Update On Growng Boys

It has been a while since I have been able to write a blog post. It has been a hectic month! From one sickness to the next, it has been a never ending story. We had our first ear infection in October. First one got it and then the other. That was a nightmare having two cranky babies who refused to sleep at night because they were in so much pain. Cribs didn’t work even with an elevated mattress. So they both had to sleep in their swings for 2 nights in a row. Both of them were waking up crying because their ears hurt. We finally got them to sleep in their crib with an elevated mattress the next couples of nights sleeping on their backs. Three weeks later, one got another ear infection. Never ending! Yesterday they both threw up at school and you name it, they may have it. The problem with twins is that they are more likely to give it to each other at the same time. I am sure this is true with most siblings. So needless to say we have lost a lot of sleep lately and I really wonder how in the world I am awake enough to function with 24 kids at work. But, I am able!

 

Fall Family Photo

 

The boys have come so far in just a month. They are both still learning to sit up. They are so close. Jacob is trying very hard to crawl. We keep encouraging him and clapping for him when he scoots, and he just laughs and plops back down on his belly. I try to remember that they may be behind more than others their age because of them being premature. Both roll over all of the time and LOVE to play on the floor. We will leave the room and somehow they have made it across the room to play in a corner. One time I walked out of the room to put laundry away and found Jacob halfway under the t.v. cabinet. I just can’t believe that they will be 7 months old next week. Time is flying by. I remember crying everyday from stress and lack of sleep just wanting them to be older so that things would be a bit easier because they would be able to do more. I didn’t realize just how fast that would come. They love toys and putting everything in their mouth. They notice each other and I will find them talking and smiling at each other often. It really is the sweetest thing to watch them interact. The fighting has actually already begun. One will have a toy and the other will steal it and then the other screams and cries because his brother took it. I didn’t know this would start so early in life! I know it is only going to get worse!

 

 

They love to play in their jumpers

I can honestly say that as challenging as it has been raising twins, it really is fun and I love having two babies to love on and play with. They have such complete different personalities. Josiah is my social child. He will smile at any stranger and talk, talk, talk! He is also the lightest sleeper I have ever seen, just like me. Anything wakes me up. He acts more like me. Jacob is the spitting personality of his daddy. He only likes people that he knows and usually won’t have anything to do with people who he is not familiar with. He is shy but loves to laugh and smile when he knows you. He also sleeps like a rock and even a light won’t wake him up, just like his daddy. Both boys are very different and I love that about them. They also look completely different than the other. There are still times at a glance that they look alike, but when really looking at them, I see the difference. People say that they look more alike now than ever, but not to us!

So, that is the latest update on the twins! It is a wild ride and we go, go, go each day. There is never a moment to rest, but we love it!

5 Months and Counting

Where is time going???? My babies turned 5 months old today and I cannot believe time is going by so fast. I remember like it was just yesterday I was talking about wanting them to be 4 months old so that things would be a little bit easier. Now they are growing way too fast and I want time to slow down! This past month has flown by. Going back to work after being with the boys for 3 1/2 months and getting adjusted has actually been much better than I thought it would be. I get to keep my job that I love and enjoy and I get a bit of a break during the day. I miss my babies so much during the day but I am so thankful for adult interaction during the day! I am not a stay at home mom kind of girl. I could never survive. I need a social life. That is why work is so great but yet I get to come home to my babies each day. Jonathan and I have gotten into a really good routine everyday. With twins, its a schedule, schedule, schedule! We wake them up each morning at 6:15 a.m. Dress them, feed, get them into their car seats, and head to daycare. We are so thankful for our daycare and the women that take care of them daily. They do such an amazing job and we could not be more blessed. The boys go to the SAME daycare that I went to as a child and the same daycare that I worked at while I was in college. :) The boys I believe have finally gotten adjusted to being there and not getting attention 100% of the time like they were with me. I am thankful because I spoiled them a little too much! When the boys get home, they are in the best moods and we play with them for a good while and then we put them down for a nap. When they wake, we feed them and then we play some more until bed time. At bed time, we stick to our strict bed time routine. Bath, bottle, and then bed.

