5 Months

5 months sounds so big!

This has been the BEST month yet!! {well, at least the last week and a half ;) }

 

First things first. The girls started taking prevacid after their appointment. I felt like it really helped control their reflux during the day and during the night. BUT they still weren't sleeping well.

 

Michael and I were both up with them almost all night, every night. We started working in shifts; I went to sleep soon after Bryson went to sleep and the girls were down and he would be "on baby duty" from 10-2 and then we switched. I was up with the girls after 2 and he would sleep. If both of them work up crying, then we both had to be up. And guys, when I say they were crying, I'm talking full on body flailing, tears flowing, screaming crying. I could never ever have survived without Michael. He was is my rock. I spent so many days in a complete daze from only getting 2-3 hours of sleep most days. That's just not going to cut it when I have to take care of 3 kids during the day. It was so bad that Michael was seriously looking into a night nanny for a few weeks just to give us a bit of sanity...and sleep.

 

I was on board with the nanny, but I knew that even if we had someone here with the girls, it wasn't going to fix the original problem....whatever it may be. It would just buy us time and allow us to catch up on sleep. Even though I coveted sleep, I needed to fix their problem.

 

Since I felt like their reflux was under control, something else had to be the problem. After really thinking about it, I truly felt like they just needed sleep. Desperately. They just didn't know HOW to sleep. They had been "sick" basically their entire short little lives {RSV, thrush, terrible reflux} that I (we) always rocked/patted/shushed/helped them go to sleep. They didn't know how to sleep and it was my fault :(  Yes, I know all "the rules" about babies and sleep. I've read it a million times. I just couldn't bear to see my girls screaming when the nasty bubbly acid could have been making its way up and down their tiny bodies causing awful discomfort.

 

After researching several different methods of sleep training, I picked the one I thought would work best for us, watched a ton of videos, got Michael on board with "the rules" and started it the next night. It was ROUGH at first. Really rough! But amazingly enough, it was amazing! They each only woke up THREE times that night. BLISS!! The next night got even better and now, they maybe cry for a couple mins and then fall asleep. We have to go put in a paci every once in a while, but that's nothin'! They both only eat once in the middle of the night, which I don't mind one bit. I'm usually only up for a little over an hour and then we're all back asleep again.

 

Since we started sleep training, they go to sleep at 6:30 and sleep about 10 hours, eat, then go back to sleep until 7:30. Their naps still stink, but I'm still holding out hope they will nap longer than 40 minutes one day ;)

 

The girls are starting to get a little more active. Madelynn is rolling both ways now and Em has done it a couple times again.  

They both love to sit and stand up! They're actually getting pretty good at sitting on their own for a few minutes in a tripod sit :) Strong little girls!

 

They LOVE bath time!  ;)

 

They also love their big brother! they are almost always looking and smiling at him. He most definitely returns the love. He absolutely adores them!! He wants to help do everything for them.

 

 

I think (hope!) with a little more time, they'll come around to bottles. Emily has actually taken a few ounces from bottles on a few different days!! And Madelynn doesn't scream when it's in her mouth anymore...progress! Ha!

 

 

They nurse every 2.5-3 hours during the day and start grunting and wiggling as soon as I set them on the pillow to nurse :)
I LOVE those eyes

I really feel like I'm not making enough milk for both of them throughout the day. I wish I could just know for sure. Gah!  Thankfully, They do love solids! We got the official "ok" for oatmeal and veggies at the 4 months appointment and they love their food! Madelynn took to it really quickly and Emily had to figure out her tongue, but now, they're all business. They eat oatmeal and a veggie twice a day and love carrots, sweet potatoes, acorn & butternut squash. But, they are SO darn messy when they eat that they have to be completely stripped down and then hosed down in the sink afterwards! haha They scarf the food down, but when I turn to feed the other one, they shove their hands in their mouths and then wipe their hands aaaaall over their bodies!

