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

4 months: the road to exclusively pumping

The blurry feet and hands show just how active these little girls are! Constantly kicking and moving, and talking non stop. Ivy recently learned how to roll from her stomach to her back! After all the issues she had with her neck, this made me really happy. And she did something before Tayla. Usually Tayla is one that hits the milestones first. There were a couple of times Tayla acted like she was going to roll over, but nothing has happened yet. These girls keep on growing and have reached 10 pounds which means 3 month clothes are getting a little snug for them

I'm going to be honest with you, being a stay at home is harder then I thought it would be. Trying to take care of two babies plus trying to stay on top of the housework is so hard. I seriously had this vision of having a nice clean house with dinner made as Tyrel was coming home, and I thought to myself, "yeah, I can do this." Boy was I wrong. I've been struggling trying to keep the house the clean but then I look at at these two beautiful girls and they are being fed and getting the attention they need and I think that is what's most important.

And just look how much progress they have made, so clearly I must be doing something right

I've come to the decision that I'm going ti give up on nursing and just continue to pump.  They weren't very good nursers. It was a lot of work to re-position and re-latch them every couple of minutes. I wanted to do tandem nursing with them so that way it cut down feeding time but they hated it. I've been on a pumping schedule since they were born because of them being in NICU so really pumping isn't all that different for me. It is extra work? Yes. Does that mean more dishes? Yes. But it's what I decided to do. Even though I don't really make enough and have to supplement with formula. I still feel it's good that they are getting some breast milk in their bottles. And thanks to my hands free pumping bra I'm able to multitask, which means pumping and eating at the same time!

Sleeping is not going well. They have been waking a little more often at night, and becoming quite restless and during the day they are living off of 20 minute naps! They have better things to do then sleep these days, which includes talking, and smiling at everything and everyone. Unfortunately it makes for a very tired mama. I've been told by multiple people and the wonderful baby books, that this is phase and this too shall pass. I really hope so because I actually had a pretty good routine going for them.

I will say though that I've survived two road trips with these guys. We traveled to the beach with my family and went to the family reunion over in blue River. Both times they slept in the car pretty much the entire time

3 months!

It's been 3 months since these adorable girls came into our lives, and boy have our lives change. Life feels like a juggling act sometimes. One starts crying so I pick her up. Before long the other one will start crying so I have to put the other one down, to pick up her sister. This goes back and forth sometimes which then will lead me to being stuck on the couch holding two babies at once. I really don't mind at all when it come down to this but it just means nothing around the house is getting done. It's crazy how it makes the day go by really fast. One minute it's morning time, next thing you know Tyrel is walking through the door coming home from work.

They are still on a pretty consistent 3 hour eating schedule. I'm able to feed them a the same time which cuts down on feeding time. They are still struggling with the breastfeeding. I almost feel like they have a lazy suck so they don't get much milk from the breast.. I've been told this is because they are getting use to the bottle. Nursing sessions still take a long time. It usually involves a lot of readjusting and fixing their latches. And even after feeding them at the breast both of them start screaming at me and sucking away at their binkies acting like they are still hungry! I don't really look forward to breastfeeding anymore because I feel it's so much work, but I keep trying. For now I'm just stuck to my pumping. I'm still having supply issues. I think of it has to do with my hypothyroidism. I bought some mother's milk tea and and on the look out for fenugreek. Currently trying a prescription called Reglan to help increase supply. I'm not really really a fan of the side effects so it may just be a temporary thing.

Sleeping is going really well so far! They are sleeping longer stretches at night! Generally I put them to bed at around 8 and then don't wake up to eat until 2! After that it's back to 3 hours, but they extra stretch is still nice. Sleeping during the day is kind of random. I was keeping them up a little bit because they love to smile and coo at you which is just the cutest thing ever. But I've noticed that makes them really cranky at the end of the day so now it's only for about an hour before I wrap them back up and then they are off to dream land. They still need a lot of head support, although Tayla is doing really well with tummy time and holding her head up! We are still working on head holding with Ivy because of her Tortacollis. She is seeing a physical therapist and I do regular stretches with her to help ease the muscle tension on the one side of her neck. Everyday seems to be a little better. Oh and did I mention these girls do really well sleeping in their crib? A lot of time times we can just wrap them up and lay them in their cribs and they will go to sleep on their own. It's pretty nice

These girls continue to grow. They were last weighed on May 31st and Tayla was at 8 lbs and Ivy was 8 lbs 2 oz. They go back in on Friday to be weighed again. I recently went through all their clothes and packed up all their newborn clothes and transitioned them to 0-3 month clothes as well as size 1 diapers!