I am so thankful for their new sleeping arrangement. I was really upset the past month or so because my boys developed really bad flat head from laying on their backs all of the time. When they were preemies, it was hard to hold both at the same time when I was always alone because they could not support their heads, so I had to hold one at a time. They also slept all of the time so that was more time on their backs. Jacob's head got so flat I knew he was going to need a helmet. We talked to our doctor about it and he said that helmets really do no work as well as people believe. That heads will straighten themselves out on their own. Plus, helmets are over $1,000!!! No way! I was determined my babies would not wear a helmet. Everyone is so strict these days because everyone is worried about SIDS and the 'Back to Sleep Campaign.' Everything I read said that babies should sleep on their backs until they are one year old. I couldn't let that happen because I didn't have enough time for my babies heads to get back into shape. So, three weeks ago we decided that the boys had good enough head control to where we could start putting them to sleep on their tummies at night and they could move their heads if they needed too. The first night I was so worried about SIDS I didn't sleep at all. I was up literally every hour of the night to check on them. All week long I lost sleep because I wanted to make sure they were still breathing. The first 2 nights Josiah really fought us on this. He does not like change and cried in the middle of the night. By the third night, he was already used to it. The boys have now been sleeping on their tummies for almost 4 weeks now and they sleep even more soundly on their tummies than they did on their backs. We have even noticed an improvement in their heads as well. They still have flatness, but I know that will go away once they are sitting up more. I am so thankful at how well they sleep. They are in bed by 8:45 each night and do not wake until 6:15 a.m. Yay for my boys! We are so thankful for sleepers!

They are getting to be so much fun!

This past month has been the biggest milestones yet! They both can roll over and lift their heads well and look around by moving side to side. They both laugh a lot and will talk, talk, talk! I only wish that I knew what they were trying to tell us. They now reach for objects such as toys, and we have even caught them grabbing at each other when laying down together. Josiah spent about 5 minutes one day just grabbing at his brother's ear.

Every morning is my favorite time of the day. When we get them out of bed they just want to laugh and talk. It's when I can really see their true personalities. Jacob will just scream with excitement and babble on and on. Josiah loves to look at you and smile and laugh. They both have different ways of expressing their feelings, but they are the happiest babies!

I am really looking forward to this next month. On to try our first round of solid foods and practice sitting up. I can't believe it is already time for this!

Traveling With Twins

Our first long trip we took with the twins was to visit my parents for a 2 1/2 hour drive when they were 7 weeks old. Worst. Weekend. Ever. The boys were still getting up every 2-3 hours to eat and we knew it was going to be tough to be out of our element and comfort zone during our trip. But, I was so desperate to get away and have a change of atmosphere. We packed everything but the kitchen sink and planned exactly how we were going to get there and feed them in the car, etc. Surprisingly, we fed them and put them in the car and left. They slept the entire car ride! I was so glad because we didn't know what we were going to do if they woke up. Well, the weekend didn't go so great. They were very fussy, we didn't have their swings which we completely relied on all of the time to get them to sleep, and they were in a different bed. We did our best to survive the nights when they woke up to eat. It was hard because we were used to having everything right where we needed it to be. There was not a whole lot you can do with 7 week old twins. They can't hold their heads up and they are still in the preemie stage at this point. The second night, Josiah was having a hard time breathing and wouldn't sleep. He seemed to be weezing and moving all night long until he finally woke up and stayed up for 3 hours. The next day we were exhausted and they would not stop screaming. No swings, no way of getting them to sleep, and just plain miserable. I was so frustrated I just wanted to go home where we could get back in our comfort zone. We fed them again and put them in the car and headed home. Thankfully, they slept again the whole way home. That marked our first trip with the twins which I must say, it was a miserable one. That next week, they began sleeping through the night 5-7 hours. I thank God really heard our prayers for some mental sanity.

Then in June, we took our first beach trip! They were 10 weeks old this time and had really been sleeping well without any problems. I wish I had taken a picture of the truck packed for the beach because it literally looked like the Beverly Hillbillies going to Florida. And yes, we had to pack the giant swings. I look forward to our beach trip every year, but this one I must say was a bust. Here's why...

