5 Month Update for the Twins

The babies are 5 months old! These little sweeties have Mommy and Daddy wrapped around their fingers. Some days, they like to try our patience but then they give a big gummy grin and you can't help but smile back at them. Most of the time they are pretty happy babies and we are enjoying this phase!

I'm pretty sure they have more food on their faces than in their bellies!

Foods: The big milestone this month has been solid foods. I have to say, food is a hit with my girls! They are loving everything we give them....except they don't really seem to enjoy the rice cereal. We've given them "baby food" but we've also given them food off our plate so they can try different textures and tastes. For baby food, they've had green beans, squash, applesauce, blueberry applesauce, MumMum crackers, chicken, and rice cereal. For real food, they've had avocado, sweet potato, cream of wheat, green beans, carrots, tomato, mandarin oranges, black beans, and broccoli. Oh and let's not forget about the sweet treats from Grandma, Peeps and ice cream! So far they are adventurous eaters and I'm hoping that continues and we don't have too much of an issue with pickiness down the road.

Sleep: This month has been a million times better than last month. I feel like we've finally gotten into a good groove again. Last month we were having a constant battle with naps and night time sleep was suffering as well. I don't know if it was just a passing phase or if I did something to fix the problem, but I don't care; I'm just happy because they are sleeping so much better! It's still not perfect, but any and all improvements are a welcome relief. For naps, I've been able to put them back in the same room again but Eden usually wakes up mid-nap at least once a day and I end up moving her into my bedroom so she doesn't bother Lydia. I think its become a game to her. She wakes up, spits her binkie out, lets out a few squawks and stares at the door waiting for me to come in. (If I don't come she starts wailing and wakes Lydia.) She gives me a big smile when I pick her up and then goes back to sleep when I lay down with her for a couple minutes in bed. I know I'm probably forming a bad habit but it gets her back to sleep and pretty soon she won't want to snuggle with me anymore! Lydia has become a much better sleeper now that she has figured out she can roll over and sleep on her belly.

This is what happens when you forget to buckle Lydia into the swing. Thankfully, she didn't roll right out!

They just look so grown up sitting in the recliner

Like I said, they are usually happy girls which makes for a happy momma too! They love to smile, giggle, play patty-cake and peek-a-boo, and sing (aka make squealing noises while I sing). They also love when their daddy holds them up high and takes them on airplane rides. Nate is enjoying that they are not so fragile anymore, and he can play around with them more. They are truly our whole world and we love them so much!

 

All the Shepherd cousins. I can't believe how big my girls look next to Baby D!

A Day In the Life of a Twin Mom

When people find out I have twins they always ask, "How do you do it?" I don't really have a good answer other than I wake up and take whatever the day brings. We do have somewhat of a routine that we try to follow. Basically we live in 3 hour cycles throughout the day of eat, play, sleep but sometimes the babies miss the memo and have their own ideas for a schedule. I kept a little log today so you can see what a typical day is like for us. It's not too exciting but it's life.

