Little Men

Clothes for baby girls are the cutest...I still find myself looking at the new baby girl clothes when I am shopping for the boys. Basic baby clothes are primarily the same - same soft fabrics, t-shirts with or without snaps, sweat pants, one piece sleep-n-plays, etc. The difference is the patterns and colors and occasionally some extra darts in the clothes designed for girls.

But beyond the basics, there is a big difference. Baby girl clothes have their own styles - ruffles and other cuteness unique to the little outfits - how often do you see a size 6-month outfit that looks the same as something from the women's department? On the other hand, baby boy clothes are often miniature versions of men's clothing - polo shirts, button downs, cargo shorts... That's what I was thinking today when I dressed the boys and took their pictures and then Scott came home wearing a very similar outfit...

Happy Independence Day

Yesterday we went to Aunt Natalae's Annual 3rd of July party. It is a huge party complete with a live band and fireworks. I think that this was my 7th year of the party. For those of you who don't know, Natalae is the person who introduced Scott and I and she is Juliana's godmother.

Juliana always has a new red, white and blue outfit for the party and this year the boys had coordinating outfits. I thought it was a bit cold for their little shorts outfits so I added a long-sleeve onesie and socks (the hats didn't make it out of the house since it was starting to warm up when we left).

The baby girl in the picture is Natalae's 7-wk old. Her name is Sydney Jordan - yeah, she had to name her baby after 2 Penguins instead of just one like us...

Life Changes Fast

Just over one year ago, the week before my birthday, I made a comment to Scott about turning 35 and he quickly replied that I was already 35 and I would be 36 that weekend. I felt like I had lost a year of my life...not quite as dramatic as it sounds. At this point I realized that if we needed to decide quickly if we were going to have another baby. We thought about it for a few weeks and decided that we would try. And one year later, here we are, a family of 5 with our 7 week old twins.

6 Weeks

Where does the time go? I can't believe that they are 6 weeks old already and my maternity leave is halfway over.

It is much easier to tell the boys apart in pictures now, because Ruslan is always wearing a bib. He has reflux and spits up huge amounts of his food - we are doing lots of laundry. After having a child who never spit up, this is quite an adjustment. We go through a stack of burp clothes and bibs every day and do our best to keep our own clothes and the furniture spit-up free. He is on medication when has made him much less fussy, unfortunately the medication doesn't stop the spit-up.

After 5 weeks of nursing both of them, we made a change. Wyatt wasn't nursing as well as he needed to get enough food and we were already supplementing, so we made the change to switch him to all formula. Ruslan is still nursing with the exception of one night time bottle.

They are still eating twice during the night, hopefully this will be ending in the next few weeks. Scott is generally up working at night so he handles the 2:00 am bottle and then I feed them closer to morning. That gives me a few hours of sleep in one block so I can make it through the days. And when they wake up at night, most of the time, they eat and go back to sleep quickly so the process doesn't take as long as it did in those first few weeks.

Ruslan is still at least a pound heavier than Wyatt and close to outgrowing 0-3 month clothes. He has rolls on his legs and a growing belly. Wyatt no longer has chicken legs, but hasn't quite caught up.

Ruslan is very grumbly all of the time - the sounds most babies make when they are filling their diapers - Ruslan makes noises like that all day - grunts and grumbles...and now Wyatt is joining in on the habit - I fear that their twin speak will be more of a cave man language.

Both of them have flashed us a few smiles...laughter can't be far behind :) They are both fascinated with the birdies that fly around them in the swing.

In the pictures of the two of them in their overalls - Ruslan is on the right-side. They did not enjoy being next to each other, especially when their arms became intertwined.

The Past 2 Weeks at Home

The days go by so quickly between feedings, diaper changes and short naps when I try to take care of the other household activites. And that is with my mom here from 7:45 am to 10:00 pm every day...she goes back to work next week.

Here's what the boys have been up to the past 2 weeks:

1 - napping in bouncey seats, the glider and occasionally in their crib

2 - being held a lot

3 - eating every 2-3 hours

4 - taking baths

5 - going to the Drs for weight checks every few days (Ruslan reached and past his birthweight at yesterday's weight check; Wyatt has another weight check scheduled for next week since he is gaining more slowly)

6 - tummy time

7 - listening to big sister sing to them

8 - listening to mommy read book and sing to them