Ok, word of advice for anyone with twins: DON'T TAKE NEW BORNS (especially twins) TO THE BEACH. It was awful. We had a long walk to take them over the sand dunes plus a million supplies to keep them comfortable. We had to pack bottles, burp cloths, diapers, wipes, their bouncy seats so that they would have something to lay in, and then umbrellas for shade. Good grief, you would think it wouldn't be so hard. The very first day at the beach, the boys were under the tent in the shade the entire time. I think maybe the sun hit them for the 3 minutes it took to walk to the beach from the house. However, somehow, Jacob got a sunburn on his face and arms. We still have no clue how this happened. All of the doctors say that babies should not have sunscreen on their skin until 6 months of age. I was so upset about him being burned that I went and bought some anyway to put on their face the next day. The next day, Josiah got sun burned on his face. We still have no idea how this happened either!!!! I felt like a horrible mom, but I didn't know how to prevent this from happening. The boys also hated the beach. If they were not asleep, they were crying and it was so hot. There seemed to be no breeze and they didn't like it one bit. I think we only spent a maximum of 2 hours on the beach each day. Not my typical sun tanning beach trip!

                                                                        Beach Bums

                                                        I call this one, "Hello, Ladies..."

                                     They loved the baby carriers walking on the beach each night

On the 4th night, Josiah started having breathing problems AGAIN. He couldn't sleep and he was crying. I know they say never to let a baby sleep with you, but we didn't know what else to do to get him to sleep. So we let him sleep with us propped up on a pillow so that he could breathe better. It did help and he was able to sleep really well. However, I could not sleep because I was so worried about suffocating him that we both lost sleep to stay awake to monitor him. We decided to go home because we were miserable, they were miserable, and we were really worried about Josiah because this was the second time he has not been able to sleep because of his breathing. So we packed up to go home 2 days early and headed for home. I was so bummed to leave and not being able to enjoy the beach like I hoped, but I was sure glad to be going back home to our comfort zone. As soon as we got back, we took Josiah to the doctor and come to find out, they were pretty sure he had reflux by all the symptoms that he was having. You see, about75% of the time that he would drink a bottle, he would scream during feedings and not want to eat. Our doctor put him on reflux medicine and he has been a different baby ever since. He sleeps with no problems and does not scream while eating anymore. So, our beach trip with twins was also a bust. I didn't want to travel any time soon! I was done with traveling with the twins.

Finally in July, I wanted to try to go to our cabin at the lake because I missed it and wanted to go at least go once this summer. I was worried because the past two trips we had been on turned out to be a nightmare. This time the boys were 13 weeks old and doing well. This was our first trip not taking any swings and we had no clue how we were going to get them to sleep. But.....they did it! Both nights we rocked them to sleep and they slept perfectly through the night. The first night we actually had a horrible lightning storm and they slept straight through it. Yay! They were wonderful the whole weekend and we were able to take them hiking with us to the waterfall and do a little bit more with them. Finally, a successful trip!

                                          Their first trip to the lake and to our favorite spot!



Our next trip we went on, the boys were 16 weeks old. We went to visit my family again, the same place we went the first time that was a disaster. On our way, we had not made it out of town before one of them had a BM and we had to stop the car to change him. 30 minutes up the road the other one had a BM and we had to stop again and change him. We decided to feed them since we had to stop. Ok, here is the fun part I have not talked about. I know lots of moms either breast feed their babies in the car or make a bottle, but try it with 2 babies and a car full of supplies. Quite a sight! We feed them the best we can and I change their diapers in my lap! It is the only way to get things done. You do what you must to cope with two! Then we left after a 45 minute stop and they slept a bit more. However, the last 25 minutes of the trip they were so ready to get out of the car that they screamed the entire rest of the trip. Talk about being miserable! On a lighter note, they were excellent the entire stay and slept from 9:30-7:40 the next morning. I love my sleeping babies! Oh, and we now don't need swings to get them to sleep! :)

Traveling with twins is quite an experience, but it can only get better, right?

