Videos Galore

In an attempt not to over post on Facebook/Instagram (I am really trying, though it probably doesn't seem like it! I only post baby pics twice a week on Facebook, generally. Can I help it that they are so adorable?), I haven't really posted many of the videos I've taken. I am super nervous about losing my phone though (and yeah, I have everything backed up on the icloud but I don't trust it completely) so I wanted to get the videos onto YouTube so I'd have a copy there, too. Just in case my phone breaks, icloud stops working, and the backed up version on my lap top somehow erases.

Anyway, here is the YouTube link to a bunch of videos. It's all baby videos and Darren's band:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Maggsbarr/videos 

We have yet to upload any videos from our actual video camera. Yep. We are those parents that take hardly any WAY too many photos and videos. It happens!

20 weeks, baby rolling, twin friends

The girls are now 20 weeks old as of Saturday. We hosted a brunch with our new twin club friends. We all get together over booze and food and talk about how much better we are than singleton parents (just kidding). For real about the booze and food though. So we had eight babies (four sets of twins age 3 to 10 months) and ten adults (one set of twins had to stay home b/c they are still on oxygen after a long NICU stay). It will be nuts as we continue our get togethers to see that many kids running around. Actually it was pretty interesting watching the ten month old twins b/c they are mobile and crawling all over the place. A glimpse into our crazy future. :)

On Sunday, Bailey flipped over from tummy to back twice. Not to be outdone, Brooklyn did it twice a few hours later. We also upped their ounces again (hungry babies!). So we are now giving them seven oz in the morning and last feeding and six during the day feedings for a total of 32 ounces. Also, I still think Brooklyn is teething. I swear I can (maybe) see a little tooth poking through her gums. One of the girls at the twin brunch told us that the NICU doctor told her preemies teeth really early. I could not confirm this through a Google search, other than people asking if this was true, so who knows? I guess we'll find out when she either gets a tooth soon or doesn't.

We finally got the girls to nap in their cribs instead of those rock n play sleepers. Woohoo. It's nice to have our living room back instead of tip toeing around for fear or waking them up. Of course, nap time in the cribs means several pacifier replacement trips upstairs but we're getting there. They have also slept TEN hours straight the last few nights. In bed by nine and up at seven. This makes me very happy.

My favorite Asian twin babies

I love photos and videos of these babies so much and I can't even read the captions because they are in Japanese. Confession - I follow random twin parents on Instagram but these are by far my favorite. 

http://instagram.com/shoko_jinmomo

My latest obsession... crock pot moms

If you aren't following this page already you need to be: https://www.facebook.com/crockpotmama

I am a huge fan of the crock pot (throw everything in and let it cook while you aren't even in the kitchen? Magic.) But I struggle sometimes on knowing what combination of ingredients to put in there. I am also not a fan of any recipe that has too many ingredients or weird ingredients that I don't normally keep in my kitchen (#lazy). So this crock pot moms page on Facebook posts really easy and simple recipes that sound delicious. In fact, I have "Pork Chips Teriyaki and Pineapple" cooking right now. And I bought supplies to make the "cowboy chicken" later this week.

A sample of some of the recipes I've been screen shotting to try:

Toy holding, mini vans and more

A very over due update!

The girls are 19 1/2 weeks and keeping us very busy. They are doing SO WELL!!! 

