Blakely's 4th birthday bowling bash!

I really didn't plan a major birthday for Blakely this year.  I knew I didn't want to have it at my house like I had done previously.  My house looks like a daycare and I didn't want to have to deal with all the cleaning and stress that comes with inviting a bunch of people over.  

To be honest there are not a lot of places to have birthday parties where I live.  Especially for 4 year olds.  There are more options for older kids.  Anyway, I tried to think of something that I knew Blakely would love no matter what.  One day she asked me to go bowling and it hit me.  Let's have her party there!  We haven't taken her in a while and she absolutely loves going.  So I found a cute invite on E.tsy about 2 weeks before the party, printed those things and sent them out.  

This was really the first year that Blakely has friends that are not my friends kids.  She made some friends at dance last year and has made some through MDO and gymnastics.  I really had no idea how many kids would show up because it was kind of last minute but we had a great turnout!  About 12 kids I think?  Besides the invite I didn't do much for the party until the week of.  I know, totally not my normal party planning style but it was so easy and I enjoyed not stressing too much about it.  

missing a few friends here.  I am surprised we got them to sit still for a pic!  

I got some nuggets, a fruit tray and some lemonade from Chi.ck fil.a.  Then I threw some cheet.oh balls and popcorn in a bowl and the food was done.  I tied some balloons to each chair and that was really it for decor.  I had small favor bags that had some bowling themed suckers, pencils, tattoos and bracelets for each kiddo.  

I called the lady who always does Blakely's cakes and she decorated a super cute cake for me at the last minute.  Seriously love her.  

checkout the bowling pin and bowling ball candles on the bottom right of the cake!  so cute!

All the kids loved bowling.  Some of them had never done it before but I have a feeling they will be going back.  The littler kids can use this slide thing to bowl the balls and of course use it as a slide as well ;)

 I had the party at one right drink nap time which I hated but it was my only option.  Needless to say Blakely was PASSED out in the car before we even left the parking lot!  

Since we did a party with mainly her friends (and my friends) at the bowling alley we did a small party with family on her actual birthday after she and I had a girls' day.  They got her gifts and a cake and it was low key fun.  She wanted to blow out the candles about 5 times so she could make 5 wishes.  One of them was to go to Dis.ney Wo.rld.  Can not even wait to tell her about that!

My girl sure is blessed with a bunch of people who love her and for that I am very grateful!  

My little Razorbacks.

Around here we cheer for the Razorbacks.  It can be tough sometimes because they have been know to let us down.  A lot!  Ha!  But we still cheer and dress up on Saturdays and show our support for those hogs!  

We are taking Blakely to her first game in a couple of weekends and Lonnie and I are super excited.  My Dad has season tickets but it has just never worked out to take her to a game.  I mean she's been too young but probably could have gone last year.  But that was when I was early pregnant and puking all day so that was a no.  I look forward to the day of taking all my kids to a game!  Woooooo Pig Sooie!!!  

The twinks are 5 months old!

The twins are FIVE months old!  A little run down of what is happening lately. 

Sleeping: Well, it basically sucks.  We were doing so good in this arena.  I was putting them down between 8 and 9pm and they would sleep until at least 4 and sometimes 5am.  But right when they turned 4 months old they started waking up multiple times a night and just not sleeping soundly.  I have been a complete zombie.  They are both very different in this category so I will split them up.  