Twice the supplies, twice the stops, twice the screaming, but twice the fun! :)

Bringing Home The Twins

After 4 days in the hospital, it was time to finally go home. Although I was so happy to finally be going back home, I was scared out of my mind and didn't want to leave the care of all of my nurses. When we got in the car to leave, I just cried silently to myself because I didn't know what to do with twins! There they were in the back seat just sleeping away. They were so small that they did not fit properly in the car seats so we had to add towels around them and under them to help them fit better. The car seat swallowed them whole! We were taking home babies that weighed less than 5 pounds!

                              
                                                                       Jacob

Josiah

 

 

 

When we got home, my mama had decorated our house for us

 

 

Ok, here is where the fun begins....

 

When we got home I was already exhausted. From my pain meds, no sleep at the hospital, and just having surgery. I was ready to be in my own bed. The boys had to be syringe fed the first 2 days of being home. It was the only way that we could get them to eat. It took a LONG time to get them to take a bottle, especially Josiah.

 

 



Here is me feeding Josiah and Jonathan feeding Jacob. Lots of practice!

 

 

They were so small I was afraid to pick them up because they were fragile. They loved being swaddled and cuddled. They loved nothing more than to sleep with me cuddled on a pillow. It's how we did it at the hospital and it continued when we got home. This was a problem because they would not sleep anywhere else but with me. We tried the Pack and Play but it didn't work.

 

 

 

 

The first week was a big blur. It went by fast but I do remember how hard it was. I remember trying to learn just how to take care of them. They ate every 2 hours and sometimes we couldn't get Josiah to eat. I cried all the time from being so tired. I didn't know how to function. Here is the thing about twins that NO ONE will understand unless you have twins yourself. When one cries in the middle of the night, you go take care of that baby and feed it. But then your husband is going to be up right after you to feed the next one. By the time you get done feeding, changing, burping and getting your baby back to sleep, its time to get up again to feed 2 hours later. But don't  forget how long it sometimes takes you to go back to sleep after being awake. You keep hearing noises and wonder if they are waking up again. The reason why I have said that people don't need to complain about one baby is because with one, you and your husband can take turns with night feedings. With twins, you BOTH have go get up and you BOTH lose more sleep than anyone can imagine. There was no break. A constant battle of trying to get sleep. My family would come during the day to try and give me a break and let me sleep, but I self consciously couldn't because the moment I heard one cry, it would freak me out and make me nervous. Family would come over to purposely let me take naps and try and sleep, but it was too hard. I would even turn my fan up as loud as it would go so that I could not hear their cries, but when I did I immediately woke up and needed to go check on them. I was a nervous wreck. I felt that no one could take good care of them but me and my husband.  I know that they could, but it was my way of thinking. My sweet mama and aunt took a few night shifts for us so that we could get some sleep. I think that was the best part!

 

 

 

 

Such small little boys

 

 

I went through a huge amount of post pardon depression the first 6 weeks. I cried every single day. Hysterically. I could cry if I spilt my glass of water or if something stupid happened that didn't even matter. I tried my best to calm down and relax but it never worked. The first week home I even got a major rash on my body. It was terrible. It started out small and then spread all over my body like hives. Turns out that I was allergic to my pain killer. It got so bad that I was 10x more miserable. Yet another reason I could not sleep at night.

 

Mother's Day was the worst. The night before, Jacob was up ALL night and refused to sleep. We got 3 hours of sleep that night. The bad part was that we had to take them to the baby dedication at church that morning. It went great, but by the time the afternoon came, I was so miserable I just wanted to crash. We got home that day and one of the babies would not stop crying. I didn't have the energy to deal with it so I went into my bathroom and cried for 1 hour. Not cried, sobbed. I'm sure my neighbors could hear me. I was exhausted. I cried forever and didn't stop for a very long time. I was so sleep deprived. Like I said, there is no trading off with the night shift. Both parents have to get up to help. Twins are more work than I can explain. The crying continued everyday. I didn't even know how to smile anymore. I loved those babies more than anything, but I was begging God to please grant us some sleep so that I could handle the twins. If I could just get some sleep, I could make this work.

