8 months and Thanksgiving

I know I'm super late posting this but I really haven't had the time to sit and do this. There was a nice 3 week period of sleep regression that came with sicknesses, ear infections, daylight savings time, and teething. Tayla has learned to scootch so she would rather do that then sleep. Short naps and early wakings have left me an exhausted mama. They have developed object permanence which means screaming when mommy leaves the room. Oh lets not forget the growth spurt too which means more eating. It's been a busy month.

Things are finally started to get better. The girls are sleeping better, and we have developed a good nap and bed time schedule. They are showing more interested in food lately, which has been a lot of fun giving them different foods to explore and try. They sat with us for Thanksgiving and they tried every food we gave them. It was adorable.

I posted a video early of Tayla army crawling. She is perfecting that skill everyday and we really need to invest in some baby gates. We were gifted some but it's not wide enough for the the doorway we want to put it in. We want some sort of gate to cage off the tv area as well. She's already getting into all sorts of trouble and I think Ivy will soon follow. Ivy mostly rolls, but when she is on her tummy she makes some sort of attempt to reach and grab things in front of her so I think it's only a matter of time

Love my cute little trouble makers!

I'm still pumping away to try and provide breast milk for them, but I recently dropped a pump for peach of mind. This of course caused my supply to drop even more, so they get mostly formula. I mean my original goal was one year but I think I'm going to be done sooner for sanity reasons. They don't seem to have any problems with formula either so that's nice. Either way I'm still proud of myself for making this far of exclusively pumping!

Some of the pictures we took at Opa's house are a preview of our Christmas cards :)

Ivy and Opa

7 months of mommyhood!

Oh man this months photo was a little difficult. Tayla seriously wont lay still these days. She is constantly kicking her feet, moving her arms and her new thing now, shaking her head. And she loves being on her tummy. That definitely made the picture a little more difficult. Looks like she is taking tips from daddy when it comes to taking pictures...

At least I was able to get one good one!
I feel like so much has happened since the last time I wrote a blog. Both the girls roll all over the place, they have started noticing and playing with each other. The interacting really doesn't last long but when it does it is the cutest thing ever! Tayla has started to scoot herself backwards! Rather it be on purpose or not, I've seen her stick her butt up in the air while on her elbows and then lay back down. Sleeping was going great and had sleep training down but then this started happening so I'm wondering if this is causing her not to sleep. I've come into their room a couple of times and see her feet sticking out. Ivy scoots in her sleep, while on her back or stomach and gets herself stuck in the corner. I also think these girls are going through a small separation anxiety phase so naps have been hard. Really hoping this is just a phase and that it passes soon

I've noticed they love watching Tyrel and I eat. Now if I hold them they try to grab what we are eating. I don't know if this is sign they are interested in food or if they just like to grab things. They can't quite sit up on their own yet but I've been sitting them in their high chairs as practice with some toys. For the fun of it I gave them each a cracker to see how they would do. They weren't sure at first and kind of just sucked on it. I'm more interested in baby led weaning, so I can skip baby food all together. They are good about picking up the cracker and putting them in their mouth but once a piece breaks off they don't know what do and they spit it out. We still have a long ways to go. For the fun of it, I've been giving them baby food so we can practice swallowing instead of just sticking their tongues out. Not really in any hurry to push baby food, its all really for fun and just trying to change things up a bit

Tyrel and I are in the process of rearranging our living room and start thinking about baby proofing because I have a feeling with the progress Tayla is doing, she is just going to take off! Happy 7 months girls

6 months: half way through my pumping goal!!

This is honestly the best picture I get get of them without it being all blurry.

It has been 6 months since these girls came into my life. 6 months of pumping, 6 months of supplementing, and 6 months of dealing with a low supply. It's been a hard road, but I'm so happy that I've made it this far. My long term goal was one year, but at the beginning of this journey that seemed forever so I started making short term goals. Well I'm happy to say 6 months was one of my short term goals, and I feel like I can keep going so that's what I'm going to go. Of course realizing how much formula we would go through (about $100 a week) has motivated me too. 6 more months of pumping!

I feel like they have changed so much since I wrote my last blog. They both have become so active. I'm happy to say that Ivy had her last PT appointment! When she originally started, the goal for her was to be able to roll over on her own. That goal seemed so far away considering how much of a struggle it was for her to even lift her head. Before the appointment she seemed to have no interest in rolling at all and then I swear the next day she started rolling over. She now rolls all over the place and likes to get herself stuck under the coffee table and in the corner of her crib.

Sleeping is going pretty good so far. Bedtime is between 7-8pm and they wake around 5am. Sometime it's not until 6:30! Naps were going good until they hit a growth spurt and went from eating every 3 hours to 1.5 hours. That was exhausting.

Tyrel and I did something different this year. I actually was away from my babies for a day while we went to comic con in Portland. It was really hard for me at first, and I may have cried a little bit but it was so worth the trip. We didn't dress up this year but there were lots of other people dressed up. And some of the costumes were really impressive

Next time it would be fun to dress up a bit

The girls went to their first beaver game yesterday. They did really good, even with not napping. Too much to look at and too many people to talk to. Although the drive home was awful... Happy 6 months girls! And lets just be happy that I'm actually writing this on the day they are actually 6 months

5 months old

You remember my last post I had mentioned about the lovely 4 month sleep regression they are going through. Well I'm happy to say that sleeping is becoming a little easier. We are in the process of sleep training and getting a nap routine going which is making my life much easier. We also been transitioning them to their cribs for nap time too. I've been doing some reading and soon learned that I was waiting too long to put them down for naps which is why they fought it so hard. I discover this sleeping chart below to help with napping during the day and it has helped so much!!

The transition was hard because they weren't use to sleeping in their cribs but it's slowly getting easier. Now all I have to do wrap them up and lay them down and they go to sleep to sleep on their own. Although I do like to hold them before hand sometimes. Either way this chart has been super helpful and is making nap time so much easier. Even if naps sometimes only last 20 or 30 minutes.

I love how active these girls are getting. Tayla likes to roll all over the place and is not being swaddled anymore because she rolls around even when she is sleeping. She is the main reason her Ivy don't share beds anymore, especially since Ivy has no interest in rolling over at all. I'm starting to think that the reason she learned to roll over on to her back was because she hates being on her tummy so much. She is just now starting to be on her tummy more and when we were at her therapy appointment she even rolled over to her tummy! With some assistance of course. 

My mom came over one night and helped rearrange their room so I could put the 2nd crib in their room. It's a tight fight but we made it work. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

No we didn't stick with just one theme and I like it that way. We took a trip to Opa's who lives in Southern Oregon. It's about 3 hours to get there and the girls slept pretty much the entire way. Either that or they were really quiet. (With the exception of stopping to let them stretch out and feed them.) That made me really happy because that's the longest they have gone in the car.  

What can I say I have some pretty happy babies, and I am really grateful for that. Although they have been pretty cranky lately. Tayla has been chewing on her fingers like crazy and I'm beginning to wonder if she is teething. Ivy had a low grade fever on Monday. Neither of them are eating very well which concerns me a little bit. I also have a list of things I want to get done but can't because of the short naps. Oh well

Opa, uncle Brad, and aunt Bernadette

They look so big in their cribs compared to when they were little