6:00 AM- Lydia wakes up. It's too late for a night feeding but it's too early (for me!) to start the day. After a mini, internal debate, I bring her to bed with me and we snooze until Eden wakes up.
7:20 AM- We are up for the day. Babies have some snuggle time with Daddy while I get a drink, brush my teeth, etc.
7:30 AM- I breastfeed them at the same time.
7:45 AM- Diaper change. Rub the girls down with the delicious smelling, pink baby lotion and get them dressed for the day. I always tell them a scripture story while we get ready. Today was Jonah and the whale.
8:30 AM- Naptime for the babies. I eat breakfast and read my scriptures. Clean the kitchen from last night's dinner.  Throw in a batch of baby laundry. Jump in the shower and get ready for the day.
10:15 AM- Babies wake up
10:30 AM- Nurse
10:45 AM- Diaper change. Tummy time. Put laundry in dryer. Skype with Grandma.
11:30 AM- Nate comes home for lunch. Quick playtime with the babies.
11:45 AM- Naptime
Noon: Nate and I eat lunch together
12:30 PM- Girls wake up. What?!?! It's only been 45 minutes, what are you doing awake? If only one of them wakes up, I soothe her back to sleep. But when both of them wake up early, it's just impossible for me to help them so naptime is over and I prepare myself for grumpy, tired babies.
12:45 PM- Feed the girls applesauce. It's messy business, but they love it!
1:00 PM- Story time. Today featured The Little Engine that Could and Happy Birthday Moon
1:20 PM- Playtime in the baby gym while I throw dinner in the crockpot. This is when the breakdown starts. Fussiness turns to crying and screaming. Change their diapers amongst the tears and get ready to feed them.
1:45 PM- Nurse
2:00 PM- Put babies down for nap. Fold the laundry while they settle down.
2:15 PM- Eden is asleep. Lydia is screaming.
2:30 PM- Lydia is asleep!
2:50 PM- Eden wakes up. I quickly move her into my bedroom so she doesn't wake Lydia up. Give her a binkie and she goes back to sleep.
3:00 PM- Lydia wakes up crying. Give her a binkie and pat her back for 5 minutes.
3:15 PM- Lydia wakes up again. Soothe her again.
3:20 PM- Eden wakes up again. Red eyes and tired cry tell me she is not ready to be up. I lay down with her in  bed and we both fall asleep.
4:15 PM- Eden wakes but still seems tired so I put her binkie back in and she quickly falls back asleep as do I.
5:00 PM- Both babies wake up. Wow! We may have had quite a few interruptions but that was the longest nap they've ever taken!
5:05 PM- Nurse
5:15 PM- Diaper change. Playtime on the floor. Snap some photos of my cute girls for the blog.
5:30 PM- Nate comes home and plays with the babies while I finish getting dinner ready.
6:00 PM- We eat dinner while the girls play in their Bumbos. That lasts about 5 minutes and then we each hold one while we eat.
6:45 PM- Rice cereal for the girls and then clean up their mess.
7:00 PM- Put the laundry away that I started almost 11 hours ago.
7:15 PM- Diaper change. Rub the girls down with lotion and put their pajamas on.
7:30 PM- Nurse
7:45 PM- Bedtime. Go back in the room a few times to soothe.
8:15 PM- Both babies are asleep! Some nights we are are not so successful and there is a lot of crying but tonight was a good night!
8:30 PM- Put the food away from dinner. Contemplate doing the dishes but ultimately decide to save them for the morning like I usually do.
9:00 PM- Sit down and watch the Olympics with my hubby and type this blog post.
10:30 PM- We'll probably go to bed around this time and hope the babies sleep through the night. If they don't, I'll be up around 4:00 AM and then get up at 7:30 AM and do it all again. (Update: My hopes were dashed! Eden had an off night and was up 3 times.)

Bumbo play time

There you have it. A typical day for me. Occasionally, we have an exciting outing to the grocery store and when it's nice out we fit a walk in there in the afternoon. I tried to do the gym in the mornings, but it just threw off the girls' morning nap and made for cranky babies so that's on the back burner for the time being. The days can be monotonous and even tedious, but I remind myself that I am doing the most important work on this earth by doing my best to raise my children. I thank God every day that these little ones have been entrusted to me and I hope I am doing enough for them.

Lydia is trying to steal Eden's toy

Love that Eden is sticking out her tongue for the camera

Weekend in Dallas

Anyone  who knows my husband knows that the words Nathan and spontaneous are never used in the same sentence unless the word NOT is also included. Imagine my surprise last Thursday morning when he asked me if I wanted to go to Dallas that day. What!?!? Who are you and what have you done with my husband? We have been so sick of the cold weather and not being able to get out very much with the girls. When Nate checked the weather and saw it was supposed to be 75 degrees in Dallas that weekend, he figured it was the perfect birthday/Valentine's day trip for me! What a great husband!

I quickly gathered up our stuff, found someone who could take Ollie last minute (Thanks Seligers!!!), researched some things to do, and texted my friend Hilary, who lives in the Dallas area, to see if they wanted to meet up that weekend. When Nate got home from work we loaded up the car, fed the babies, and took off! In our rush we forgot to bring our camera so we have no pictures to document the trip. We even remembered it about a mile from home, but we were too stubborn to turn around and go back. It's about a 5.5 hour drive to Dallas and it was late, so we decided to stop in the middle of nowhere at a roadside motel along the way. It looked really sketchy on the outside, but hey, we were being spontaneous! And it was surprisingly decent inside. The girls slept great in bed with Mommy and Daddy. Mommy and Daddy did not!