 

 

 

Finally to try and save my sanity, I tried to rotate their feedings. It is really hard to bottle feed twins when you are ALONE. I had family but if you know me personally, I am one of those people who loves company, but I also really like to be alone. I didn't want to ask for help and I wanted to learn how to care for them on my own while Jonathan was at work. I had no choice but to learn. I tried feeding them in many different positions, and I finally found that propped up pillows were the only way to go. Its how I had to feed them. It is HARD. It's hard because one baby needs to burp so you have to stop feeding both of them and then the other begins to scream. Then one has milk dripping from them so you have to stop feeding both of them and take care of that baby. Then you have to get them to latch back onto the bottle and with preemies, it was hard. I was so frustrated at doing this, I decided to just feed them at separate times. BIG MISTAKE. I tried this for 2 weeks and I almost went 2x more insane by getting them off a schedule. The reason was by the time one got done feeding and you got that baby to sleep, the other baby was up wanting to feed and then you had to get that baby to sleep. By the time you did, the other baby was awake and hungry again. A never ending story which meant NO sleep and NO time to do anything. I was going insane. That's when I decided to listen to everyone who had twins and stick with the scheduling. Its the only way to survive with twins. Feed them at the same time and do everything at the same time, or else go completely insane.

 

 

 

This is how I feed them even to this day when I am alone

 

 

 

So, we stuck with the scheduling and I learned to cope with feeding them on pillows during every feeding while I was alone. I prayed A LOT during this time. I mainly prayed for sleep and for the Lord to grant me the energy and the peace to raise these twins. I told God I didn't know how I could do it without his strength. Philippians 4:13 ran through my mind all day everyday. "I can do all things through God who gives me strength." I asked God to please give me the strength to survive because I didn't know how I was going to make it anymore.  

 

Ok, now that you have heard all the negative, let me get to the good stuff. :)

 

I LOVE those boys and though they were hard to take care of, I loved to be with them. They were my gift from the Lord.

 

 

 

6 1/2 weeks after the boys were born, God decided it was time to answer my prayer. We put the boys to sleep one night in their crib like we always did, and they didn't wake up for 7 hours. I woke up in a frantic because they had not cried to eat and I ran to their room to make sure they were o.k. There they were, sound asleep. I was in shock. 7 hours????!!!! I just had 7 hours of sleep! I was getting 3-4 a night and I just got 7???? PRAISE JESUS!!

 

Then, magically, it happened every night after that. In the beginning it was 5-7...then it was 7-8 hours. Here we are, 3 months in, and my boys sleep 7-8 hours every night. We have had maybe 5 nights where they have woken up due to growth sprits or not feeling well, but we are getting sleep!

We decided to take the Baby Wise advice and do a strict routine with the boys, and we honestly believe this is why it helped. Every night around 9:15 we bathe our babies, lotion them up with lavender night time lotion, put their pajamas on, give them their bottle, burp them, swaddle them, and then put them to bed with their night light and song. They usually sleep every night until 6:15 am. This has been the biggest blessing we could have asked for!!! Since then, the crying has stopped and I feel like a human again. I have been able to enjoy being with them and learning how to be a mom.

 

Twins are so much work but yet so cool because who all gets to say they grew 2 babies at once?! This post is just about the beginning of life with the twins. My next will be all about them growing the past few months. :) 

 

 

More posts to come soon on life with the twins. :)



My Twin Birth Story: Part 2-Here They Come!

For the first 4 months, I could definitely see how women do not know that they are pregnant. I had no sickness, no nausea, nothing. I never once felt the need to throw up. But, I was STARVING. I could eat at any time. I would find myself eating big meals and being so hungry 30 minutes after having just eaten a cheeseburger and fries. I could not get enough food. Thankfully, this was my only symptom that I ever had. I had to eat!!

I finally after 2 weeks got over the shock and immediately started Pinteresting like a mad women. I had to plan for 2! Could it be boys, girls, or a boy and a girl? What would their bedroom be like if it was a boy and a girl? How could we make that work since they would share a room? 1,000 questions going through my mind. All I knew was that I was excited that my babies would be here just in time for summer. Yay!!

I tried my best to take photos of my growing belly. I was so excited to have a baby bump and just to have little people inside of me. I found myself being really exhausted around 4 months to where I came home and had to crash on the sofa everyday after work. I didn't even want to move once I got home from work. I was used to going to the gym everyday. Not anymore!! I needed rest and food.

