I'm back, babies!

Hi, all! Well, it seems as though this whole "first-time-mom-taking-care-of-two-babies" thing has been a bit of a time suck. A good time suck, don't get me wrong. But time for blogging? My goodness; I rarely have time to shower. I bet you're anxious to hang out with me now! Covered in spit up and drool and not showering daily? Hot.

But today, I am sitting at a Starbucks, drinking my coffee while it's STILL WARM, and taking an hour to do some blogging! My sweet husband is watching the girls, and it's kind of crazy having this kind of free time right now. I almost don't know what to do with myself!

I certainly don't know where to start! Let's see, we left off when they were 3 months and now they're almost NINE months??? whoa.

How about we start here:

(Amelie L, Poppy R)

and here:

 (Poppy L, Amelie R)

 and also here:

  (Poppy L, Amelie R)

I know what you're thinking. They're ridiculously cute. So cute, it's almost not fair! :) I might be biased, but I don't care.

These girls are the joy of my life. Every day I wake up very , very tired, and reluctant to get out of bed; but when I see their big smiles first thing, it makes everything easier. They are just the sweetest babies, especially in the morning or any time they wake up from a nap. All smiles and super excited about life.

I have so much I want to talk about! So much has happened in the last 6 months that I don't know where to begin. My life is so drastically different than it was 9 months ago, it's just unbelievable. My day is filled with baby smiles and cries, drools and diapers, fussing and giggling, exploring and learning and seeing things through brand new eyes. Even on the worst day (and there have been some pretty bad ones) I wouldn't trade it for the world. These girls are my heart and I love them more and more every single day.

So, I am going to make a commitment to doing a daily blog post again; even if it's just a picture or a few sentences. I started this blog as a place to vent and to let out my heartache about my fertility issues. Now I'd really like to keep it up to have a little virtual baby book to track all of the goings on of my cute girls. And to also possibly continue to vent from time to time, as I know every day isn't an easy one. Topics I plan on discussing in the upcoming posts; feeding, sleeping, crawling, teething, making time for myself, struggles with being a stay at home mom, trying to maintain a small portion of your normal life while parenting, tons and tons of cuteness, and much, much more. There will always be pictures because of course. The aforementioned adorableness.

like this:

(Poppy L, Amelie R)

More soon!

~ M

P.S. So, I list my blog on topbabyblogs.com, and I used to be in the top 20! I now am down around 400. Oops. Guess that's what taking a 6 month hiatus from blogging will do to ya. Would you mind clicking on the below link? You don't have to sign up for anything. Just click and vote for me. And you can do it once a day! So if you felt so inclined, you could do that! I know! So exciting, right?? I promise that if you vote for me, I will keep the posts coming. Thanks! :)

3 months!

My babies turned 3 months yesterday! So cliche, but my how time flies! :)

~M

bad blogger.

Ok, I'm a bad blogger. It's been way too long since I've written anything here; but I have a good reason. I just moved across the country with my 3 month old twins. So, yeah. Hectic, stressed, displaced, whirlwind; doesn't even begin to cover it.

I have so many posts in my head that I am going to write SOON. So many things I want to talk about, and I will soon. Very soon. I've missed blogging and I feel like I really do need it! It helps me vent, or just reflect on certain things/events in my life.

Anyhoo, to tide you over, here are some pics we took on my last day in NYC:

Ian stayed behind two weeks extra to pack up. There was just no way we were going to be able to pack up our 1 bedroom apartment with the babies there. It was hard enough for me to pack my suitcase! When I wasn't feeding them, they were napping in the bedroom, and that's where all my stuff was.

I arrived in Seattle on August 31st, and Ian just arrived today! We are SO happy to be back together again; all four of us. He swears that the girls grew during the two weeks we were apart. They certainly are changing! They are both making more noises (cooing, etc,.) and are just smiling all the time. They also are getting way better at holding their heads up.

My mother-in-law and I started house hunting before Ian arrived. So far we haven't found anything, but we sure had fun dressing the girls up for our house hunting adventures:

Anyway, that's all for now. I promise I will be better from now on! Pinky swear!

~M

head above water

Ian and I knew that moving across the country, just weeks after having our twins would be tough, but I think in the back of our minds we thought it wouldn't be THAT bad. Well, it is. It's really hard. We are dealing with so much at once, it kind of just feels like we're barely treading water. We keep saying to each other "It will all get done one way or another..." but lately even that feels like a stretch.

When I'm home all day with the girls, it's really hard to get much of anything done. I can get a few things done here and there, but not a lot. I mean, mostly what needs to be done for my departure (I'm leaving two weeks before Ian, so that he can do the majority of the packing without two babies to take care of) is just packing my suitcases with stuff that the girls and I will need. But I can't really do that yet, because well, we're still using a lot of that stuff.

Also, we went to the pediatrician yesterday for their first shots, and she said she wanted us to "keep an eye" on how quickly Amelie's head size was growing (it shot up a lot between the last visit and this one) and also to just keep an eye on both of their head circumferences in general. (Poppy is in the 95th percentile). And of course we made the mistake of googling all the things that a large head or quick head growth could mean. Also, they are both favoring turning their heads to one side, which we need to try and correct. Most likely, we're going to take them to a physical therapist once we arrive in Seattle so that he can do some exercises to get them to be ok with turning their heads to the right. Amelie's head is a little uneven because of how she always turns her head to the left, and they both don't like turning it to the right.