Friday morning, we got up and finished our drive into Dallas. Once there, we really just wanted to enjoy the weather. We brought our jogging stroller and took the girls for a run at a nearby park. (I know, who travels all the way to Dallas just to go for a run? People who have a terrible case of cabin fever due to snow and ice at home, that's who!) There is a Chipotle coming to Bentonville, and everyone is super excited about it. We've never eaten at one, so we found one in Dallas to try out. It was good, but after living in Utah and feasting on Cafe Rio, nothing quite compares. We also went to a big farmer's market downtown, got stuck in rush hour traffic (fun with two crying babies!) and wandered around Ikea. The girls were a hit at Ikea. Everyone wanted to stop and smile at them. Eden was a little show off and smiled and giggled at everyone she saw. It got a little embarrassing when we had 10 people surrounding the stroller and blocking the aisle! That night we made sure to stay at a hotel that had cribs available because the whole bed sharing thing does not work for us!

Saturday we met up with Hilary and Eric and their little boy, I-Man. They so graciously offered to watch the girls so Nate and I could go to the Dallas Temple. I'm pretty sure this was the first time, we've left them with non-family. Big step for us! To thank them, we wanted to buy them lunch, but our plans were thwarted when the BBQ restaurant we chose was doing a special promotion and our entire meal was free!!!! Sweet!!!!! Appetizers, drinks, entrees, dessert, everything completely free! It was GOOD food too. With very full bellies, we finished up the day at the Stockyards and then headed home. It was a quick two day trip but we knew there was another snowstorm coming that we needed to beat home. We are back to being confined in the house but Dallas was a much needed getaway for us  and the girls did great with their first real roadtrip. Thanks Nathan for being so spontaneous! We love you!

Since I didn't take any pictures there and I can't have a blog post without pictures, here are a couple shots of the girls.

A month ago Eden would just face plant and cry. We are making great progress!

Lydia thinks she's ready to up and crawl. I think not!

They always have smiles when Daddy takes their picture

4 Months with the Twins

The girls are now just over four months old! Everyone told me "It gets easier after the first three months." False! This has by far been the most challenging month. For the first three months, my babies were textbook schedule babies. They thrived on their eat/play/sleep every 3 hours routine and slept throught the night. I wouldn't neccesarily say it was easy, but it was predictable. I knew when they would be hungry, I knew what time they would need a nap, I knew when to expect some fussiness, and by knowing I was able to feel prepared and in control. I thought, wow if it's supposed to get easier, this month will be a walk in the park! Well, this month has been chaos and unpredictability resulting in cranky babies and momma. This month, I have felt such despair that I am inadequate when both babies are crying and need me and I just can't help them both. And many days I feel like I can't help either of them because nothing I do seems to help. I am so grateful when Nate is home and can help. He is such a great dad! Despite the craziness, there are moments every day when the girls make me laugh and moments when my heart feels like it will burst because I'm so proud of them and love them so much. Those moments make it all worth it!

It seems impossible to get them both to smile for the camera. At least they are both looking.

Thanks Aunt Libby for sewing these adorable outfits!

Eden: Our Little Peanut is no longer a little peanut! At her check up she weighed 11 lbs 14 oz. She's still only in the  5th percentile but I can't believe how much she has grown. I think she is going to be a rock singer. She has discovered her voice and likes to scream when she plays. It is so funny, albeit a bit annoying, to see her smiling and screaming at her toys.

Lydia: Whenever I pick Lydia up, I feel like I'm holding a little girl, not a baby. She is growing like crazy and weighs 13 lbs 1 oz putting her in the 20th percentile. Our Suggle Bug still lets me cuddle her occasionally, but she has become super active and just wants to be on the floor playing, kicking, and rolling around.

