Archive for the ‘6-9 months’ Category

I always tell people the best thing about co-sleeping is those morning smiles. Well, the best thing about co-sleeping with twins?? You guessed it.. double the smiles. Here is what I wake to each morning around 8:30am:

After morning time at the breast in bed.. it’s time to get up and start the day. Every morning the boys hang out in their bouncy seats or on the dining room floor and keep me company while I wash baby bottles and load the dishwasher. Mind you I’m usually standing on the other side, I just thought this was a cute angle.

After our morning chores, it’s time for breakfast. Some cereal and fruit.

Then it’s play time. A baby blanket on the floor just wasn’t cutting it for the boys to play on. The pak-n-play just seems so small for these two to play together and I needed to protect my expensive floor rug, so here you have it.. I threw a queen size blanket on the floor, and now my living room is one big play pen.

After playtime, it’s time for the first nap usually around 10:30ish. This is when they get one on one breast time. While I’m nursing one, the other is in his bouncy at my feet patiently waiting his turn.

About an hour and a half later, this is usually how I find them. I sometimes wonder what they talk about.

I’ll nurse them both again, then it’s playtime again.

or maybe even some nakey-butt time.

This is when they get their first supplement bottle, usually about 6 ounces of formula, and recently I’ve started adding the mid-day solid meal. Late lunch/afternoon snack of veggies and fruit.

Then it’s time for 2nd nap, usually around 4pm. This nap usually lasts till about 5:30ish.

Afterward, it’s the one time I usually tandem nurse.

Although, this particular day, they were more interested in grandma and what she was doing with the camera.

They get another supp bottle around 6:30pm, then dinner of some cereal, veg, & maybe fruit.

More evening playtime and breast time.

At around 8:30pm the lights in the living room are dimmed. We put their jammies and overnight diaper on, maybe a few minutes of laptime to settle into a sleepy mode and then a bedtime bottle around 9pm.

Then breast all night. If either wakes before midnight, that’s Dave’s tour of duty to parent them back to sleep. The first feed waking is around 12:30am(ish). Then quite often, each child is up every two hours, but alternating hours. Which means I’m up every hour. If they wake at the same time, Dave will come in and comfort one while I nurse the other.

So that’s our day in a nutshell.. it took about 6 months for that routine to emerge and it still isn’t quite consistant but I’m flexible. They still call all the shots. I think that’s what keeps them so happy.

Last Sunday marked the twins half-year birthday. Six whole months. With twins that’s like already a years worth of diaper changing. A years worth of sleepless nights. A years worth of breastfeeding and bottle feeding. And it’s also a years worth of toothless grins, belly giggles, cuddle time and oh we can’t forget, that irresistable, intoxicating new baby smell.

They’ve already cut their first tooth and the second is in the works. I read that identical (MZ) twins tend to cut teeth around the same time. Yep. It was within 4 days. Surprisingly though, I thought for sure Brady’s would cut first, he was just so miserable. But it was Blake’s that came through first.

They’ve flip-flopped traits so many times it’ll make your head spin. Just when I think I’ve got their personalities all figured out, they switch on me. I’ll tell my mom “They’ve switched bodies again,” just to give her a heads up. What a godsend it has been having her around. She still comes to help me just about every day. Except weekends or days Dave has off work. I think I’d go insane trying to handle it all alone. Sure I’ve had days that I was on my own, but it’s not every day that I am. Sometimes just having her presence here is calming and comforting to get me through the day. The thought of being able to have adult interaction on a daily basis is about pure bliss for me at this point.

They had their 6 month well-baby visit on Tuesday. The weight gap between them is wider still. Blake weighed 20lbs 1oz and Brady 18lbs 3oz. Both are 29 inches. I’m baffled at the weight gap. They pretty much eat the same. There may have been times that Brady doesn’t quite finish his bottle and Blake does. But it’s not often, and then it’ll be the opposite other times. So I can’t figure it out. You can’t really notice the weight difference yet. But if you were to pick them up, you notice. Most people still can’t tell them apart. I get a lot of the same question, “How do you tell them apart?” For me, it’s just looking at them. They simply just look different to me. Although I admit, there are days that even I can’t tell them apart. My husband, and most others look to one distinct difference. It has to be pointed out to notice, but it’s a sure way to tell who’s who. It’s all in their left ear.