Twin Breastfeeding Update

In case there are mothers with younger twins reading this... my boys are 7 months today, we are still tandem breastfeeding... and it gets WAYY easier. They are eating about every 4 hours, with solids right after.

Here is their schedule on a good day. (Not every day is exactly like this!!)

7am - Nurse

7:30am - Solids

8:00-9:30 Play

9:30-11: Nap

11am - Nurse

11:30am - Solids

12:00 -2:00pm - Play

2-3pm - Nap

3pm - Nurse

3:30pm - Solids

4pm-7pm - Play

7pm - Nurse/Bedtime

4:30am - Nurse/Back to Bed

7:00am - Wake up/Nurse

I think we have perfected the twin nursing pillow now. It is very comfortable with two pillows behind it it support my back. The boys legs are long and hang off the pillow, but they don't seem to mind. I love that I have both hands free. In fact, I am nursing at this moment ;) They are both asleep though, this is one day when their schedule was messed up. I think they got dehydrated at the park today (very warm), and they wanted to nurse at naptime.

Nursing covers have become very hard to use now, though. The boys' tiny hands are constantly pulling on it. So, most nursing occurs in the nursery, with trips out of the house in between.

Speaking of those tiny, innocent hands, they also like to scratch/poke the baby across from them while nursing. I think I could make some money designing some better twin-friendly gear. I LOVE the twin nursing pillow, but it needs at attachment for older babies to SEPARATE them. I use a stuffed animal at the moment, but of course the boys grab it & play with it while nursing, leaving their sweet faces exposed to their twin's nails. Yesterday Adam started screaming while nursing (and while I was trying to keep the stuffed animal between them). I looked down & saw this:

A huge scratch on Adam's forehead :( I am honestly not sure if Matthew scratched him, or if I did it while trying to keep the stuffed animal in between them. It is our worst nursing related injury though. Poor baby. He got over it quickly though.

I love breastfeeding my boys now. Now that they are older they will look at me & reach for my face while nursing. And, they know when I sit with the nursing pillow that they are about to get milk, and it is so cute how excited they get. I'm glad I stuck with it all of those nights I thought about giving up. (Bottles would be way way more difficult, in my opinion, besides all of the wonderful health benefits of nursing.)

And just for fun, here are a few more pictures of the boys' during their 6th month:
Matthew on left, Adam on right. They are so curious & explore everything with their hands.
Adam after I woke him up due to Daylight Savings, so his schedule wouldn't get too messed up. He looks soo sleepy & adorable.
One of the boys' first baths in the big boy tub. I love being able to bath them together now :)

And Matthew says, "Goodbye until next time." ;)

A Realization

Last Sabbath, Alan wasn't feeling good & decided to stay home. I went to church anyway, but I had to hunt out people to help me with holding a baby. (They don't take good naps away from home, so they were grumpy). During church I saw a married couple holding hands during a song, while their baby played on the floor in front of them. For a split second, I felt a twinge of jealousy and thought, "I want that." Then of course I realized, I have that! (I was husband-less at that moment, but I do have a great marriage.. though sometimes strained from raising twin boys, we still will hold hands during a song service at church :P). That realization suddenly changed my whole outlook. I need to be focusing on my blessings, not on the negative.

I am so blessed to have a great husband and two happy, healthy boys. I am blessed to be able to breastfeed them. I am blessed to have a flexible job where I only have to work one day a week. I am blessed to have two sets of grandparents that love, love, love these two babies, and two grandmas that babysit them while I work. (I couldn't breastfeed if I worked more, and I couldn't work at all without the grandmas to babysit.)

These may seem like obvious things to be thankful for, but somewhere amidst the sleep deprivation and keeping two babies happy, I forgot to count my blessings.