We are 6 weeks old!

You heard right - time is FLYING by now! The girls are 6 weeks old today and we feel so so blessed to be their parents. I can't believe how much they have changed from when they were newborns! They are still (barely) squeezing into their newborn clothes and diapers, but I know that any day now I will try to put an outfit on them and it won't fit (they are pretty snug now!). I will probably cry the day that happens - just a warning to anyone who may be around that day! LOL.

Tonight we have an appointment with a professional photographer to get our pictures taken. We are very excited! I think she is going to do some of those super adorable newborn pics with the girls - assuming of course that they cooperate. I will bring a couple of outfits with just in case they don't.

Tomorrow we are heading out to Si's aunt's house for Thanksgiving lunch and so the girls can meet some of their extended family that they haven't met yet. I hear that the aunts and grandparents are especially excited to meet the girls. It should be a fun time!

Oh, we met a major achievement yesterday! The girls figured out that each other exist! Previously we would put them next to each other and they wouldn't acknowledge each other at all and would usually just start wailing. Well, yesterday that all changed! I put them next to each other on the twin boppy to feed them. Their eyes met, their hands met, and they started chatting away! It was precious! It was like something just clicked in their little brains, and now their lives have changed forever =).

I got some pictures of the whole ordeal (see below). They even held hands at one point, but my hands were full (I was feeding them) so I didn't get it on camera. It is burned in my memory though - it melted my heart!! The girls proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon laying in the pack n play together talking and touching each other's arms and faces. It was an AMAZING experience!

Oh, and they are looking at the camera now on command! YAY!


Here they are plotting. . .what they are plotting we don't yet know. . .=)


And still talking and communicating even with paci's in!


We continue to be on a relatively consistent eating schedule - every 3-4 hours during the day and every 4-5 hours at night. The times vary by the day of course, but we can generally count on feeding them within a pretty specific window based on the last time we fed them. Get this though - according to my information on average a 6 week old will be eating 4-5 oz, about 6 times a day. Well, Brianna eats that much, but Olivia eats way more! She consistently eats at least 5 oz and has eaten 6 oz + multiple times now. The other day she insisted on eating 5 oz every 1-2 hours! Where does it all go?! These girls are literally growing like weeds! I just hope my milk production can keep up! I have no idea what the girls are actually able to get from me (I'm sure it's more than the pump can), but I am able to pump about 10 oz every 4-5 hours now, or about 7-8 oz every 3 hours. If I wait longer during the night like 5-6 hours (if the girls don't wake up) I can pump 12 oz! That seems like such a massive amount of milk to me! I'm so amazed that the human body can do this!

Okay, I think that's all I have for now! Have a very blessed Thanksgiving!! We are proof that dreams really can come true =). I will leave you with this one last picture - this is Brianna - stying and profiling in her "turkey" hat. One of the church ladies at Aunt Denise's church made these for the girls! LOVE them!!



Have a great holiday!!

One month old!

People tell you to cherish every minute with your babies because they change SO fast. I suspect this is one of those things that you don't pay all that much attention to because between 11 PM/1 AM/3 AM/5 AM feedings, massive sleep deprivation, and 150 poopy diapers a week, there doesn't seem to be time to stop and enjoy your growing babies. We are no exception. The babies are a month old today. A MONTH! Where has the time gone?

Honestly, around that two week point I was praying that time would go faster. We were having a hard time adjusting to caring for two "preemie" newborns, Si had gone back to work, my milk had fully come in so I literally was the milk cow between breastfeeding every 2 hours and pumping, and I was getting maybe 2 hours total of sleep a night. The babies weren't putting on as much weight as the pediatrician and home nurse wanted, and I felt like I wasn't doing a good enough job caring for my babies.

What a difference two weeks can make! The babies are more on a schedule now - feeding every 3-4 hours during the day, and making it nearly every 4 hours between feedings at night. I am exclusively breastfeeding, except one Neosure bottle a night for Brianna, and two for Olivia (so dad can help with the girls in the middle of the night too). They are getting a bath every night - usually between 11 PM and Midnight - then they are both getting a bottle and they will usually sleep until 3:30 or 4 AM! We both get up and feed them when they wake up, then they are usually good to go until 7-8AM when Si leaves for work. Definitely more manageable. AND, we are probably getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night. DEFINITELY an improvement from the maybe 2 hours I was getting before! I can't wait until we sleep through the night, but I can be a bit more patient now and enjoy watching them grow up now that I'm not quite as sleep deprived.

We had our last home health visit with the visiting nurse, and the girls are doing GREAT! For the last two weeks both of the girls have gained a beautiful amount of weight - between 8 oz-10 oz each, each week! Brianna is up to 7 lbs 7.5 oz, and Olivia is up to 7 lbs 6.5 oz! We are almost the size of an "average" newborn now - woo hoo!! We are still wearing newborn clothes and diapers, but I suspect our time is now pretty limited in them. . .maybe a week. The girls are starting to grow up so fast!!!




Oh, and do they have their own little personalities or what?!
Olivia is quite the social butterfly. She LOVES to chat it up with whoever will listen! She "talks", or coos, or mumbles while she is awake, while she is sleeping, while she is playing, and while she is feeding. She is going non-stop! And the faces she makes! Cracks me up!!! I suspect she will be our little drama/speech queen. She always wants to be first, and definitely enjoys being the center of attention. In the last two days she has started holding her head up more, and is pushing up with her feet trying to stand on us. No little one, you don't get to be mobile yet!! This little daddy's girl is full on personality and life =).





Brianna is our more reserved little lady. She is patient, and more calm than her sister. Unless of course she is getting her diaper changed or getting a bath. . .then it is game on and she can scream like no one's business! She has already managed to roll over, although we didn't actually witness it. I put her in her crib on her back last week and I came back in an hour later to her on her tummy! She has been able to roll from her back to her side since she was a week old, but all the way over? That's just nuts! I suspect Brianna will be our more athletic little one. . .she always has her arms flailing as though she is swimming, and she has kicking down pat too! She is most excellent at kicking off her blankets, then crying because she is cold. We have learned that we have to swaddle her pretty darn tight. This little momma's girl is a cuddler who LOVES to breastfeed =).





As we are more on a schedule now I hope to be able to go back to following all of my fellow bloggers, answering emails within the same week they are received (not kidding - sad!), and providing updates and pics on this blog. We shall see! I am totally on my own during the day with the girlies now, so I'm hoping to be able to maintain my sanity while attempting to return to semi normal life. . .wish me luck!