their way of trying to console the other but they haven't quite learned the act of gentleness so instead of trying to console them, they in fact make them angrier, hah! It's especially fun to watch one tackle the other. This is becoming much more frequent since they're crawling and being more mobile. It usually ends with one crying, being pinned to the ground by the other.

Since it's October, the Fall weather has settled into place for the most part. That means it's sweater weather. I love this time of year. October and November are 2 of my favorite months. It's a little funny that even though the girls were born in February (prime winter month), this has been the coldest weather they've ever experienced. Fall clothing is super cute, I think, for adults and kids. It's fun to get to dress the girls up like little mini-mes and put them in jeans and cardigans :) Their hats are ridiculously cute, too. In the picture below, Beth (Kristi's mom) made the hats and they look so good!!

I can't believe they've grown so much in just 8 short months. It's crazy how much you love your children. Kyle and I love them more than any other person on this planet possibly could (other than Jesus of course). We are so blessed that God considered us worthy to have such a wonderful job as being twin parents to these girls. We will do everything we can to teach them how to be God fearing, and loving people.

I can't wait to see what all they decide to learn this month.

7 Months Has Come and Gone.

I cannot believe they are already 7 months old!! They are closer to 1 year old now than they are to newborn!! I don't like it :(  It's a little bitter sweet because they are growing up and able to do more things than just lie there... but they are growing up too fast! This will probably be the only time I get to experience a baby phase. Having twins is incredible...in many ways. However, we are probably done with babies. We are too worried we'd have another set and I wouldn't know what to do with myself if that happened. I never wanted 4 kids to begin with...2 was always my limit! But, since we had both of our babies at once...I only get to experience all these fun new developments once with them. I don't get to stagger it out like many families do when they have several kids. So, if I seem over protective and want to do everything for myself when it comes to them..don't take offense to it. I'm just trying to cherish my babies as much as possible since it might be my only chance to!

 The past few months, Kyle and I have been able to notice a lot more developments for our baby girls.

• First of all, crawling might be coming soon in their future. They both like to get up on their knees and rock back and forth. They also skip their knees and just stick their butts in the air while standing up on their tippy toes. Gracious, I can't even imagine having 2 mobile babies!

• They are both able to sit up on their own. We do still put a boppy around them occasionally just in case they totter over, but they don't need them.   

• They fit in size 6 month clothing. Not everything fits well but a large portion does. They still wear 3 month clothes, too.
• Their sleeping habits are inconsistent. One night they will only wake up twice, and other nights they'll wake up every 2 hours it seems. It will be nice when they are sleeping through the night!
• Size 2 diapers still. 
• Still have blue eyes. We're hoping this stays and doesn't change! 
• Their hair is starting to grow in. It's lighter than the hair they were born with, but I still suspect it'll be brown. 
• Emmalyn's head is still a little flat but it's much better than it was. 
• They both still sleep on their bellies. Harper tends to stick her butt in the air at times while sleeping on her stomach. This, of course, causes her to pee all over the front of herself and need new PJs. 
• Harper is officially cutting teeth. Her two bottom front teeth are poking through. Those suckers are sharp! She tried to use my phone as a teething toy and left marks on the screen. I just hope she doesn't get mad at me while breastfeeding...  
• They love to jabber on and on. It's super cute to listen to them try to talk. 
• They seem to recognize the sign for Milk and they get really excited.

The doctor said we needed to start giving them oatmeal after their 6 month appointment. We tried that for a few days. While that was cute trying to get them to eat for the first time...Emmalyn didn't seem to digest it well. It made their butts red because the grittiness of the oatmeal rubbed their poor little behinds and she seemed extra fussy. So, we stopped giving it to them after a few days. Plus, it didn't make them sleep any longer. In fact, I'm pretty sure they woke up more during those nights than without it. They were back on breast-milk primarily until the end of their 6th month, when we introduced actual baby food into their diets. They started off with green beans and was followed by squash! Both veggies seemed to have a positive reaction. Veggies are the only things we have been giving them. The fruits have a little too much sugar in it, so we'll have off giving them those for a while. At least until they are more comfortable and seem to like the vegetables.

They finally were able to meet some more of Kyle's family. I know they had a good time doing that. The family was happy to meet them, too! I think some of the time they got a little overwhelmed by all the new faces so me and Kyle had to hold them again but overall they did pretty good!