Benton: He was really the main one giving me trouble in the night.  He started waking up at 1 or 2 and really being inconsolable.  I thought, okay, it is a growth spurt so I would feed him and put him back to bed.  But then he wanted to do it all again in 2 hours.  Lonnie took the monitor one night and I said only come get me if you can't console him.  He still woke up multiple times but Lonnie was able to get him to go back to sleep easily.  That told me that he is not hungry he just wants comfort.  So I try really hard to get him to go back to sleep without nursing him.  This means sometimes I am up for multiple hours in a row giving him the pacifier, rocking him, shushing him, just generally trying desperately to get him to go back to sleep.  I do let him fuss but, honestly, probably not enough.  If there were only one baby I would let him get louder and cry a little.   But I HATE for him to wake Emery up and mess up her sleep so I'm sure I tend to him too much.  One night I decided to just let him get loud and I would deal with it.  He did and eventually he was screaming and she was screaming.  Blah.  I keep thinking they will stop waking each other up?  Benton is the lightest sleeper for a baby EVER.  We have a little sound machine that plays ocean sounds but it only stays on for 45 minutes.  I swear he was stirring soon after that thing went off.  So I just bought a good machine that sounds like a fan and you can control how loud it is and it stays on until you turn it off.  We have used it the last 2 nights and he slept until 530.  I had to put his pacifier in twice before that but he went right back to sleep.  PLEASE let this be the thing.  Mama is so so tired!  

He's REAL cute though ;)

Emery:  She is still my better night sleeper.  About 2 weeks after Benton started his wakings she started also but only once a night.  I did feed her because I thought growth spurt but also because she is still so little I figured the extra calories were good for her!  She seems to be back to sleeping through the night now.  But if Benton gets really loud it can wake her up.  Usually a pacifier gets her right back to sleep but sometimes if she wakes up too much she will eat and then go back to sleep.  She sleeps in a sleep sack with her arms still swaddled.  I am gradually trying to wean her off the swaddle but MY GOODNESS the girl wants it.  She flails her arms about and wakes herself up a lot if not swaddled.  I talked to the doctor about if that was okay and he said it was fine to keep her swaddled as long as her legs were not and it was loose enough that she can get out.  

Naps:  Naps are okayyyy.  I mentioned in my last monthly update that we were trying to long afternoon nap now.  They have done pretty good at that.  Benton actually does great...Emery tends to fight sleep during the day.  She is so so sleepy but she will not give it up.  I would feed them around 930am and keep them awake until 12.  Then I would feed them and put them in their cribs for nap.  Benton goes right to sleep and Emery will sleep half of the time.  Usually I end up needing to put her in the swing to finish the nap or she just gets to hang out with me.  

can't resist that cute face!  she just wants to hang out with Mommy!

I had this realization the other day that their nighttime sleep issues kind of started when I started trying to keep them to stay awake longer during the day to get that afternoon nap and to get them super sleepy for bed.  Hello Kelly.  I also looked back on the blog at what Blakely's schedule was around this time because she was totally sleeping through the night and had been for a couple of months.  We were putting her to bed around 9-930 and she would sleep until 7.  I have been putting the twins down for bed about 730-8 because that is when Blakely goes to bed and it gives Lonnie and I time together.  But I decided to change it up.  If we put the babies to bed at 9 then that gives me time to add another feeding during the day and maybe they would drop the middle of the night feeding (any hour for B and typically 4-5am for E).  I have done this for 2 days now (and also used the new sound machine) and Benton slept until 530 and Emery until 7.  So yay!  I am hoping it isn't a fluke!  

Feeding: still breastfeeding.  They eat 7 times in a 24 hour period, except sometimes I have to feed Benny in the middle of the night extra ;)  At our 4 month checkup he said he usually mentions that anytime between 4 and 6 months you can start some cereal and solid foods if you think they are ready.  He didn't want me to do that yet because he wanted them to get all the calories they could from breast milk.  If we put food in their tummy then they won't drink as much milk.  I also don't think they are ready at all.  I remember thinking Blakely was ready because she would watch us eat and grab for our food.  The twins are oblivious that we are eating, ha!  

I tandem nurse during the day in the middle of the night and at the 7am feeding I feed them separately in the bed with me.  

Cuteness overload.  They have started holding hands while nursing.  Omg.  

Diapers:   Still cloth diapers (prefolds and covers).  I am about to switch over to my pockets and all in ones as soon as Benton outgrows this size prefold.  