 

 

I LOVE watching the girls interact. Every single time I nurse them, they hold hands or have their hands all over each other's heads. They navigate towards each other on the floor and have kind of started "playing" with each other. They're both getting good at grabbing toys and have started putting a couple toys in their mouth. Therefore, they grab each other and put each others body parts in their mouths :) It's precious! 

 

I know I've said it before, but it continues to amaze me how similar they are.

They are mirror images of each other when they're playing on the floor and eating. They poop within minutes of each other most of the time. But they also have precious individual personalities.

 

 

Emily: is the talker. Well, it sounds more like a bird squawk, but still. She's in a hurry to go nowhere, but doesn't like staying in the same spot very long. She's decided that she likes to move and be change positions often. She doesn't like to be left alone and she will definitely let you know that! She really likes to play in the jumparoo and walker and make the toys sing. She gives the most adorable smiles and wiggles and shakes and gets so happy in the morning when she sees me coming to get her up from her crib!

 

Madelynn: is the mover and groover. Since she figured out how to roll, she is quite content being on the ground rolling around. She has started interacting with toys and loves the little stuffed doggy that sings and plays music. When it goes off, she'll grunt and shake her body trying to get to it. She's been chewing on her hands and clothes for a month, but just recently started chewing on toys. She really enjoys jumping in the jumparoo to make it play music. She's a little more stingy with her smiles and coos, but they are so sweet when she gives them!

 

Bryson had been in school up until the beginning of July. Since the girls started sleeping SO much better and I'm finally starting to feel like a normal person again during the day, we decided it was time that he stayed home with us full time. I was craaaaazy nervous about how he would be, but he adjusted great! We all try to get out of the house in the mornings to keep us from getting stir crazy. ;)

There are days {HA! Pretty much everyday!} when it is a circus over here, but I really really enjoy being with all my babies everyday.  

I even got a little crazy and took them all to the grocery store. Bryson hasn't sat in the shopping cart since a little after he turned 2, so the fact that he asked to sit in it completely blew me away!! But it made the trip so much easier and quicker :)

We love getting in some Alicia time every week! The girls are anxiously awaiting Baby Aubrey!

 

And getting to play with cousin Ellie! I really can not wait until they really interact and play with each other! :)

 

 

This has been the best month yet with the girls and I am so excited to see what's in store for this next month!!

 

Happy 5 months Emily and Madelynn!!

 

4 Months

 

Happy 4 months, baby girls!!

 

I feel like Our girls are getting bigger by the day.

They're growing out of thee newborn look and looking more like babies :)

 

We've gotten many more smile and coos this month and it so much fun. They don't talk nearly as much as Bryson did at this age, so maybe they're going to be a little more reserved and laid back? Ha, who knows! :)

 

They're personalities are continuing to develop. They really seem to have the same patterns as in my tummy. When I was pregnant, I had to do kick counts with Emily just to make sure she was still there some days while Madelynn was beeboppin' away 24/7. And now, Emily is usually pretty content just sitting in her bumbo or laying on the ground while Madelynn likes to always have something infront of her to keep her attention. I'll lay them both on the ground to go help Bryson or rotate laundry and come back 2 minutes later and Em is in the exact spot chewing on her hands and Madelynn has completely done a 180 spin and still moving. :)

Both of them chew on their hands like mad. They try to hard to shove them in as hard and far back as they can and they get choked up on them, pull them out, catch their breath and then repeat the whole process over again.

Right after they turned 3 months, I decided I was going to do whatever it took to make them learn how to sleep on their backs in their own cribs. They were so used to being all cramped and cozy in my tummy and then swaddled tightly in their inclined bouncy chairs, that when they were laying flat in their open cribs, they just freaked out. I spent a loooong time trying to help them adjust, but most nights, out of pure exhaustion, I just ended up putting them in their chairs and they were sound asleep within seconds. I don't know if their reflux bothers them or it just that's what they know and love.

