Sleep
We are still working on the sleeping in chunks of time thing, but we are cautiously optimistic that we turned a corner this weekend. Friday night our friends Mandy & Chad came over and B & K slept so, so well while they were here. I started to call Mandy the "baby whisperer" and told her if they slept well all night she was going to have to come over every night to put them to bed. :-) And they did sleep very well . . . only getting up for their feedings & then right back down. Score! Saturday we ran a bunch of errands (side note: we are FINALLY updating our kitchen, so keep posted for a blog entry on that . . . the joys of remodeling with infant twins!). . . B & K slept the entire time. We figured we were in for a LONG night, but they went down at 8:00, slept solid until 11:00 and then slept until 4 AM!!! I actually woke them, sort of . . . I shot out of bed and ran into their room -- both were sleeping, but starting to grunt & wake up. We fed them and they went back down until 8 am!! It was awesome!! Last night was a similar story . . . no fussing between feedings and lots of sleep for mommy & daddy! Tonight they went down at 8:00 again, but I've been upstairs 4 times for fussy babies, so we'll see what happens . . .
Eating
Bennett & Kendyll are up to eating between 3 & 4 oz a feeding. The pediatrician told us we could feed them up to half of their weight (i.e. since Bennett is almost 8 lbs, he can have up to 4 oz) -- anything more and they run the risk of becoming obese (a funny thought to me, especially since they were so tiny to begin with!). For some reason our "champ" eater, Kendyll, has been a bit off for the past week and Bennett has become the new "champ" (which is OK with us since Miss K has a whole pound on him!). Burping is a pain, too, and by far my least favorite part of motherhood. I'm proud to say that Bennett has finally gotten with the program and let a belch so loud and hard this morning that I almost dropped him! But Kendyll has now become much more difficult & time consuming to burp. Oh the phases they go through!
Tabasco
My first, furry baby. Everyone has been asking how he is doing and I'm happy to report he is fine. He has adapted to having the babies around pretty well and other than trying to take their toys every once & a while (and who can blame him -- they squeak just like his toys!) he has been very good. He still goes through his phase every night where he wants our undivided attention -- sometimes he gets it, sometimes he has to wait -- but overall he is the same. He is very protective of me & the babies and he still barks a TON, but thankfully it doesn't seem to phase B & K. :-)
Development Stuff
It is still too early to tell how or if B & K will be "behind" at all based on their prematurity. The pediatrician told us last week that their head control is consistent with a baby around a month old, but it really isn't anything to be alarmed about at this point. Kendyll is on the move these days . . . her legs are REALLY strong -- she pushes them on us when we hold her and she uses them to scoot around her crib. Twice last week I found her all the way to the side of her crib with her head near her crib bumper (remember how I mentioned we weren't supposed to have those in the cribs??). Well this morning I found miss on-the-move face FIRST into her crib bumper. Thankfully she was fine, but I spent the next 15 minutes taking down the bumper in both cribs. She was always on the move in her isolett & open crib in the NICU, too, so I think we have something to keep an eye on here! Bennett is finally starting to control his head more, too, and I think it is only a matter of time before he takes off and catches up with his sister. They say boys develop a little slower (especially preemie boys), so we're sure he'll get with the program soon.
Routine
We're still working on a real routine / schedule. Our nanny, Becca, has been trying hard to get B & K into a napping schedule during the day, but honestly they are still a little too young for that. We're trying to get into a new routine at night, too -- we try to fit in dinner, a walk, baby baths (which they are FINALLY starting to not hate as much . . . I won't go as far as to say they like them, but they don't scream like we're cutting off their arms anymore) and then jammies & bed. We try to have this all wrapped up by 8:00 -- oh, and if we're really good we'll fit in a book there somewhere. Hopefully we'll have this all worked out soon, but so far we're managing just fine.
Exercise
Tim & I used to go to the gym together in the morning before work before I got pregnant. Ten weeks of puking, nine weeks of bedrest and now taking care of two babies have caused me to boycott the gym for the past 10 months or so. Somehow, remarkably, I am smaller now than I was before I got pregnant. Seriously, I haven't been on the scale recently, but 2 weeks after my c-section I was 4 lbs lighter than when I started. And now that I'm back at work ALL of my work pants are huge on me. I told Tim I need to go shopping. And if you had told me a year ago that I'd be a mother of twins AND smaller than I was this time last year I would have said you were smoking crack!!!! I can not believe it! Now I'm not saying everything is nice, firm and tight (I did have twins for goodness sake!), but I'm all about my clothes fitting so well (or not fitting for the good reasons in this case). My exercise these days consists of taking walks with the dog & kids (thank God spring is finally here) and running up & down the stairs a million times a night to sooth a fussy baby in bed. Maybe I'll get back to the gym . . . someday.
Last, but not least -- Things I never thought I'd be able to do:
1. Feed two babies at one time (bonus: feeding one while burping the other).
2. Carry both "wet noodles" babies (read: limited head control) at the same time -- and up stairs at that!
3. Pick up a pacifier with my foot while holding both babies at one time and chuck it onto the couch so Tabasco wouldn't get it!
4. Walk the dog while pushing the stroller (especially difficult when there is another dog / animal / human near by because Tabasco goes nuts).
5. Give both babies a bath -- we still haven't tried them both at once, but I have mastered giving them both baths & getting them ready for bed by myself while Tim was traveling.
Here is a picture of the kids in one of their double strollers after our walk yesterday. Yay for spring!!
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