Clothing:  Benton is in 6 months clothing and Emery is also although some 3 month things still fit her if she is not wearing a cloth diaper.  Benton literally has maybe 4 articles of clothing larger than 6 month size.  I need to work on that because it is bound to cool off here soon and there is not a long sleeve top nor pants anywhere to be found in their closet.  

Weight: Emery weighs 12 lbs 6 oz (5th percentile...my little petite girl) and Benton weighs 14 lbs 4 oz (10th percentile)
Height:  Emery is 25 1/2 inches and Benton is 26 inches...both in the 50th percentile

Hair Color:  Barely any hair for either but his seems darker than hers.  She has blonde eyelashes and eyebrows so maybe she will be my blondie?  

Eye Color:  blue blue and even more blue.  His a darker and hers a lighter.  

A few other things I want to remember:

They have learned how to reach out and grab for toys.  This is wonderful because It is so fun watching them spot something, try to reach out and if they get it put it directly in the mouth.  They concentrate so much and it is adorable.  

Well this has been a hard month.  There has been a lot of crying (from all of us).  I think some of it has to do with they have learned they have hands!  They want to grab everything and put it in their mouths.  But they don't have really good control over them yet so it kind of ticks them off!  Also they just get really irritated about 4pm.  

I spend a lot of time wearing one and carrying the other or just trying to make everyone happy.  Sometimes it is really overwhelming and hard and I cry right along with them and other times I handle it better.  And yes, I take pictures so I can laugh at this in the future and not want to cry like I do now.  

They both love being carried around like this.  

We have had a couple of evenings when the weather wasn't too hot and humid to be outside so we have taken advantage.  The babies like the change of scenery and Blakely loves being outside.  Wins all around.  

We have started taking walks if it isn't too hot (so ready for it to cool off btw).  The babies go right to sleep in the stroller so that is really why we walk.  

 Blakely started in a new gymnastics class and it is in the afternoon after I pick her up from school soooo I have to take the babies with me.  It is not ideal but we are making it work.  I spend the entire hour (there is no ac by the way so a really sweaty hour) hoping the babies won't start crying because I really don't want to take them out of their car seats.  Anyway, a few weeks ago I was looking at Benton and just could not get over how big he was.  I flashed back to a picture I took of him going to our first doctor appointment when he was one week old and he was so tiny in the car seat.  I made this comparison picture and LOVE IT.  

Blakely loves holding her babies.  It is getting easier and she always wants to hold them if they are crying so she can "calm them right down".  Sweet.  

I dug out Sophie the giraffe and let them play with it.  Obviously and not surprisingly, they love it.  It has gotten to the point that when Benton accidentally takes it away from Em she yells out!  

Benton is really close to rolling from back to front.  He can get everything over but hasn't figured out to just lift his he'd up to be on his tummy.  They are certainly getting more mobile when I put them on the floor just by shuffling around on their backs.  

little tummy time lovers

By the time Lonnie gets home from work the babies are over me.  They want new faces to look at and new people to talk to.  So Lonnie ends up holding one of them or both of them the majority of the evening.  He doesn't mind.  :)  They are actually all happy in this picture but they just didn't want me to take the picture but I had to!  My man and his girls!

I took them to the doctor by myself for the first time for their 4 month check up.  It just landed on a day when there was no one to help me so I sucked it up and did it.  My main concern with being alone was the fact they were getting shots.  I feared they would both be screaming and in need of snuggles at the same time.  This is hard to do in a doctor's office.  It worked out and the nurse was very helpful so I got over that hump and now I am not so stressed to take them there by myself!  

When we got home from that appointment I got double nap snuggles!  So wonderful!

Blakely and I are teaching the twins the art of a good selfie!  HAHA.  

This it such a fun time with Benton and Emery.  They are past the newborn stage and can really interact yet they aren't mobile and in to everything just yet.  We spend a lot of time making them laugh and they are starting to laugh at Blakely.  They just love watching her and if she is in their line of sight then they are completely happy.  Can't wait to see their relationship grow!