The last three months have flown by. Sometimes I still look down and can't believe that I have two babies! And I really cannot believe it's been 9 months since they joined our family.
Olivia June
These girls are becoming so much fun! I think with every phase I say to myself..."This is the best baby phase ever" ...then they grow and learn new things and I say it again. I truly love seeing their little personalities shine, and seeing them grow and explore new things.
Kathryn Mary
It seemed like it took forever for these two girls to roll over. Olivia was first at 6 months old and once she started she just kept going. We nicknamed her rolly-polly-Ollie. She was all over the place and was crawling by 7 months.
Kathryn was sitting up by herself well before she rolled over at 7 months old. But don't worry, it only took two weeks of rolling over before Kathryn figured out that if she's gonna keep up with Olivia she's gotta start crawling too. I felt like the crawling phase came way sooner than I expected.
These girls are all over the place!
Mealtime with these two is always an adventure! We are now doing three meals a day with these girls and they are slowly getting use to their sippy cups. Olivia LOVES the sippy cup and is getting pretty good at it. Kathryn is much more interested in the food. They both are really pretty good eaters and devour most everything I put in front of them. It's been fun to have them try new table foods. They love a handful of things, avocado, bananas, peaches, green beans, peas, black beans, watermelon are just a few. I like this phase in that they will eat and eat until they are full, no pickiness yet.... that's for when they are toddlers. But we've started into the self-feeding phase and that brings a whole new messiness, times two.
We finally have room for high chairs at the new house! I love how little they look in them...plus notice the stack of baby food containers.
Okay so a few of those were half full, but still these girls go through A LOT of baby food. I try to now make most of it myself. So grateful they'll eat the homemade stuff too, Andrew never would.
These girls are crawling all over the place...both are still doing the army crawling thing, but don't let that fool you. They can get where they want to go pretty fast. Especially Olivia, she is never in the same spot for more then a minute. She is all over the house. Usually I can find her chasing down and following Andrew or she will come and find me and be right underneath my feet. She's the one who's always getting into everything and showing me exactly where I haven't baby proofed yet. Like the other day when she got into our fireplace and was eating the tiny rocks in there. YES....I was so scared. It only took her a minute to figure that one out, while I was changing Kathryn's diaper upstairs. I came down to find her head stuck between the fireplace screen and she had black up to her elbows on both arms and all around her squirrel-like mouth bulging with little rocks.
"Look Mommy I'm sharing my snacks"
The hardest part about baby proofing is teaching Andrew what they can and cannot have....he's starting to learn...I think, but it's been tough.
Vacuuming has become a fun chore...Olivia chases me down and Kathryn follows me around and tries to grab the cord and eat it the entire time.
Most of the time, Kathryn is happy and content to just sit and play with whatever toys are around her. Long after the other two kiddos have left the room. If she gets board, she'll crawl over and find more.
The last few weeks these girls have started pulling themselves up to everything they can see. Mostly they can get up to their knees, but we've had to drop their beds because we've caught Kathryn standing up few times on the monitor. I'm certainly not ready for this...
or this...
or this...
We've tried to baby proof as much as we can, but it's been pretty difficult as we're still getting a few things put away, organized and things hung up on walls from the move. I guess I gotta work faster. Since we've put our gate up at the top of the stair, Andrew has now named it the "Zoo Gate" It's the only way we can go in and out of our "cage". Because apparently...we live in a "Zoo"
"Mommy can you please unlock the gate and
let me into the zoo? I want
to play with the grills! "
~Andrew
We've entered the teethinpg phase! Always a favorite...although you'd never know it with Kathryn. She has one sharp little tooth on the bottom. But she's hardly shown any signs of teething. Just like her sweet personality she has been calm and content with teething. She'll sometimes cry a bit at night and loves to chew on everything, but that's pretty much it. I'm hoping Olivia's first tooth breaks through pretty soon, she's been super cranky and clingy this week with awful diaper rash and a runny nose that won't go away after almost 2 weeks. I'm hoping this is all teething. I was kind of dreading this baby phase with twins. But with as easy as Kathryn's been, teething with twins has so far been better then I was imagining. Let's keep our fingers crossed it stays that way.
The last three months we've done some new firsts.
Swimming. Our new house has a community pool just down the street so we've tried to spend a lot of time there this summer. It takes them a while to warm up a bit to the water, but by the end they are splashing and playing!
Grass. We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather in Michigan when we were visiting for the 4th of July and the nice soft grass. We have thick, pokey, not fun to walk in barefoot Southern grass at our house. Kathryn was all about the grass. After a little investigation, she went full force off the blanket. Olivia was pretty cautious too. She wasn't such a fan of the green blades and stayed right on the blanket.