New Things: I swear these girls are changing and learning new things everyday. They are continuing to become more interactive which is so fun for me. I read to them everyday and I can tell they are listening to me. They seriously love Where the Wild Things Are. Whenever I "roar my terrible roar and nash my terrible teeth" they just smile and giggle away. I always thought it was a bizarre book, but hey, whatever makes them happy. Speaking of giggling, both babies have become ticklish, especially Lydia. I look forward to changing her clothes and putting her pajamas on every night because she is so ticklish and laughs when I do it. They are starting to notice things more also. For instance, they've discovered they have hands. Eden sucks on hers all day long and Lydia loves to interlace her fingers and fold her hands like a lady. We also put each of them in front of a mirror for the first time and it was hilarious! Eden stared at herself and looked so confused. It was like she was expecting to see Lydia and couldn't figure out who she was seeing instead. Meanwhile, Lydia thought she found a new friend. She smiled and laughed at the baby in the mirror that was smiling back at her. The biggest milestone they've reached this month is rolling over! They both hated tummy time and would just scream and spit up and rub their faces in their spit up and scream some more so I didn't make them do it very often. But I was diligent this month, and they can now hold themselves up really well and have even started rolling over from front to back! (Smart girls, figured out how to get out of tummy time!) Lydia also started rolling back to front last week. Life with immobile babies is over. Oh dear! Mobility has led to another sad change. The girls now sleep in seperate cribs. The other day, Lydia rolled right on top of Eden! The funny thing is neither one seemed to even notice.

Sleep: I don't know what has happened with our sleep schedule. December was awesome. They were sleeping throught the night and taking solid naps. Along came Jauary, and that all went to pieces! Nighttime sleep has been off and on this month. Occasionally, they sleep the whole night through until 8:00 AM, most nights they wake up once to eat which still isn't bad. But some nights they are up multiple times. Now that they are more mobile, we are done swaddling and they will get a leg stuck in the bars or roll over and squish there face into the bars and then cry for help. I actually don't really mind getting up because they are usually pretty quick to fall back asleep at night, but the real probelm is naptime. I've started putting them in separate rooms for naps. The "45 Minute Intruder" has reared it's ugly head and one or both of them have been waking up 30-45 minutes into their naps. It's almost like clockwork. Even in separate rooms, there are some days that they wake up at the exact same time. I have tried just about everything to get them back to sleep and I've found it's easier when they are in separate rooms. If one wakes up and hears the other one awake, neither will go back to sleep. I feel like parenting is just a big experiment and what works one day doesn't work another day. Sometimes the swing helps, sometimes a binkie, sometimes pat/shush, sometimes shorter periods of awake time, sometimes longer periods of awake time and sometimes nothing helps and nap time is short resulting in a tired and fussy baby the rest of the day. However, the last couple of days I have seen some real progress in naptime and am hoping and praying that we are leaving the 45 Minute Intruder behind!

Yay! I'm Smiling! -Lydia
I'll just eat my hand, thank you very much -Eden

Ok, I'll smile too. -Eden
Hey, this hand sure tastes good. -Lydia

Finally, both are smiling!

Babies' First Christmas

Family photo on Christmas Morning

 Happy New Year! Hope you all (or shall I say y'all) had a wonderful holiday season. I know we did. While the babies won't actually remember how awesome their first Christmas was, at least I will. We flew to Seattle to visit Nate's family for two weeks.

Taking a nap on the flight. Luckily, the flight wasn't full and we were able to sit by each other with an empty seat in between!

The whole family was able to be together! Nate's mom had lots of fun activities planned for us. We went downtown and rode the carousel, went bowling, and played at the fun center doing laser tag, go carts, mini golf, and arcade games.

Babies first carousel ride. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever ridden one either...

Eden and Daddy exploring downtown Seattle

Lydia got to hang out with her Uncle Brady

They loved all the lights at the arcade

The babies were champs being toted around to all the activities. I think they were more flexible than I was. I consider myself a pretty laid back momma, but I've discovered that's only when we're on my timetable and in my element. It was great to be able to get out and do fun things with the babies and it built my confidence, but inside I was harboring secret anxiety: oh no, the babies are supposed to be asleep right now, we're not going to be home in time for them to eat, where am I going to feed them, what if their schedule is completely ruined and for the rest of their lives they live in chaos!?!?! Despite my fears, the babies did get some sleep and didn't starve and since coming home, have resumed a normal schedul just fine.

Call us terrible parents, but we didn't get the girls any Christmas presents. I think they will most likely forgive us down the road or perhaps never even know about it. Actually, we did get them a double jogging stroller. Maybe that was a gift to myself, but they get to ride in it! But trust me, these girls were anything but lacking gifts on Christmas day. Santa, aka Grandma, made sure they were sufficiently spoiled. Speaking of spoiled, I surprised Nathan with a smoker for Christmas. He is super excited to start using it, so if you live in the area, we are now taking reservations. 