Twin life is hard, but I just try to take it one day at a time. Also Tyrel helped me with the photo shoot, if you can tell by the pictures

Tayla is not a fan

 This is what happens when daddy helps with pictures haha

Oh I forgot to mention there have been a couple of times where the girls are laying on the floor and they they start smiling and talking to each other. It is just the cutest thing ever!! Trying really hard to get a video of it

Telling stories

Life with twins: 2 months

It's hard to believe that these sweet girls are two months old already. I meant to take a picture while they were in matching outfits but it just got too late so I took their picture the next day and then of course forgot to put them in matching outfits. Oops. Well either way, these growing girls certainly have stolen my heart. Comparing them to their one month photo they sure have changed a lot....

One month ago!

Anyway, life with twins definitely keeps me busy. I feel like a walking zombie at times. Sleep deprived and can't think straight. They both still like to sleep a lot although they have been staying been having more wakeful times during the day. They are getting stronger at holding their heads up and have just recently started smiling back at you! Of course the first time Tayla smiled at someone was their aunt Bailee. I swear she is like the baby whisperer or something. They try so hard to make cute little cooing noises. It's fun watching their little mouths move around until a little squeak comes out. Of course when it comes to sleeping they are completely different. Tayla is a great sleeper! She will wake up to eat, we wrap her back and then is pretty good about putting herself like sleep. Ivy however likes to wiggle, and grunt to keep herself awake. She also goes to sleep better if the room is dark, where as Tayla doesn't like it completely dark. Usually I have to hold Ivy for quite sometime before she falls asleep and I have to make sure she is completely asleep before putting her down otherwise she wakes back up. There are times when she's awake for a good 2 hours between feedings where she wiggles and grunts the entire time. Despite my best efforts to get her to sleep, I'm usually just so exhausted I end up falling asleep myself. She's not crying so it's not going to hurt anything if she lays there awake right? I like to compare Tayla to myself. A girl who like to her sleep and will sleep anywhere if tired enough. According to my mom I was same way ever since I was a baby. Ivy is just like her dad. She would rather stay awake until the very end rather then sleep, which of course is how Ty is, who would rather stay up because sleeping is a waste of time lol.

When it comes to eating that's a whole other issue in it's self. Breastfeeding is becoming far more difficult then it's worth. I mean they've been on bottles since they were born because of them being preemies so I'm assuming that has something to do with it. Once I started transitioning to the breast it was painful. So painful that it actually damaged my nipples. I assumed it was their latch. I knew Tayla would have a shallow latch because of her extreme tongue tie. (see below picture) It was so bad that she couldn't even stick her tongue out so I had no doubt she would have trouble breastfeeding.

When Ivy was in the NICU she needed a feeding tube so she's had trouble eating to begin with. But now that Tayla's tongue tie is fixed and Ivy has no problems eating I wanted to try breastfeeding again. When I did, it took 30 minutes to eat, even with using a nipple shield. The pain was still there but I wanted to keep trying. After a couple of weeks they regressed. Now all they wont really latch on and will just lay they there screaming on the breast. They get so frustrated, and since I know they they are hungry I give them a bottle. Personally I feel that giving them a bottle is easier anyway because then I can feed at the same time. I still continue to pump but now I feel my milk supply has decreased and we've had to give them formula a couple of times. I know that breast milk is so good for my babies but the pumping every 3 hours is becoming quite exhausting. And it kills me knowing that I my milk is decreasing. And I mean that in sense that I've cried many time over this. It makes me feel like a failure thinking my body can't provide food for my babies. And before any of you try to give me tips, or tell me, "your milk shouldn't be decreasing" or "your body produces just the right amount of milk your babies need" or "you shouldn't need to give them formula" blah, blah.... trust me I've heard it all and frankly I'm tired of it because all it does is make me feel worse. So keep your "advise" to yourself. I'm doing the best I can with two babies and in the end I'm going to do what's best for me and my babies. With that being said, I'm going to continue pumping for as long as I can

Overall motherhood is amazing. These girls definitely keep my busy. I've always been a person who enjoys their sleep and require 8 hours a night. And although I knew that wouldn't happen when I become a parent, you would think my body would get use to the lack of sleep. I look forward to see what the next month will bring

Baby shower pictures!

Since I went into labor before I was able to have my baby shower, we had to reschedule it. Since the girls were born early and had to be in the NICU we wanted to wait until they were a little older. They were the highlight of the party, even if they were there for only a little bit. My hosts did an amazing job with the all the decorations and followed the Dr. Seuss theme very well.

It was my nephew's first time meeting Tayla and Ivy and he already loves them! It was so sweet whenever someone was holding them you would walk up to someone and hold his hands up because he wanted to hold them and see them.

He really wanted those balloons lol

On Mother's day we attempted a cousin picture. He would only sit still for like 15 seconds at a time but for the short time we had we were able to get a few cute pictures

Look babies!