Then at Thanksgiving came time to find out what we would be having. Boys? Girls? Both? We couldn't wait to find out. We planned it out to have a gender reveal party the day after Thanksgiving because all of my family would be in town. My aunt Janet worked her tail off to throw us the sweetest party. It was fabulous! We had our doctor look to see what they were and put Baby A and Baby B in separate envelopes for my aunt to do boxes of balloons. In my heart I felt that they were a  boy and a girl, but I WANTED 2 boys. It is definitely what my heart desired. I kept reading my pregnancy book on what to expect and I remember reading a little side note in the book about being pregnant with a boy and all the signs. It asked, "Do you find yourself eating like a teenage boy and constantly going to the refrigerator to eat?" I was saying, "Yes, yes! That's me!" So I knew there had to be at least one boy in there. :)

                                            Opening Baby A's box at the party. A boy!!!

 

Opening Baby B's box. Another boy!!!

It was true! Two little boys! No wonder I was starving all the time!

 

 

 

 

I love this one because it will always remind me of when I first felt them move

I only made it to 32 weeks belly shots because by the time I got to 34 weeks, I was so miserable from this horrible hand and foot itch that was terrible. I couldn't sleep or barely function. I cried all of the time and the only relief I got was from soaking my hands and feet in ice water. The doctors never could figure out what it was. Just hormones I guess but I have never been that miserable in my entire life.

At 36 weeks when I went in for my checkup, I had a huge feeling that I would not be returning to work. I had the horrible itching and Josiah has basically quit growing at a healthy rate. My doctor said it was time for a C-Section and I said, "THANK GOD!!!"

April 10th I called into work and told them that I wouldn't be back until next year. I called my parents and told them to head to Macon because their grandbabies were coming out. My entire family was so excited. That night we all went to Jonathan's softball game for one last sense of  freedom, then ate at my favorite restaurant, Taki, for dinner. That night I actually slept which was great, because it was the last time I would for weeks to come!

I went into the hospital at 12:30 on April 11th that day and was SOOOOOOOO nervous. I hate needles and anything to do with hospitals. I knew this was going to be hard. I cried before my C-section and just prayed for it to go well and for it to go fast. I was ready to meet my babies. I was scared out of my mind! I was also so swollen and looked like a balloon. My feet were terrible and I could not see my feet at all!

                                                   This is what I saw my last 2 months

                                       Here is my last belly shot. Swollen face and all!

So began the C-section and I was trying so hard not to freak out. But as soon as I heard that first cry come out of Jacob, I immediately felt peace and heard my husband crying tears of joy behind me. Then out came Josiah, my tiny baby. They were beautiful in the 1 second glance that I got of both of them.

                                            
                                                              One very proud daddy

All of my family got to look at them before I did. However, the names were still a secret at this point


When it was all over, they rolled me back into the recovery room while the boys went to the nursery. We were so blessed that they both were healthy enough to not have to go to the NICU. Praise the Lord! What an answer to prayer! Jonathan was very worried the entire surgery because I was shaking uncontrollably. I couldn't stop but they said that was normal from the epidural. When I was back in recovery I still was not able to stop and they were not able to get a good blood pressure reading on me. Then they brought in the boys to me and laid them both on my chest and the shaking stopped immediately. The first thought that came to mind was, "Is this real? Are these really MY babies?" It didn't feel real at all. I just looked at them and was at peace. They were sound asleep on my chest and it was the best feeling in the entire world.

 

                                             
                                                              1st family photo

                                                                         Jacob

                                                                          
                                                                           Josiah

After I had settled down and felt better, they wheeled me back into my normal room and my family came in to meet the boys and officially learn their names. We kept it a secret the entire time because it was just more fun that way and we didn't want to hear anyone's opinions on our names. We came up with Jacob and Josiah because we both have J names and we wanted to stay the J Crew. So, it became Jonathan, Julia, Jacob, and Josiah. :) All names in the Bible.

My stay at the hospital was great and I had some awesome nurses taking care of me and my babies. Nurse Ellen was the one who played my mama while I was there and I loved having her there all 4 days I was there! I actually cried when I had to leave!


Stay tuned for my next story on brining home the twins! This is where it gets interesting! ;)