Lydia had a blowout right before sitting on Santa's lap! Impeccable timing! That meant outfit changes for both girls since they needed to match for their picture with Santa.

Eden in her rocking chair

Lydia wants a turn too

Eden loves Grandpa

It is hard to live so far away from family, so we are grateful every time we get to visit. Eden and Lydia already love their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Spending time with family was a great way to end the year and start a new one. This past year has been more than eventful for us and we are eager to see what 2014 brings our family!

Thanks Grandma for my new dolly

I love my dolly too!

It's already been a quarter of a year?!?!?

The twins are 3 months old! As hard as the newborn phase was, I'm really sad it's over, like tearing up this very moment sad. It's strange, there are rough days when I wonder if it will ever end, but then when I realize how fast the last three months have gone, I start to panic. Before I know it, they will be walking and won't want to snuggle with me, next they will be going to school and I'll worry while they are away from home all day, then they'll be teenagers and doing crazy things like driving and dating, and then one day they will move away and I will bawl my eyes out. I don't know if I can still blame it on the hormones, but I tell you what, since having kids I've been a basketcase of emotions: worry, panic, gratitude, and overwhelming love!

The last month, the girls have really started to develop their personalities. Lydia has become so talkative. I wish I knew what she was saying but we have fun making up conversations based on her facial expressions. She gets so excited when when we talk to her and just grins and babbles away. She tries to laugh too. It sounds more like a groan but it's still adorable.

I wish her eyes were open, but Miss Lydia is just so cute when she giggles

Meanwhile Eden has become quite active. (Well, as active as you can be when you don't actually move anywhere.) She is constantly kicking her legs and waving her arms. It's interesting that when I was pregnant, I rarely felt Eden move but Lydia was always kicking, punching, and rolling. I think Eden got the short end of the stick when it came to womb space and she couldn't move around much, so now she's just so happy to be free!

I love Eden's gummy grin

Sleep has been pretty good this month. For almost two weeks straight, they slept for 10-11 hours at night! The last couple of nights they've gone back to waking up once a night. They are starting to bust out of their swaddles and I think this is what's waking them up. You experienced mom's out there, when did you stop swaddling and how did you wean your baby off it? Both girls love being swaddled when they sleep, and I fear we will have a total sleep digression as they grow out of swaddling.

I've had a few Mommy-fail moments this month. The worst was when I accidently clipped the tip of Eden's finger off while cutting her nails! I think I cried as much as she did! I felt like a horrible mother and have since designated all nail cutting to Nate. (Thankfully, Eden's finger has grown back as good as new!) To keep things fair, I also failed with Lydia one day. For some reason, I set her down on the floor right in the walk way between the kitchen and the living room. I was planning to pick her back up in just a minute. However, before I finished whatever I was doing, Ollie heard something at the front door and went sprinting from the kitchen to the door. He had no idea Lydia was there, and ran right over her! The second she started wailing, he knew he was in trouble and went and hid under the piano. Fortunately, she just had a minor scratch from the incident. Hopefully, I can learn to be a better mother!

Here's another Mommy-fail moment. Both babies are crying, Eden has one shoe kicked off, Lydia has her dress hiked up. and my foot is in the bottom of the picture. 

This one shows their personalities. Lydia is content to lay there and grin and Eden is kicking and flailing away. By the way, they are not dressed as boys in blue and red. It's purple and pink in bad lighting.

Flying with Twins!

Me and my beautiful twins on Thanksgiving day

Over the last couple of months, we've been blazing through my list of things that seem impossible to do with twins but actually aren't. Our latest accomplishment was flying! We flew to Utah for Thanksgiving. I would not go so far as to say we pulled off the trip without a hitch, but it certainly could have been worse.

Since having the twins, I've been forced to become more organized. I literally spent hours planning and writing out the schedule for our day of departure to figure out when we needed to wake up, when I would feed the babies, when I would pump, when we would eat, when we would need to leave.....I had to have perfect timing to make sure the babies were hungry for take off to help their little ears pop. I felt confident when the day arrived, but as is the case with most of my well-laid plans, something (or many somethings) always goes amis.

