34 weeks

So the girls turned 34 weeks on Saturday, which means they've been alive an equal amount in my uterus as outside in the real world.

A Pinterest inspired photo below. 33 weeks in vs 33 weeks out. Technically they were born at 34 weeks but since I went into the hospital at 33 weeks 6 days, there is no 34 week pic!

A long overdue update

It's been a while since I've posted. Who knew working, raising two babies, trying to have a life/marriage, staying up-to-date with your shows, etc would be so time consuming?

Both girls are continuing to do so well. They are both in the sitting up for a little bit until they topple over stage. But doing a lot more playing and interacting with the world and preparing to be mobile soon. God help us when those two are on the move because it's going to be nuts!

A few weekends ago we had two play groups in one day. First we went to one with a few of the girls I work with plus their friends. This was nice because almost everyone lived in Rocky River and the babies were all pretty close in age so will be in the same class. It's pretty obvious being around kids that were born on time that the girls are a little behind for their actual age but right on schedule for their adjusted age. AKA although they are 7 1/2 months, they seem more like 6 months because they were six weeks early. The second one was our twin group meet up (see pic below). Shockingly, with eight babies, we still managed to get in a game of Apples to Apples. It was really fun!

They are really into their jumpers right now. Brooklyn (as the crazy baby) has already been jumping like a maniac and Bailey just figured out a couple days ago that she can jump up and down too.

Darren and I have actually had a few chances to get out recently. We went to my work party (theme 1920s, and yes I am on the planning party committee like Angela in The Office) which was amazing. And like a miracle, the girls slept soundly till 8:10 am the next morning when I woke them up because I was getting nervous. Bless their little hearts for not waking up at six am after mommy had a few cocktails. We also had a date night and saw a movie a place called a "movie theater." Did you know, for two tickets to see a 3-D film it cost $30!?!? (Crocker, go figure). But Gravity was very good if you are wondering!

It's been super cold due to this polar vortex and it being winter in Cleveland so the poor girls have to be super bundled up each morning before day care. They do not care for all the layers, ha.

Darren is doing really well post-surgery and while he still can't do everything, he is able to pick the girls up and change diapers again (HOORAY!). You will never realize how much your spouse does until they are out of commission.

I am still making all the girl's food. They are doing great. They are even starting to eat bites of our dinners (depending on what it is) so they are getting a good variety. They've even had a little meat and cheese (very small pieces obviously). Still loving their fruits and veggies for now. Hopefully the healthy eating habits stick with them!

I hadn't planned on ever getting a video monitor but a couple of the girls in twin club mentioned a brand that was only $65 on Amazon. Done and done. I am so curious once they are able to stand up what crazy thing we witness. Stay tuned!

I am so thankful for all the new friends I've made in my twin group. It's been so fun discussing our chaotic lives and comparing survival strategies with people going through the same thing.

I am still only bathing the babies about once a week. Perhaps this makes me a slacker mom or a realistic one. I started using a laundry basket since they are too big for the infant tub and that works a lot better.

In other news, Darren and I both signed up for the half marathon in May. I'm running two to three miles on the treadmill a few days a week so I have a lot of training to do, but I have time! We'll see how it goes. My goal is to finish and not worry about my time. I only have three to five pounds left of baby weight (depending on how mean or generous the scale is) so we are almost there.

A final funny story. My cousin Mandy had her daughter Kate's baptism yesterday (and yes, I dressed the girls in red ball gowns). So we took the girls to mass beforehand. And everywhere we go, it's like a freak show because people love twins and want to come and ask questions (and obviously my favorite topic is to discuss how cute my babies are, so this works for me). Usually there are the standard questions (are they twins? are they identical? where did you deliver? do twins run in your family? how do you tell them apart? what are their names? how old are they? were they early? etc) but I got a pretty good one from a woman who was obviously a little mentally unwell. She asked me, "did you fertile?" which I am pretty sure she meant, did you use fertility treatments? But I really liked her wording lol. "No, I didn't use fertility treatments, twins run in the family."

Oh yes, if you'd like to watch some videos of the girls on YouTube, have at it:

• Bailey cracking up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-EbJMUmJ-4
• Brooklyn cracking up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIQYD0OFrmk
• Bailey talking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccq1aBr2yPU
• Brooklyn and more laughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4JnLk6mmE 

Melt your heart pictures...

Just had to share a few more!

Staying warm in their bumbo seats!

Just. So. Cute.

Bailey plays hair dresser with Brooklyn. She was so excited to touch her sister's head, ha!

Darren and babies sleeping in bed. (Blurry since it was dark!)

Oh look my fav Asian Instagram twins turned one!

Baby food making adventures. We used to have a freezer! 

A sampling of matching outfits from Christmas

We received so many matching/coordinating outfits for Christmas.

Here are some pictures!

A story from bed time

Last night as I was putting the girls down for the night, I had them laying on the bed in the nursery for story time per our usual routine. Bailey was a little fussy and Brooklyn kept reaching out to touch her face, in a gesture I interpreted to mean she is comforting her (ah!). Anyway, I gave Bailey a pacifier and she immediately calmed down. Until Brooklyn reached over, yanked the pacifier out of Bailey's mouth and tried to put it in her own mouth! So much for comforting her sister. :) Silly babies!