I've been sleeping in their room (thank goodness we decided to put a bed in there!) for the past couple weeks because they wake up so often in the middle of the night. I have tried eeeeverything to get them to stay asleep. I know their little bodies need continuous sleep and so do I! Some nights it's back to the newborn days where I'm lucky if I get 4 hours in.

Last week, Emily rolled over in her sleep and slept of her stomach. She slept so great!!! I was thrilled!! Sadly, she only did it a couple times and now has seemed to forget how to roll. I tried "helping" her a few times, but no way Jose. If she can't do it herself, she's not having it at all. You better believe we practice rolling over often during the day :)

 

 

 

 

These poor girls hardly sleep at all. They are awful sleepers at night and only cat nap during the day. 30 mins here, 45 mins there. I knoooow they are so sleepy, but they just cant sleep. They just cry and scream instead. Most days they cry so much that I can hardly put them down for a diaper change without streams of tears. :(

Both of them still completely refuse bottles. As in, they scream like crazy as soon as it's in their mouth. I love love nursing them, but it would be so nice to be able to give them a bottle once in a while. Also so I know exactly how much they eat. I always worry that they're not getting enough.

That being said, we started solids a week before they turned 4 months. I started out with oatmeal and they both loved it! I'm only doing it here and there until we have their 4 month checkup to make sure their dr is on board.

They nurse great. I still tandem feed them during the day and separately at night. They usually eat every 2.5 hours during the day and usually have one long stretch of 7ish hours at night (between feedings, but not consistent sleep)

 

SO, basically, in a nut shell: they are grumpy, sleepy, hungry girls.

My heart aches watching them so sad all day long. I tried everything trying to make them happy.

So finally, a week before they turned 4 months, I decided to stop giving them Zantac, their reflux medicine. There is rarely ever a negative side effect with the medicine, but I was desperate. I didn't care if all their reflux came back, I just needed to rule it out.

Folks. Within a day of having them off of it, we saw a huge, humongous, amazing difference in them!! I couldn't believe it!! Not a single tear ALL day long!! Fortunately, it was on Father's Day, so we had a lovely, peaceful day!! I still can't believe how terribly they reacted to the medicine. I REALLY started to enjoy the girls and being silly with them. Since they were on Zantac for 2 months, I feel like they missed out on a full 2 months of strengthening their little bodies with floor time. So now, we're playing catch up big time!!

 

Once they were off the medicine, we finally decided it was ok to put them in the nursery at church. There was no way I was going to drop them off for a few hours and just let them scream them whole time. But we took them and they were great!! No grumps at all! I was thrilled! It was so good for me to be in church. It was so good for my soul :) 
Emily with her first {of many) church tag

We had their 4 month check up a week and a half after they turned 4 months.

So they were off Zantac for 2 weeks. During the daytime got a million times better, but nothing changed at night, We were still up with the girls for hours and hours with them screaming. It was awful. Their doctor was incredibly perplexed as to why they had such a terrible reaction to Zantac, but 100% sure they still they had reflux, which is why sleeping was so terrible for them. He prescribed Previcid and hesitantly, I gave it to them. It seemed to help a lot! (more on this in their 5 month post...)

Anyway, their checkup went great! He was very pleased at their growth and development. Always music to a worried momma's ears!!

I had to take the girls to the appointment by myself this time, so it was no fun trying to juggle them for their shots :( But they did awesome. It was waaay past their nap time, so they passed completely out afterwards and ended up taking a 3 hour nap!! A Huuuuge change from the normal 30 min nap!!

Emily:

Birth: 6 lbs 7oz,  height- 19in,  head-

2 weeks: 6lbs 15oz, height- 19.75in,  head- 13cm 

1 Month: 8lbs 6oz {25-50%}, 21in {50%}, head- 14.25cm {50%}

4 months: 13lbs 2oz {25-30%}, 24.5in {45-50%}, head-16.1cm {50%}

Madelynn:

Birth: 5lbs 15,  height- 18.75in,  head-

2 weeks: 6lbs 7oz,  height- 19.5in,  head- 13cm

1 Month: 7lbs 13oz {15%}, 20in {45%}, head- 14.25cm {50%}

4 months: 12lbs 10oz {15%}, 24.75in {50-55%}, head- 16.4cm {70%} ?

 

Happy 4 months sweet girls!!

We love you dearly, Emily & Madelynn!!

 

3 Months- the details

I'm fighting the urge to go slip into bed right now to actually post a little about the girls right now. As hectic as life is right now, I really want to be able to look back and remember this season.

I feel like things finally started to "click" at the end of this month. I feel like I'm finally kind of starting to "learn" them a little more and know what they like and dislike, when they need to be wrapped up to fall asleep and when they just need their paci. It has been so hard not "knowing" them and their needs. I've told Michael so many times that I feel like I'm less than a first time mom this time around. I felt pretty confident when Bryson was a baby. This time around, not at all. It's so hard scrambling through the days... BUT it really is slowly getting better.

It's so neat to watch their "identical-ness". When I feed them together, they eat the exact same way and then stop within seconds of each other. They hit developmental mile stones at almost exactly the same time (Emily rolled over a day before Maddy though), they cry/scream in the same pitch, etc. :)

I love our girls dearly and there are so many wonderful words I'd use to describe them.

Blessings.

Beautiful.

Smiley.

And there are so many words that I could not use to describe them.

Easy going.

Chill.

Happy go lucky

I sure hope that changes quickly! They are just a tad high maintenance and fussy. ;)

For the first 2 months, I swear they were only happy if they were asleep or being held. We got meds for "silent reflux" at their 2 month appointment and I feel like that is helping a little. 

They still spit up quite a bit, but not nearly as much as before! Still, 100% of tummy time involve some kind of spit up from each of the girls. And I have to drape a blanket over myself when I burp them, because a good amount of the time, it's gunna come spewing. 

For the past couple weeks, my mom and Debbie, a family friend, have been coming over for a couple hours once a week. My mom watches Ellie during the day, so she gets to come hang out with Em & M :)

It is SO nice to have an extra set (or two) of hands!

 

 My sister has also been coming over few a few hours a week to help with the girls. I usually get to sneak in a nap and its heavenly!!

Eat

They are nursing about every 2-3 hours. I'm working hard to get them to stretch it out to 3 hours, but sometimes they just can NOT wait that long. During the day I tandem feed them, but in the middle of the night, it has to be individually or they would get choked up. I also feed them by themselves if I'm at my parents or inlaws house because, well, there is just no way to tandem feed discretely!! 

We're working on getting them to take bottles right now. Neither will take a bottle from me, so I have to enlist help. Michael has given Madelynn one bottle and my mom and Debbie gave the girls a bottle last week.  I think they are totally uncoordinated drinking from a bottle because both of them swallowed a TON of air and only took about 2 ounces. That left them ridiculously cranky and wouldn't sleep because they were starving. Not giving up though :)

Also, I nursed in public for the first time ever a few weeks ago. eek! It was time for Emily to eat, and after a little persuasion from my family, I stayed at the table in the restaurant. eeek again!! :) 

I got the courage to do it again last week. I took Bryson to McDonald's to run off some energy and while we were there the girls needed to eat. I found the far back corner table, blocked it off with the stroller, covered myself up and was good to go. Bryson usually doesn't think twice when I feed them, but for some reason he decided it was the perfect time to announce to the whole playland that "Mommy is feeding my sisters baby milk with her big boobies!" I DIED! aahhh!! 

 

I get the biggest kick out of this picture of Madelynn! When they are hungry, they.are.hungry. They both scream like their arm has been cut off if they have to wait to eat.

You know how when you're nursing one baby, you can get up and do something if you need to? Get a drink of water, go check on big brother playing Legos, etc. Well, when you're nursing two babies, you can't do a single thing except sit there until they're finished eating and have burped.

One day last week, Michael was working late and I had stopped at Sonic and got Bryson dinner. I was sitting on the sofa in the living room nursing the girls and he was eating dinner in his little recliner chair. He was eating and doing his thing and then said, "um, uh oh Mommy. I have a problem over here" and calmly holds up his little styrofoam cup of lemonade. He had poked his straw straight through the side of the cup and it was spilling all over the floor. I couldn't do a single stinkin' thing except sit there and try to tell him to run and put it in the sink. I was trying to rush him, but by the time he carefully put his food on the end table and slowly inched his way out of his chair, every drop of lemonade was covering the floor. He finally looked in his cup, looked at me, shrugged, and said, "hmm. guess I was too slow this time. Next time I will be faster. Now you can clean this up." Haha!! UUUgh all the while I was glued to the sofa watching this whole thing happen in slow motion! All I could do was laugh at the whole thing :)

Sleep

Thank goodness, they're getting better about sleeping!! Up until last week, the girls thought their "night time" was from 12-12. That was exhausting staying up until midnight, getting up to feed them both in the middle of the night and then getting up with Bryson at 6:30 or 7, whenever he woke up. If I got 4 hours of sleep, it was a "good" night. 

Now (as of this week), they go down for the night around 8:30. Their first long stretch is 6-7 hours long (I still have to wake up to put pacis back a few times) feed them around 2 or 3 and then again around 6 or 7. 

 

(Em & M)

They got used to sleeping in their bouncers when they had congested noses from RSV early on and then again with the reflux, they needed to sleep at an incline. So most nights they are still in their bouncers, but we're making the transition to the pack n play. Once I know they can sleep just as well in there, we'll move them to their own room. I just don't want to get up and down and go to their room 30 times a night right now. It's crazy because B was in his own crib at 2 months and they're still snoozing away in our room at 3 months. Oh well. 

Madelynn is definitely the better sleeper. She is a superstar napper and sleeper at night time. Emily is an awful sleeper. She takes cat naps (20-30 mins) and wakes up several times at night. i really hope that changes! Maddy falls alseep within seconds of being swaddled with her paci and it takes Em about 15-20 mins to go to sleep. Usually her naps are in the swing.

Fortunately, for now, once they're asleep, they're really good at tuning out each others cries and big brother's loud voice :)

Play

They're both rock stars at tummy time. They get stronger by the day! They both rolled over for the first time a little before 2 months, but do it consistently now. Emily looks like she is trying so so hard to roll from her back to her tummy, but not yet.

Both of them pretty much hate to be on their back for longer than a few minutes, so they're not crazy about the play mat. They'll swat at the toys and look in the mirror, but it doesn't buy us any extra time.

They both like to sit in the bumbo (in short bursts) and they love to stand up. Especially Madelynn :)

 

They smile and coo quite a bit now and it is so much fun to see their little gummy grin!!

They also noticed each other for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was the sweetest, most precious thing!! They catch each others eye during and after almost every feeding now and I just love loove watching them interact!!

This is a video of the second time they really noticed each other. They even grabbed hands!! It is going to be SO fun to watch them together :)

(It's having trouble uploading, but I will keep trying)

Bryson still LOVES "his babies". He takes so much pride in announcing to everyone that he has twin sisters and that he's the big bother. When they start fussing, Bryson will jump up and tell us to sit back down while he gets their paci. He asks to hold them and burp them often. He always has to be fair about it and hold each of them, even if it's only for a few seconds. He makes my heart burst with love for him with how much he adores his sisters. :) 

 These have been some of the craziest few months, but I would not trade them for anything. I know sometimes the days are long, but I know all too well that the years are short. I know one day I'm going to look back and wish the girls were itty bitty newborns again. We love our girls so so much and love how much joy they add to our family. We can't wait to see what next month has in store for them!!

Happy 3 months, Emily and Madelynn!!