The day actually started out following my plans beautifully. We even left early for the airport. As part of my plan, I was going to pump while on the drive to Tulsa, so we could give the girls bottles while they were in their carseats. I remembered my pump and the car adapter. All set, right? Wrong! You know how they say "pregnancy brain" makes you forget a lot of things and causes you to do some stupid things? Well I think the brain damage continues on after pregnancy. In my mind I was thinking I wouldn't need a power cord since I had a car adapter, so I purposely left my cord at home. How I expected that to work, I don't know. Fortunately, my pump can also run on batteries, so we stopped at a gas station on the way to buy some. Nate ran in, bought four batteries, and we were off again. The only problem is my pump didn't work! Then I realized there were two places for batteries and I actually needed eight batteries. Quick, turn around, buy four more batteries, and back on the road. Good thing we left early!

Once we got to the airport, security was a breeze! We were directed right to the front of the line and we didn't even have to follow any of the protocol: we didn't have to take off our shoes, belts, or jackets, or remove our laptop or liquids. Basically we walked right on through! Awesome!

As we walked through the airport, we certainly got a lot of attention. We didn't check any bags so we each had a baby strapped on the front, a back pack on the back, and a wheeled bag behind. It seemed like everyone was looking at us: some with pity in their eyes, some with admiration, and some with fear that we might be on their flight! Whenever, you go anywhere in public with twins, people want to talk to you. It's usually the same conversation: Do you have twins?!?!? You sure have your hands full. Are they identical? Do twins run in your family? I don't mind people talking to us, but I'm annoyed that after people find out they are fraternal, their next statement is, "Oh, so you have a boy and a girl." Come on people, which of these babies dressed in pink with a fruffy bow in her hair would you guess is a boy? Ok, moving on...

The actually flight went pretty well. When I first sat down, the lady next to me looked at me like I just brought a pet alligator on the plane. I wanted to tell her, "Seriously, it's just a baby, and a very well behaved baby if I do say so myself!" Fortunately, the flight wasn't full and the flight attendant was able to rearrange so Nate and I each got an empty seat next to us. (We can't sit by each other because there is only one extra oxygen mask per row.) I was worried the girls might cry the whole way, but they barely let out a peep the entire time! The only mishap was Lydia's MASSIVE blow out. Have you ever tried to change a diaper (and a very messy one at that) in a tiny airplane lavatory? It sucks. I had to lay Lydia on the toilet seat lid. I used all but one wipe in attempts to clean her up. (I had to save one for Eden.) How was it possible that I was out of wipes and had 15 diapers in the bag? If we were at home, I would have taken her out back and hosed her off! That's how bad it was. After I got her as clean as I was able, the next problem was what do I do with the soiled outfit? If it wasn't so cute, I would have thrown it out with the diaper. Then I remembered my liquids were stored in a Ziplock baggie, so I just dumped those out and stuffed the clothes in there. Once we got back to our seats, Lydia decided to spit up all over me.

After we landed, it took us a good 10 minutes to gather our stuff and strap the babies back on. Nate forgot the ceiling was so low and bonked poor Eden's head while trying to lift her into his carrier! Luckily, after a short crying session she was as good as new. Needless to say, our first plane ride with the twins was eventful, but I'm so grateful they didn't scream and cry the whole way.

These sweet girls would never cry on the plane

We had such a wonderful time with my family while in Utah. We haven't all been together in over two years and since then, we've added six people to the family through marriages and births so it was a long overdue reunion. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, went to Catching Fire, attended a session at the Temple, took family pictures, went to a big tailgate party for the USU vs WYO game, Nate went to the BYU vs USU basketball game, and we spent a lot of time visiting and catching up with family members. We were also able to bless the girls while there. It worked out perfectly because Nate's family was in Utah for Thanksgiving also so we had a lot of family members able to attend the blessing. It was a beautiful sight seeing my little girls dressed in white being blessed by their father. We had a great vacation and were so excited to be able to introduce our babies to their extended family!

We couldn't find their bows for the picture but they still look angelic! 

Grandpa and Grandma Shepherd

Twin picture! Grandma Lisa and her twin Lori with Eden and Lydia

Grandpa and Grandma Feuz

I love my little family!