• First of all, they are sleeping NINE hours every single night. Which is a dream come true. We put them down for bed around 10 or 10:30 and they sleep till 7 or 7:30. Sometimes we even have to wake them up so we can get them to the baby sitter.
• We upped their ounces. They now get six ounces in the morning and last feeding of the night, and five ounces during the day time feedings. They also just dropped a day time feeding this week so they are getting five a day instead of six (or instead of the eight we started with). So they eat around 27 ounces a day, give or take. We'll see how they do with that and probably increase to six at every feeding, and maybe seven for the first/last feeding.
• They've recently started reaching for toys on purpose! Especially Brooklyn. She will lay on her mat and reach up and play with the toys instead of just batting at them. She will also clutch animals to her chest like she is hugging them. She also loves burp rags. Bailey is also doing it, just not as dramatic.
• Tummy time is getting much better! We started doing tummy time on the boppy pillows which they tolerate much better. Bailey seems a bit better at this (poor babies always being compared to each other).
• Still waiting for them to roll over (other than the random time Brooklyn did it once at six weeks, which had to be a fluke).
• They are chatting up a storm. Especially Bailey. She gets VERY loud! It's really cute when they get excited and you can see how hard they are trying to talk to you. 
• I put away all the 0 to 3 month clothing. So sad! We are officially in 3 to 6 months. And they are now in size two diapers. Growing up!
• I am probably wrong/crazy, but I wonder if Brooklyn (and possibly Bailey) is teething. She is a drool machine and puts everything into her mouth. Hmm.
• We bought a mini van. It was bound to happen. In love with it. 2014 Honda Odyssey in metallic silver topez with truffle interior (aka gray). Darren's truck is no more.
• They are kind of starting to notice each other. Kind of. There is hand holding going on (but they just like to grab things) and they seem to look at each other sometimes. No real interaction just yet.
• Still won't do day time naps in the cribs. Thank God for rock n play sleepers.
• We took them swimming for the first time. No reaction, ha. I'm not even sure they realized they were in water really.

In other news, I ran a 5K race this past weekend with Darren and another twin dad. Time of 31:05 with a pace of 10:02 min/mile. So not my best race time ever, but pretty good for having four month old twins! (Darren ran a 7:38 min/mile) There are so many mommy bloggers out there with twins who talk about how quickly they got their post-pregnancy body back after giving birth. I am not one of those. It's been hard. I've been following weight watchers religiously since I gave up on breast feeding around 9 1/2 weeks postpartum. So the weight is coming off, albeit slowly. It's frustrating but obviously worth it. Running is getting easier (although I can only run a couple times a week usually - it's hard to find the time!) There is some muscle memory in my legs and my time is getting better. My first post pregnancy run resulted in a 12:20 min/mile so I've shaved a lot off that in a relatively short amount of time. I can still tell my core muscles are not what they used to be. Maybe some day. My arms, however, bounced back quickly. I think I have more arm strength now than I did at my wedding when I had a Jillian Michaels work out obsession. Holding/rocking/carrying two babies will tone better than any kind of dead lift curl the 30 Day Shred will throw at you.  

Work is getting easier, too. The first few weeks back were kind of weird but I am getting into a rhythm. Our day care/baby sitter routine seems to be working as well. 

Hash tags for twin posts on Twitter, Instagram

I will continue to add to this as a I find more but here's a good start:
#twins, #twingirls, #twina, #twinb, #twinstragram, #twinning, #multiples, #tph (twin parenthood), #twincess #fraternaltwins #twinsisters, #twinproblems #twinpregnany, #twinbelly, #twin, #twinsofinstagram, #twinmom, #twintuesday, #twinsies

eHarmony baby

Periodically I like to send eHarmony an update about our successful match and let them know we'd be willing to be in their commercials. So far no call. Yet. Anyway, I filled out their online update form the other day letting them know we know about our new additions. Afterwards, they asked me to select my free gift. So we got free pink bibs from eHarmony that say "eHarmony baby" on it. Naturally I snapped a photo and tweeted it at their Twitter handle. Below is a screen shot of my shout out from eHarmony via Twitter.

Four months!

Girls are now four months old! Crazy crazy crazy.

They had their four month appointment yesterday. Bailey is weighing in at 11 lbs 14 oz, Brooklyn at 12 lbs 2 oz. Both are 23 inches long. That puts both in the 15th percentile for weight and 5th for height for their age group (and not their adjusted age group but against actual full term babies!). That means my little preemies are starting to catch up to their chronological age. Developmentally they are on target too. Doctor said even if they weren't six weeks early, she wouldn't be concerned about where they are. I am expecting both of them to roll over anytime now, especially Brooklyn who is most definitely the squirmier baby (Bailey is more talkative and smiley, Brooklyn moves around more and can grasp things better. The brains and the athlete my brother says.)

Also the doctor thinks at this point their eyes are going to stay blue. My beautiful blue eyed baby dolls. :)