Sitting up! (Kind of)

So the girls can sit up now like big girls. For about three to 30 seconds at least. And then they topple over. :) 

Babies' first Christmas!

My Christmas angels!

We had a great Christmas this year with the girls. Dare I say it... but it's finally starting to get a little easier. I know everyone told me around the six month mark it would, and yes, it is getting easier. At least for the last week it has been!

This was our first year playing Santa. Confession: I wrapped up gifts I bought at the twin sale months ago that they haven't played with yet. And I filled their stockings with toys from the toy bin I bought used from Craigslist/twin sale. Sneaky, sneaky! I did, however, buy that giant pink elephant at Walgreens for $20. What a steal! True to what parents of young babies always say, they loved the wrapping paper best of all.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of various Christmas parties with extended family and lots and lots of food (#weightwatchersfail). The girls did so well. Brooklyn is a little more hesitant being handed over to strangers, but Bailey hams it up and turns on the charm. It was fun watching all the little kids on both sides of the family (second cousins too) run around and open gifts. Christmas is much more entertaining watching them play.

We got so many nice gifts for the girls. Keep a look out for new matching/coordinating outfits! Plus a variety of really fun toys that light up and make noise. Teethers. Monogrammed Disney blankets. Cute stuffed animals. Puppets. Socks. Headbands. Etc!

Video of girls playing with wrapping paper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAw6mRy4ItA

Barr/Beckwith second cousins

Gregory/Barr Second Cousins

Mackintosh/Barr second cousins

Sleep regression is done!

Bailey is now sleeping soundly through the night again for the past week. No thanks to any of the many, many tricks I tried. I guess it just had to run its course.

Darren has shoulder surgery last week so things have been a little crazy. But he's doing really well - a lot better than either of us expected - so hopefully he'll be back in the swing of things quickly.

No time for a long post - holiday madness is upon us! Merry Christmas to all!

Sleep, Naps and New Foods

The sleep issues continue. We have good nights and bad nights. And good naps and bad naps. I am a big fan of reading various articles and advice on the Internet and I keep getting two messages:

1. This is totally normal.
2.  It's time to let them cry it out. (oh how I dread this)

I've made progress the last three nights and I've been able to put both girls, awake, into cribs at night and they've fallen asleep without any rocking. Granted, I stay in the room and replace pacifiers for a few minutes, but they actually do pretty well. I tried the same thing for naps - Brooklyn does fine but Bailey still needs to be rocked sometimes. We are having a problem with the girls only napping for 20 minutes. Usually they will take at least one longer nap (seems to be the same at the babysitter's or at home). I've tried adding additional layers (right now they are sleeping/napping in a onesies, footed sleepers, and fleece sleep sacks without arms swaddled.)

Bailey is still struggling in her crib. For night time, she usually falls asleep in there but then wakes up about twenty minutes later for a pacifier replacement. And then continues waking up every twenty minutes until we switch her to the rock n play. I tried elevating her crib to see that would help but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I found a really awesome website that's been helpful: http://www.troublesometots.com/

On the advice of this website, I am going to try putting them down and leaving the room instead of sitting in the rocking chair next to them. I think I might bring one of the swings into the nursery too for nap time. Somehow we will conquer this! Because I am tired. Though, Bailey slept from 11 pm till 7 am this morning without one wake up (in the rock n play of course). So she does have nights where there are no problems, and these wonderful nights allow me to catch up on much needed sleep.

They are doing really well with solids and we are up to two feedings a day. I stopped doing rice cereal since Bailey didn't seem to get along with it. Everything else has bee fine. So far they've eaten sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, apples and zucchini. I also made peas and squash for their next foods. I've also been giving them one ounce of apple juice a day which seems to help them poop better.

We took them this weekend to the Botanical Gardens. Which they both loved. Their little baby minds were blown away looking at all the Christmas lights and the plants. Nice little family trip before we enter survival mode after Darren's shoulder surgery on Wednesday.

The mom with the chiseled abs four days post baby controversy

So everyone is in a big huff about the photo posted on Instragram by some fitness blogger who had "chiseled abs" four days post baby.

Full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/caroline-berg-eriksen-post-baby_n_4377085.html?ir=Parents

Yeah, it's unrealistic for most women. But how awesome for her. I would be ecstatic if that's how I looked four days after a baby (um it wasn't. All the meds from the c-section actually made me swell up so bad I looked puffier than I did pregnant! Swollen scary Fred Flintstone feet for a week.) Really, I would be ecstatic to ever have abs like that, let alone after a baby. As long as her baby was healthy and her pregnancy was healthy, kudos to her. Just know that most of us won't have the same results. I trust that women will be smart enough to know they probably will not look like that so soon after delivering.

I think we are all missing the bigger point. Who takes selfies of themselves in bra and underwear and posts it to Instagram????? #annoying #lame

Here is my three days post two babies shot vs. skinny freak girl four day post baby selfie.