Grocery Shopping. I threw in the towel and took all three kiddos to the grocery store. All. By. Myself. Let's just say I was in dire need of a few groceries after we moved. I only needed 4-5 things. Thank heavens our Kroger down the street had a double shopping cart with a toddler car. The girls did awesome and Andrew LOVES driving the little car and it kept him happy. I just got stopped every time I turned the corner by someone who wanted to ask questions about the girls or talk to the kids. It took over 30 minutes in the store for those few items. Oh well, we survived and I've even done it one other time since then...for a total of two times shopping by myself with all three kids. This is a big deal at our house. It's a hard way to shop and there's a reason I go early Saturday mornings. But I guess it is "do-able" now the girls can sit in the shopping cart.
First Pony tail. Well for Olivia at least! She's sported her first pony a few weeks ago and surprisingly it stayed in longer then I expected!
It's fun to see how these two interact with each other. They love to find each other in their cribs and talk, laugh and squeal at each other. It's pretty cute to watch on the monitor. They are starting to do it in their high hairs too. They look for each other when one is gone and smile the biggest grin when they have been found.
I find that we have our fair share of wrestling matches going on these days. Nothing will stop these girls from getting what they want. They will crawl right over the other one without a second thought.
They are starting to pull hair (as well as the flowers or bows out each others hair) and take toys away from each other...and now they cry about it. Before they didn't seem to care or notice. And so it begins...
Life IS getting easier...bit by bit.
Now that they are sitting up by themselves, I'm able to give them a bath at the same time. Once in a while Andrew will jump in with them...but it's pretty crowded. They love bath time and splashing and playing in the water. But since they are starting to pull themselves up...doing two babies has become difficult again. Bathtime really riles Olivia up and she is always so hyper when I get her out. I thought baths are suppose to be relaxing. Certainly not for her!
Bottle time is becoming easier too. If Olivia has the right dosage of medicine for her reflux, she's pretty calm. You put her in the boppy and she can take her entire bottle by herself. Once in a while I can convince her to hold her own bottle, but she's pretty stubborn. So most of the time we prop it up in the boppy. I'll sit next to her and nurse Kathryn. She's pretty stubborn too in her own way. She took bottles great up until I decided I needed to be done nursing a few months ago. I decided I needed to just bottle feed both girls to save my sanity and time of feeding. But now it takes so much effort to just get a few ounces down her from a bottle. Any tips on weaning would be greatly appreciated. We try do 1-2 bottles a day, but my "preemie mom" mind kicks in and I get worried she's not eating enough. It's been almost two months of trying and I'm still not sure if we'll ever make it. Maybe we'll just go straight to a sippy cup.
Here they are 34 weeks and 6 days old! That is how long I was pregnant with these cuties! I had to get a quick picture! As you can see, it's getting tricky to try to hold them both at the same time. They are getting so big and so wiggly!
Since we've moved and I've had to find a new pediatrician, we're a bit behind on their height and weights...so I'll have to post those later after our appointment. But as I sit in bed and finish up this post, I can't but help be a little reflective with our experience with Andrew as a baby. In some ways, it was a blessing that Andrew was our first. As a new mother, I didn't realize what "normal" was. I'm so amazed at how easily and quickly these girls pick up on things and how quickly they learn and grow by themselves. As hard as they were, those 10 weeks in the hospital on bedrest, was worth every. hard. day. Each time Kathryn & Olivia do something new or hit another milestone, I think of those long days in my hospital bed. Something as simple as grabbing their toes or sitting...(yes, just the simple task of sitting on their bottom with their feet out in front is something Andrew's never been able to do), or picking up rice puffs took months and months and TONS of therapy and well...Andrew's still working on that darn pincer grasp. I'm such a different parent (and person) because of our experience with him. I look at every little thing with such wonder and awe. My heart fills with gratitude for things most people wouldn't take a second thought at. It's hard to put into words how I feel and the surreal experience it is to have another set of twins where things worked out for the better. I wouldn't expect anyone to understand or relate, but I want to be real and have this be more than a "things we did" blog. This is my journal, so there you go! However with all that being said, I wouldn't change a thing. So grateful for this perspective in my life. I am continually learning so much from each one of my kiddos on both sides of the veil.
Ready to go!
We went swimming for Stephen's birthday! So fun!
Grass. We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather in Michigan when we were visiting for the 4th of July and the nice soft grass. We have thick, pokey, not fun to walk in barefoot Southern grass at our house. Kathryn was all about the grass. After a little investigation, she went full force off the blanket. Olivia was pretty cautious too. She wasn't such a fan of the green blades and stayed right on the blanket.