 

We have been venturing out of the house a little more. I think it's good for all 4 of us to get a little change in scenery every now and then. Of course, any time we go out to eat, it never fails that someone gets really fussy. We also never get to eat without having to hold a baby. This is pretty much a guarantee every time.
 

Kyle and I are also on the hunt for a new place to live. Our original plan was to rent an apartment or home for a year or less then buy a home when Kyle had settled into a job. However, we are trying to skip that and just go straight to buying a home. We have been meeting with a realtor and have visited several homes. We know that God will provide what is best for us. If we don't find anything, then it's obviously not the time for us to be buying!

A big treat was on their 7th Monthiversary, they got to meet their Great Uncle Greg. I think it's safe to say they had a good time with him. :) 

 

Kyle had done a wonderful job as a Stay At Home Daddy!! He has a lot of patience and is able to play with them. I'm glad that he's doing so well in his new role, even though I know he misses work and earning a paycheck! But I know that our girls are happy that they have a parent at home with them all day. They certainly are spoiled in that way!  

Overall they are doing well. They are becoming more independent and happier which is fantastic! We are so glad to have been blessed with 7 wonderful months. Stressful, yes. Tiring, definitely. However, they have been such a blessing!! Plus, their new best friend Ana was born recently so I know they are super excited about that ;-) Hopefully this next month of life brings lots more excitement!

6 Months and Lots of Learning

6 Months?! My goodness how time is flying! I can't believe our little sweeties are 6 months old already. It's unreal. The months have gone by so quickly. It wasn't that long ago that I thought life was going by so slowly and I would never get out of their newborn phase of eating every 2-3 hours even if they were sleeping. I never thought they'd grow up and play with toys or do anything other than cry and want to be held. Low and behold, that time has come!

This month has brought a lot of changes. Thankfully, the girls have done a fairly decent job of having their whole world flipped upside down. 

At their 6 month appointment, I had to work :( so Mom and Kyle were able to take the girls for their shots and to meet their new KY doctor. Apparently the girls did a good job. Emmalyn weighed 13lbs 11oz, and is 25 inches long. Harper weighed 13 lbs 6oz and is 24.75 inches long. This is the biggest difference in their weight since they've been born. Crazy to think that everyone says Harper is the chunker when Emmalyn is actually 5 oz heavier!

The doctor also instructed us to give them oatmeal...not rice cereal. Apparently rice cereal has been found to have arsenic in it (yikes)! In a few weeks, after they've gotten used to eating that, we can transition to food. I will start them on veggies for as long as possible so they get used to the non-sweet taste of foods. Then I'll start switching it up between that and fruit. Watching them try to eat for the first time was hilarious!

The doctor didn't seem concerned about Emmalyn's flat side on her head. He just suggested she do more sitting up/tummy time to avoid lying on it excessively. I apparently also have to continue feeding them at night. He said if they were singletons, that they would suggest not feeding them during the night, but since they're twins and are smaller, any time they wake up at night I have to nurse them. Which is basically what I've been doing, so there's nothing different about that. However, we will be giving them that oatmeal at night time, so maybe it will help them to sleep a little better and I won't have to wake up as much to nurse. Working full time and waking up at all hours of the night isn't exactly helping my brain to function adequately.

While they can sleep as long as they want and I'm not required to wake them up anymore, since we moved home and don't swaddle them anymore (yay! and nay), they wake up all the time. I'm about to lose my mind. My first few weeks at work were awful because I was so sleep deprived. I felt like I saw almost every hour of the night which I haven't had to deal with for quite a while. This could be due to some kind of sleep regression that I've heard so many terrible things about. I've also heard from some breastfeeding moms/gurus that when exclusively breastfed babies' moms start working and they are put on the bottle during the day that it causes some kind of "reverse" cycle and at night while the mom is home, they want to nurse more which means waking up at night more frequently. Either way, I'm tired 100% of the time. Poor Kyle rarely spends much time with me because I always want to go to sleep as soon as the girls go to bed. The life of a working mom.... 

