My Little Puppies

They love sticking their tongues out, it is very endearing ;) When they are really excited about going somewhere, they also pant, just like little puppies!

Matthew:
Adam:
Matthew with his tongue out:
Sometimes they remember they are little humans:
Just long enough to play with daddy:
:)

Teething?

Matthew got a new tooth this afternoon, on his top left. That makes tooth number 3. I have been so scared of teething, but I haven't noticed any differences in this little man.

He slept great, and actually woke up an hour after Adam, and slept an hour longer at one of their naps, even though they both went down at the same time.
This guy on the other hand, woke up too early from his second nap, and was grumpy. And he had no excuse!
I am happy they are good teethers though, so far. Overall I had a great day with them today, we didn't go anywhere, so we spent a lot of time cuddling and playing.. it's a fun age :)

Milestone for Mommy

I woke up at 6am this morning.

By choice.

The babies weren't up, I didn't have things to do.

I had just slept enough.

:-o

Mother's Day & Update on Momma & Babies

I had a great Mother's Day! It was mainly due to the fact that my husband let me sleep in, and made me breakfast :) (I did feed the babies at 5:30am that day, but when they woke up for the day at 7, Alan took care of them & fixed breakfast!!)

We had both sets of grandparents over as well, and grilled hamburgers & sides.

The boys are almost 9 months now, and they are really becoming little boys.

Some of my favorite twin moments:

• When they spontaneously laugh at each other (This is more often Adam laughing at Matthew. Adam gets the giggles, it is too cute)
• When they wake up in the morning or after a nap, and I hear them "talking" to each other on the baby monitor. <3 Then I walk in, and they have always crawled so they are close to each other. (They are in separate cribs.)
• When they follow each other when crawling. If one finds something interesting, the other is right behind.
• When they are both crawling all over me, just trying to cuddle with me. My absolute favorite moments is when one (or both) crawls up to me, pulls up to standing, and just cuddles right into me and "kisses" me with their big open mouth on my cheek. Oh, I could just eat them up in those moments.

My not so favorite twin moments:

• When they both need attention, and I can only get to one.
• When they steal a toy from the other, and the offended brother gets upset.
• Overall, I am enjoying it :)

My 8 month must-have twin items:

• Twin nursing pillow (love My Breast Friend)
• Twin jogging stroller (So easy to push, and we have been going on daily morning jogs)
• Moby Wrap
• Umbrella Stroller (I've started taking them out with one in the Moby Wrap, and one in the Umbrella stroller.. it works out very well, especially when I'm by myself.)

Breastfeeding update:

• The babies are breastfeeding 4-5 times a day. They still LOVE it. Although, now when they are done, they are DONE. They will just pop right off the pillow (onto the futon I nurse on) and start playing). I do have to make sure that baby doesn't crawl right off the futon. They really have no survival instincts at this point.

Adam update:

• Adam crawled 5 days after Matthew, and quickly caught up to him. :)
• Also pulling up to standing, with some cruising.
• He got his first tooth on his bottom right. 3 weeks and 2 days after Matthew.
• He is such a sweetheart.

Matthew update:

• Loves pulling up to standing, some cruising.
• Still just one tooth on the bottom left (I thought it was interesting that they got different teeth first)
• Still our trouble maker. But he is so affectionate :)

An update on Momma:

• I am happier than I have been since the twins were born. I really think I was drifting away from God, and becoming selfish. I started feeling like everything revolved around me since I had newborn twins, and I became bitter when people let me down. I had to change my mindset to really be back to my old self. I got back into reading the Bible every day, and praying more. I am very thankful for the mercy God has had for me, that I have been (at least trying) to also extend to those around me. It is amazing how much happier you can be when you stop focusing on what others can do for you, and focus on how you can make others happier. (I'm not saying I'm doing this perfectly, but I'm trying)

Okay, now for a few pictures.

Adam at his Mother's Day shoot that Daddy set up.
And Matthew. We gave these two pictures to the Grandmas in frames for Mother's Day.
The babies released from their play room on Mother's Day morning. Looking for food... (I nursed them while I was eating the yummy breakfast Alan prepared for me)
I thought this was too cute. Adam doesn't think he can handle this much love :)
My big boys.
Matthew on the left, Adam on the right.
And this is a picture from today. They were too cute chasing around this bottle :)

Cruisin'

I thought crawling was bad, (which they are both doing) but now Matthew is pulling up to standing and cruising. Ahh!!

It is a little intimidating to look back and see two babies crawling towards you with huge grins on their faces. I can't let my fear show though. I have to "get the bluff in" as my mother-in-law says, haha.

They are officially getting dangerous!!

(Pictures to come)

7 Months - Milestones at Different Times

Our precious boys, Adam & Matthew. 7 1/2 months, in the bluebonnets.

What a journey parenthood has been. Both of our boys are so sweet, and (if they are napped, fed, paid attention to, etc) usually pretty happy babies. I always find it amazing, especially when I am not feeling like the best mom, that I can just look at them, and they smile back. They love their Momma so much, which I love :) Their other favorite people are Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, and Granny Bee. And they love flirting with the ladies, of course (babies to adults) :)

We now have one talker and one crawler. But neither baby is doing both. It is interesting to see identical boys developing at different times.

Adam (The Sweet Boy):

• Words: First to say a word! Says dada, dad, a-dada, dadada-dad, and every other variation of "dada" all day long. Still not a single ma.
• Sleep: Has become our good sleeper, almost always goes to sleep on his own for naps. (I still usually nurse both to sleep at night.)
• Solid Food: Loves it. He by FAR eats more than Matthew. I gave him his first finger foods (along with Matthew) today. He liked it okay, but he still likes the pureed better.
• Movement: Very good at sitting up. Goes to belly from sitting, can get on all fours & rock back & forth. Can stand for a few seconds while holding on to something. No actual crawling yet.

Matthew (The Wild Boy):

• Vocal: Has not officially said his first word, but loves to make different noises. Also loves to stick his tongue out, which is adorable.
• Sleep: I think I have spoiled Matthew a little, because a few months ago he stopped going to sleep on his own, and would flip over & cry at nap time. So now I often let him fall asleep in his walker that I wheel around the house before nap time. Sometimes he does go to sleep on his own in the crib, but he usually (not always) cries himself to sleep.
• Solid Food: Matthew seems to be growing tired of the pureed food. He has been rejecting it lately, but he wouldn't take finger food either. Until today! He had some puffs and some cut up grapes, and he loved it. I had to feed it to him, but he sure did try to put it in his own mouth.
• Movement: He is our first crawler! Also can stand holding on to something for a few seconds. I knew he was going to be the first to crawl, because he was getting so frustrated when he wanted to reach a toy but was too far away. He tried so hard to move for weeks, and he finally got it.

Matthew around the time he first crawled. We were enjoying a Sabbath picnic in the park.Adam & Matthew (in that order) sleeping in the stroller. It's amazing how they often sleep in the same positions, especially in the carseats & strollers. (Oh, and Hobbes also snuck into the picture.)

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." ;)