Grocery Shopping. I threw in the towel and took all three kiddos to the grocery store. All. By. Myself. Let's just say I was in dire need of a few groceries after we moved. I only needed 4-5 things. Thank heavens our Kroger down the street had a double shopping cart with a toddler car. The girls did awesome and Andrew LOVES driving the little car and it kept him happy. I just got stopped every time I turned the corner by someone who wanted to ask questions about the girls or talk to the kids. It took over 30 minutes in the store for those few items. Oh well, we survived and I've even done it one other time since then...for a total of two times shopping by myself with all three kids. This is a big deal at our house. It's a hard way to shop and there's a reason I go early Saturday mornings. But I guess it is "do-able" now the girls can sit in the shopping cart.
First Pony tail. Well for Olivia at least! She's sported her first pony a few weeks ago and surprisingly it stayed in longer then I expected!
It's fun to see how these two interact with each other. They love to find each other in their cribs and talk, laugh and squeal at each other. It's pretty cute to watch on the monitor. They are starting to do it in their high hairs too. They look for each other when one is gone and smile the biggest grin when they have been found.
I find that we have our fair share of wrestling matches going on these days. Nothing will stop these girls from getting what they want. They will crawl right over the other one without a second thought.
Even Daddy
They are starting to pull hair (as well as the flowers or bows out each others hair) and take toys away from each other...and now they cry about it. Before they didn't seem to care or notice. And so it begins...
They were actually playing really cute, until I pulled the camera out to snap a picture.
Caught Olivia red handed....that hair is way to tempting I guess!
Life IS getting easier...bit by bit.
Now that they are sitting up by themselves, I'm able to give them a bath at the same time. Once in a while Andrew will jump in with them...but it's pretty crowded. They love bath time and splashing and playing in the water. But since they are starting to pull themselves up...doing two babies has become difficult again. Bathtime really riles Olivia up and she is always so hyper when I get her out. I thought baths are suppose to be relaxing. Certainly not for her!
Bottle time is becoming easier too. If Olivia has the right dosage of medicine for her reflux, she's pretty calm. You put her in the boppy and she can take her entire bottle by herself. Once in a while I can convince her to hold her own bottle, but she's pretty stubborn. So most of the time we prop it up in the boppy. I'll sit next to her and nurse Kathryn. She's pretty stubborn too in her own way. She took bottles great up until I decided I needed to be done nursing a few months ago. I decided I needed to just bottle feed both girls to save my sanity and time of feeding. But now it takes so much effort to just get a few ounces down her from a bottle. Any tips on weaning would be greatly appreciated. We try do 1-2 bottles a day, but my "preemie mom" mind kicks in and I get worried she's not eating enough. It's been almost two months of trying and I'm still not sure if we'll ever make it. Maybe we'll just go straight to a sippy cup.
You'd never guess that their older brother was deathly afraid of these girls the first three or four months and then he's slowly, very slowly warmed up to them. Now that they are interactive and all over the place he LOVES being a big brother. The other day he asked if he can have another sister. After holding back the laughter, I told him he already has two sisters why does he need three? His reply..."because three is better then two" ...haha..of course! Silly me!!
He cries when it's their naptime, because he doesn't want to stop playing with them. He asks almost on a daily basis if he can have a sleepover in their bedroom. He loves to make Kathryn laugh by acting silly and playing peek a boo with blankets. He constantly asks if Olivia can come and play with him. They adore their older brother and he adores them!
Here they are 34 weeks and 6 days old! That is how long I was pregnant with these cuties! I had to get a quick picture! As you can see, it's getting tricky to try to hold them both at the same time. They are getting so big and so wiggly!
Since we've moved and I've had to find a new pediatrician, we're a bit behind on their height and weights...so I'll have to post those later after our appointment. But as I sit in bed and finish up this post, I can't but help be a little reflective with our experience with Andrew as a baby. In some ways, it was a blessing that Andrew was our first. As a new mother, I didn't realize what "normal" was. I'm so amazed at how easily and quickly these girls pick up on things and how quickly they learn and grow by themselves. As hard as they were, those 10 weeks in the hospital on bedrest, was worth every. hard. day. Each time Kathryn & Olivia do something new or hit another milestone, I think of those long days in my hospital bed. Something as simple as grabbing their toes or sitting...(yes, just the simple task of sitting on their bottom with their feet out in front is something Andrew's never been able to do), or picking up rice puffs took months and months and TONS of therapy and well...Andrew's still working on that darn pincer grasp. I'm such a different parent (and person) because of our experience with him. I look at every little thing with such wonder and awe. My heart fills with gratitude for things most people wouldn't take a second thought at. It's hard to put into words how I feel and the surreal experience it is to have another set of twins where things worked out for the better. I wouldn't expect anyone to understand or relate, but I want to be real and have this be more than a "things we did" blog. This is my journal, so there you go! However with all that being said, I wouldn't change a thing. So grateful for this perspective in my life. I am continually learning so much from each one of my kiddos on both sides of the veil.
Love this little family of mine!
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