Anyway, all of these worries about the girls on top of the move stress is a lot to handle right now. We both know there will be a light at the end of the tunnel; it just might be a little while. For now we just have to hang in there, love each other and love our girls.

~M

breastfeeding update

So, I figure that as my girls grow and they start eating more, I'll continue to update on how the breastfeeding is going; since it has changed so much already- it's bound to keep changing.

As of right now, things are going really well. (knock on wood.) When I first started breastfeeding they were still really little, and since they were premature, the pediatrician didn't want them to breastfeed for longer than 10 minutes at a time, since it was so much work for them. Basically, it was so hard for them that they'd be burning all the calories they ate if they breastfed longer; so it would be counter productive.

So, in those first few weeks, they breastfed for no more than 10 minutes, and then we'd give them a bottle of either pumped breast milk, or formula (if we were out of pumped breast milk). I HATED giving them formula. I know that there's nothing wrong with it- because the first rule is feed your babies- but there's such PRESSURE out there to only feed babies breast milk.

I pumped after every feeding. It sucked and was exhausting and painful, but I was trying to do everything I could to increase my milk supply. Usually I pumped just enough to give them their bottles for the next feeding. However, if they ever wanted more, that was when we had to supplement with formula.

I started reading everything I could online about increasing milk production. I bought a book on increasing milk supply and a book about breastfeeding twins. I started taking Fenugreek (an herbal supplement that is supposed to increase milk supply) and eating oatmeal almost every day (which is also, strangely, supposed to increase your supply). I tried to eat plenty and drink a lot of water.

Fast forward to today. The girls are 9 weeks, 1 day old. It has now been over a week since they have had any formula. I have a stockpile of about 10 ounces in the fridge. It seems as though I'm finally keeping up with them, and have a little extra to boot! I still pump after ALMOST every feeding (I occasionally give myself a break when it's 2am and I'm just TIRED), still take Fenugreek, still eat a big 'ol bowl of oatmeal almost every day. Who knows which things are helping? It also could be that the girls just breastfeed a lot more now that they're bigger. Or, it could be a little bit of each thing.

I'm just hoping my body continues to keep up with them. Since we're moving, I can't really keep a stockpile of milk in the freezer, because it won't obviously stay frozen on the airplane. I think we might use up a lot of the stockpile though (wow. I'm saying "stockpile" a lot) next week, as I'm going in to work for two half days to train my replacement. I plan on bringing my pump so that I can pump a few times while I'm there, and Ian is going to stay home with them. I'm hoping that even if we use up all the extra, we'll still be able to avoid formula; but who knows.

At this point, I'm pretty proud of the progress (whoa. alliteration alert.) I've made. I'm hoping my body can keep up with the growing girls, but if I still have to occasionally supplement with formula from time to time, that's ok. Right now though, breastfeeding them is pretty much my number one priority (though....as it seems I have about fourteen days until I'm moving, I probably should start focusing on that a little more...).

Did anyone else out there breastfeed twins and have some tips for me? Or anyone at all have particular success about increasing and maintaining your supply? Any tips welcome! I'll keep updating on how it's going as time goes on.

For now, it's time for another feeding!

~M

on the move

It has been a little hectic in our household lately; and not just because we have two, two-month-old girls to take care of. It's also because we have decided to move back home! You see, we live in New York City now- and have for almost 5 years- but we're both originally from the Pacific Northwest and we've decided to move back; specifically to Seattle.

We couldn't be more excited because all of our family lives in Washington and Oregon, so we'll be much closer to them, and most of our friends live there, too! (Though we've made a few very dear friends here in NYC that we'll miss greatly.)

When we first get back, we'll live with Ian's parents for a while until he finds a job and we find an apartment. We've decided that for now, it doesn't really make financial sense for me to go back to work, as I'd pretty much just be handing over my paycheck to cover two kids in daycare.

I'm both excited and nervous about not working and being a full time mom. Excited because I love taking care of Poppy and Amelie, and think we're going to have so much fun together; and nervous because I've worked my whole adult life! I started working when I was 15 years old, and have always had a job since. It will be an adjustment for sure.

Seattle is a beautiful city, and we're so excited for this big change in our lives. I'm so thrilled that the girls get to grow up there, though I do think it will be totally cool that they get to say they were born in NYC. We'll certainly take them back for visits though, to show them where they started their little lives.

I'm leaving in about two weeks, so there is a lot to do; and not much time in my day to do it! I'm just trying to slowly chip away at it all, and realize that one way or another; it will get done.

Big changes on the horizon for us, and we couldn't be more thrilled!

~M

*photo found here

P.S. We've slipped a little in the numbers on Top Baby Blogs. Would you mind clicking below to vote for us? No need to register for anything and you can vote once a day! Thanks! :)

two months

Amelie and Poppy turn two months today! Happy two month birthday, girls! The time is going by quickly, but I'm enjoying it so much! We love you more than words.

Amelie

Poppy

~M