Emmalyn has officially become a roller. I'm not sure how many times she's done it, though it's probably only once. Kyle was able to watch this wonderful moment and I'm so glad he did! I got to see Harper's first successful role, so I'm glad he was able to enjoy Emmalyn's. Also, that same day, Daddy got a double dose of new developments! While Emmy was rolling from front to back, Harper managed to roll from back to front! He said he had put her on back, turned away to do something and when he came back she was on all 4s. So he laid her on her back again and watched as she flipped back over on her stomach. After he told me, I was so excited for her! Luckily he had a little video to show me, too. Since then, she has been rolling like crazy. Emmalyn had a big week. She learned how to roll both ways within a week. I guess she just watched Harper do all the work and then figured out how to do it quickly. When we go check on them at night, sometimes they'll be sleeping face down. So they're even rolling around in their cribs! Unfortunately, Emmy doesn't quite like sleeping on her stomach so she wakes up and cries every time. I can't believe how much our babies keep growing!

Here are some other random things that have developed over the month:

• Can fit into some size 3-6 sleepers\6 month onesies
• Starting to outgrow their 0-3 month stuff
• Still in size 2 diapers
• Love standing up on their feet...while someone is holding them of course :)

• Trying to work on sitting up on their own. They still totter over after a little bit. 
 

 
• Doing much better at tummy time. Harper is pretty much a champ at this.
• Recognize their names....sometimes. I say that loosely because sometimes we think they just hear something and turn their heads and it's not exactly because they notice their name. 
• Drool a lot, still no teeth. The drool is crazy! They will soak their clothes...so we are trying to remember to put bibs on them more frequently.
• Stick everything in their mouths. Love biting down and sucking on fingers. Theirs. Mine. Etc.
• Kyle taught Harper to "attack" and she grabs the toy and bites it.
• They love to talk. 
• Their hair is starting to grow in a little bit which is nice.
• Harper's strawberry on the top of her head has stopped growing. So now we just start the slow process of it fading. 
• They are both moving their legs alot and you can tell they want to move forward. They are in the beginning of stages of trying to learn how to crawl. Both of them are able to draw their legs underneath their bodies and push up on them but it certainly isn't a fluid motion. It's really cute to watch them try.
• They interact with each other constantly. They pull on each other, bite each other, reach for the other, steal each others' toys. It's ridiculously cute to see how they interact and behave towards each other. 

 

They've also started to fall asleep on your chest again which is nice. For about 2 months or so they would refuse to fall asleep up against your chest. They hated to be there because they were so curious to see what was going on that they wanted to look around instead. Now, they are gradually becoming more accustomed to dozing off on your chest which I think is one of the sweetest things.

Kyle also does this really funny thing with the girls to make them squeal. Listening to a 6 month old try to laugh because she's being tickled...but she isn't quite sure what noise to make...is one of the funniest and cutest things to hear. I love when he does it to the girls because I love their reactions. You can definitely tell they love their daddy.

It's interesting to be a parent. The relationship you have with a newborn is incredibly sweet. They love you more than anyone else on the planet because they see you more than anyone else. We are the people who nurture them, play with them, teach them, love them, etc. Of course they enjoy seeing other people like grandma, nana, aunts and uncles. They love their family, too. But being their mom is one of my most cherished roles and I know Kyle feels the same way about being their dad. Confession: I hate seeing them cry... but when they are crying when someone else is holding them and then I take them and they stop... it is something I find so comforting as their mother. I have never felt needed like that before. I know my husband loves me and wants me near him because I feel the same way about him. But the desire for a baby to be with their momma...well, that feeling is something I can't quite explain but it's a wonderful feeling.

I still get asked every time we go out if I have one girl and one boy. It's a never-ending battle. I give up. I'm putting them in blue and green for the rest of their lives so everyone just assumes they're boys. However, I'm sure if I started to dress them like boys then everyone will think they're girls, haha!

As a side note, I know many people want to know why we don't post a lot of pictures of the girls on Facebook. For that, I am truly sorry. However, I am one of those overprotective mothers and just don't feel comfortable with their faces plastered all over the internet! So please, if you are curious why Grandma or Nana or other family members/friends haven't been posting...don't blame them. Blame the Momma and Daddy! They have been unbelievably kind and respectful of our wishes to limit the posts on Facebook. I know everyone is super proud of their new roles/titles in regards to the girls and want to show them off. If the internet was a safer place, then we'd let everyone run wild and post whatever they want. But it isn't, sadly, so we ask everyone not to really post pictures of the girls without our consent.

Below I posted a few pictures I meant to put in the previous post. They are from the girls' first trip to the beach at Camp Pendleton just a few days before we moved home.

 The girls have enjoyed meeting new people and seeing family members.  They are definitely starting to warm up to people much more than when we first got home, so that's a definite improvement!

Here is a 4 generations picture of the girls with Kyle's side of the family: