I can't believe my babies are 2 months old!!
We got some smiles out of them for this photo shoot, but of course not at the same time =)
A Luke smile...
We got some smiles out of them for this photo shoot, but of course not at the same time =)
A Luke smile...
and an Abbey smile...
Here's what you little babes are up to lately:
-You both are officially in size 1 diapers. Although they are a little big for you (especially Abbey), the newborn diapers were getting a little snug.
-You both are starting to hate bath time a little less, which we appreciate!
-You both are nursing really well, Momma is SO proud of you guys for sticking it out with me!!
-Abbey- you love the sling. You would absolutely live in it if you could! And actually you do spend a lot of the day in it. It is the only thing that calms you sometimes. We think you like the warm, safe feeling of being cuddled like in the womb.
-Luke- you prefer the Baby Bjorn. You like to be able to look around more, and then will fall asleep. You are a pretty tolerant kid most of the time and you don't mind just hanging out for awhile by yourself, just taking your surroundings in.
-You both make snorting noises when you really get to crying...it cracks us up.
-Abbey you are weighing in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces. Luke you are weighing in at approx 9 pounds, 14 ounces. It's approximate because we took your weight with your onesie, a shirt, and a dry diaper on. With all that you weighed 10 pounds, 3 ounces. We would have stripped you down completely like we usually do, but you were so upset having just got a 2 week stint of casts cut off. You cried anytime I set you down, and I didn't have the heart you strip you down and make you cold as well =(. You have your 2 month appointment at the ped's office next week, so we will get weights again then anyways.
-Abbey you always have fuzz between your fingers and toes. You like to grab onto things tightly, and often have your fists clenched. This kind of bothers me, as I hate to think you aren't able to relax...then the other night I was sitting there feeding you both and suddenly realized my toes were all clenched in, and I wasn't necessarily anxious. I guess it's just something I do, and something I have passed on to you =)
-Luke, you love the binkie and rarely refuse it. Abbey, you rarely take it. You both just stink at keeping it in your mouths yourselves =).
-Luke you also got your last set of casts off yesterday!!! Praise the Lord!! We are so thrilled to be done with those, and so incredibly grateful it is looking like you do not need surgery after all. You got your little braces for your feet yesterday, and you do not like them at all. Poor little guy! It must be so strange to finally be able to bend at the knees again after all this time. With the bar attached across the bottom you can't lift one leg independently anymore, and this seems to really frustrate you. Also your skin is so dry and blistered, it just breaks Daddy & I's hearts! We let your skin air out yesterday, and then tonight you took your first bath with Daddy, which you loved =). One really nice thing about these braces is the doctor said you only need to wear them 18-20 hours a day, so you get up to a 6 hour reprieve from them each day! Yahoo!
-You two both smile at us now, and boy do we love it. You are beginning to "talk" to us now too, which is so exciting for us!
-Luke, you have outgrown most of your newborn jammies. Your onesies still fit, and so do some of your pants, but your shirts are getting awfully tight and short as well. Abbey, you are getting too long for your newborn clothes! You still can wear them, and your shirts have plenty of room around the mid-section, but your jammies are stretched to the max when you flex your feet out and your pants look like capri's.
-We have had a few nights of the same kind of bedtime routine. We start to get you settled in for your last nursing session of the night around 9:30pm. We change you and I feed you with almost all the lights out, then you each get 1 of your 2 (2.5 for Lucas) ounces of supplement after this feeding. Something about this bottletime seems to wake you both up or at least make you both realize how hungry you are because you both cry after you finish (which it doesn't take you long it's only an ounce) and want to nurse more. So we nurse just a little longer, until you start to dose. We usually have you asleep and in your cribs by 11pm. Then one of you usually wakes between 2am-3am. I nurse you, you get the remainder of your supplement, and we put you back to sleep...which sometimes takes a bit, sometimes not =). Then Luke you almost always wake up about an hour later. I run in, pick you up, and most of the time you are back asleep before we even sit down in the rocking chair. I lay you back down in your crib asleep, and then you both usually stay asleep until about 5:45am-6:15am. We change you and nurse you, and sometimes Abbey will fall right back asleep. Luke, you usually don't feel like sleeping anymore =). We've found it works best if Daddy and I both get up for the feedings (or at least Dave gets up to help me feed their supplement and settle them back in) so that neither of you wakes up too much once you are drowsy from eating =).
That was how things had been going, and then the last 2 nights have been wildcards. Luke, we think you have a touch of a cold, as your eye has been a little goupy and your nose a little stuffy. You were a little restless the night before last and fussier than usual during the day. Then
last night was really rough. Luke was so upset. He would sleep for 20-40 minute increments, and then just cry. Poor little thing. We felt so sorry for you! Your Daddy & I took shifts just holding you all night long, trying to comfort you enough to sleep. We are praying you adjust to these braces soon, in "true Luke fashion" as Auntie Natalie put it =). Abbey you on the other hand were a champion sleeper last night! You slept from 11pm to 4am when I finally woke you to eat!! I had nursed Luke once on his own around 1:30am(which I rarely do, usually if one is up to eat, I wake the other so they don't tag team me all night long, but last night was a different story since Luke was up all night), and when he was acting hungry again around 4, I figured we should get you up too. Then you both went back down around 5am, and Abbey you slept until 8:30am! We couldn't believe it! We are hoping once Luke adjusts to his braces he will get on board with this sleeping thing you did =)
As I typed this out (one handed), Abbey you have slept in my arms, all bundled up in a pink snuggly blanket. Luke, you are out in your Daddy's arms, in your snuggly blue blanket. You two are such great snugglers, and are happy as can be when in someone's arms...which is where you can often be found =). Since you are both still so young and so little, we feel it's important to make sure you know you are secure, you can trust, and your needs are going to be met. That means you get held a lot, and when avoidable, we rarely let you cry. Daddy and I feel like that is the job of parents of newborns =). Often there is only one of us and two of you, so crying does happen. Also sometimes things just need to get done and babies need to be put down. But for the most part, we realize this phase of being newborns is short, and we want to do our best. It is a LOT of work, but if we can do our best to raise two happy, trusting, secure, attached kids...we will.
You guys are more than worth it.
-You both are officially in size 1 diapers. Although they are a little big for you (especially Abbey), the newborn diapers were getting a little snug.
-You both are starting to hate bath time a little less, which we appreciate!
-You both are nursing really well, Momma is SO proud of you guys for sticking it out with me!!
-Abbey- you love the sling. You would absolutely live in it if you could! And actually you do spend a lot of the day in it. It is the only thing that calms you sometimes. We think you like the warm, safe feeling of being cuddled like in the womb.
-Luke- you prefer the Baby Bjorn. You like to be able to look around more, and then will fall asleep. You are a pretty tolerant kid most of the time and you don't mind just hanging out for awhile by yourself, just taking your surroundings in.
-You both make snorting noises when you really get to crying...it cracks us up.
-Abbey you are weighing in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces. Luke you are weighing in at approx 9 pounds, 14 ounces. It's approximate because we took your weight with your onesie, a shirt, and a dry diaper on. With all that you weighed 10 pounds, 3 ounces. We would have stripped you down completely like we usually do, but you were so upset having just got a 2 week stint of casts cut off. You cried anytime I set you down, and I didn't have the heart you strip you down and make you cold as well =(. You have your 2 month appointment at the ped's office next week, so we will get weights again then anyways.
-Abbey you always have fuzz between your fingers and toes. You like to grab onto things tightly, and often have your fists clenched. This kind of bothers me, as I hate to think you aren't able to relax...then the other night I was sitting there feeding you both and suddenly realized my toes were all clenched in, and I wasn't necessarily anxious. I guess it's just something I do, and something I have passed on to you =)
-Luke, you love the binkie and rarely refuse it. Abbey, you rarely take it. You both just stink at keeping it in your mouths yourselves =).
-Luke you also got your last set of casts off yesterday!!! Praise the Lord!! We are so thrilled to be done with those, and so incredibly grateful it is looking like you do not need surgery after all. You got your little braces for your feet yesterday, and you do not like them at all. Poor little guy! It must be so strange to finally be able to bend at the knees again after all this time. With the bar attached across the bottom you can't lift one leg independently anymore, and this seems to really frustrate you. Also your skin is so dry and blistered, it just breaks Daddy & I's hearts! We let your skin air out yesterday, and then tonight you took your first bath with Daddy, which you loved =). One really nice thing about these braces is the doctor said you only need to wear them 18-20 hours a day, so you get up to a 6 hour reprieve from them each day! Yahoo!
-You two both smile at us now, and boy do we love it. You are beginning to "talk" to us now too, which is so exciting for us!
-Luke, you have outgrown most of your newborn jammies. Your onesies still fit, and so do some of your pants, but your shirts are getting awfully tight and short as well. Abbey, you are getting too long for your newborn clothes! You still can wear them, and your shirts have plenty of room around the mid-section, but your jammies are stretched to the max when you flex your feet out and your pants look like capri's.
-We have had a few nights of the same kind of bedtime routine. We start to get you settled in for your last nursing session of the night around 9:30pm. We change you and I feed you with almost all the lights out, then you each get 1 of your 2 (2.5 for Lucas) ounces of supplement after this feeding. Something about this bottletime seems to wake you both up or at least make you both realize how hungry you are because you both cry after you finish (which it doesn't take you long it's only an ounce) and want to nurse more. So we nurse just a little longer, until you start to dose. We usually have you asleep and in your cribs by 11pm. Then one of you usually wakes between 2am-3am. I nurse you, you get the remainder of your supplement, and we put you back to sleep...which sometimes takes a bit, sometimes not =). Then Luke you almost always wake up about an hour later. I run in, pick you up, and most of the time you are back asleep before we even sit down in the rocking chair. I lay you back down in your crib asleep, and then you both usually stay asleep until about 5:45am-6:15am. We change you and nurse you, and sometimes Abbey will fall right back asleep. Luke, you usually don't feel like sleeping anymore =). We've found it works best if Daddy and I both get up for the feedings (or at least Dave gets up to help me feed their supplement and settle them back in) so that neither of you wakes up too much once you are drowsy from eating =).
That was how things had been going, and then the last 2 nights have been wildcards. Luke, we think you have a touch of a cold, as your eye has been a little goupy and your nose a little stuffy. You were a little restless the night before last and fussier than usual during the day. Then
last night was really rough. Luke was so upset. He would sleep for 20-40 minute increments, and then just cry. Poor little thing. We felt so sorry for you! Your Daddy & I took shifts just holding you all night long, trying to comfort you enough to sleep. We are praying you adjust to these braces soon, in "true Luke fashion" as Auntie Natalie put it =). Abbey you on the other hand were a champion sleeper last night! You slept from 11pm to 4am when I finally woke you to eat!! I had nursed Luke once on his own around 1:30am(which I rarely do, usually if one is up to eat, I wake the other so they don't tag team me all night long, but last night was a different story since Luke was up all night), and when he was acting hungry again around 4, I figured we should get you up too. Then you both went back down around 5am, and Abbey you slept until 8:30am! We couldn't believe it! We are hoping once Luke adjusts to his braces he will get on board with this sleeping thing you did =)
As I typed this out (one handed), Abbey you have slept in my arms, all bundled up in a pink snuggly blanket. Luke, you are out in your Daddy's arms, in your snuggly blue blanket. You two are such great snugglers, and are happy as can be when in someone's arms...which is where you can often be found =). Since you are both still so young and so little, we feel it's important to make sure you know you are secure, you can trust, and your needs are going to be met. That means you get held a lot, and when avoidable, we rarely let you cry. Daddy and I feel like that is the job of parents of newborns =). Often there is only one of us and two of you, so crying does happen. Also sometimes things just need to get done and babies need to be put down. But for the most part, we realize this phase of being newborns is short, and we want to do our best. It is a LOT of work, but if we can do our best to raise two happy, trusting, secure, attached kids...we will.
You guys are more than worth it.
4 comments:
Great post. You have such a way of writing that makes me really visualize the action!
Two thoughts came to mind when reading:
1. Have you tried doing the supplemental bottle first, and then nursing? Since you said the bottle wakes them up and you end up nursing them afterward anyway, perhaps this would be an easier transition.
2. Could Luke do his 6 hours without his braces during the night if it is interrupting his sleep?
Great job, guys!
Love mom
Those smiles are just priceless. And I love your very descriptive comment about their ability to keep their binkies in their mouths, Kendra.
Very glad to hear there is more sleeping going on, at least part of the time. And the news about Luke's feet is wonderful!
What a fun perspective to make the blog text of you talking to your babies. I loved it.
Precious photo's. The Twins are growing and changing so fast. I'm so glad you two are able to spend so much time showing the Twins that the Universe is a wonderful place. You are great parents.
LOVE,
GRAND DAD
They are so precious that I can hardly stand it! Kendra- you are doing SUCH a good job with these babies!!! And I just have to say....that I remember these early days and they are sweet...but they are HARD. I was thinking about them (and you!) last night and just thinking about how I was right there this time last year....and how even though it was wonderful and precious and sweet and amazing---it is so much easier now!!! As your babies grow you will continue to "figure them out" and just work out your systems and schedules even more than you already have. I am in the process of weaning Avery Kate--she is down to pretty much two feedings a day--and I was remembering where you are with the all day (and night!) feedings. It will go by quickly, I promise!!
Anyway- all that rambling to say you are doing GREAT and the babies are simply adorable!!! ADORABLE!!
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