7 and 8 months old!

Well the 7 month update just slipped right by me..ha!  The twins were 7 months old on November 27 and I completely forgot to take their picture.  It has been a whirlwind the last couple of months so I am just going to combine these two updates and go with it!  I don't have much time to blog but I do want to document some things here so here goes!  

8 months old on December 27!

FEEDING:  The babies eat great.  They nurse 7 times a day but some days just 6 as we are trying to head in that direction.  

We started giving them solids at the beginning of November.  The first thing they had was acorn squash.  Benton LOVES food and Emery is not the biggest fan.  He will eat anything I try to feed him but Emery has to be in the mood.  Besides squash they have had carrots, green beans, peas, apples, bananas, and sweet potatoes.  I can usually get Emery to eat a couple of bites and then Benton just eats the rest of it.  

We got highchairs for Christmas and I LOVE THEM

This was when we were out for breakfast at our favorite place.  We gave them gravy since it was the first thing Blakely had.  Sappy, I know.  Benton wasn't sure...Emery loved it.  Since then totally opposite.  (no gravy though!)

I am making the baby food just like I did with Blakely.  I spent one afternoon boiling, steaming and baking all the food.  Then I puree it and freeze it in ice cubes trays.  Once frozen, I pop them out and put them in ziplocs in the freezer.  So easy and makes a bunch so I have only had to do it once in 2 months.

SLEEPING:  Oh these babies are so different in this category.  Whew.  Benton sleeps great for naps during the day.  Emery fights naps but eventually gives it up.  They take 3 naps per day with the last one being a cat nap in the evening (Emery fights this one the most but she just can't make it to bedtime without it).  

The night sleeping.  Oh the night sleeping.  Emery has always been great at this.  Put her down at 830 and she sleeps until 7-730.  Benton wakes up at least once to eat.  Then they got sick in December.  Both had ear infections.  Emery would not sleep laying down...I guess the pressure on her ear or something?  Anyway, so she's been waking up multiple times a night.  Benton got an ear infection about a week after her and started waking up multiple times at night.  I couldn't just let them cry because I knew they didn't feel good.  So it has been a REALLY rough 6-8 weeks of no sleep for me.  

Benton is finally better and off his antibiotics.  Emery got another ear infection and is on a second round of antibiotics BUT no one is sleeping.  I am pretty much at the end of my rope on the no sleep.  I feel like a zombie every single day and it is really wearing on me.  I am determined to make them sleep at night...New Year's Resolution!  Ha!  

When I feed them early in the morning between 6 and 7 I just put them in bed with me and lay down to nurse.  Sometimes they both fall back asleep and those are the best snuggles in the entire world.  I will miss it so much when they stop doing this.  

CLOTHING:  They both wear 9 month clothes but if they don't have a cloth diaper on then those are too big.  Emery can really fit in 6 month stuff if it weren't for the big booty diapers.  

DIAPERS:  Cloth diapers during the day and a (size 2) disposable at night.  

WEIGHT: I am guessing Emery is about 14 pounds and a few ounces and Benton is getting close to 16 pounds.  We've been to the doctor for sickies a couple of times and they weighed close to that with their clothes and diaper.  

HEIGHT: Another guess but probably an inch or so long her than at their 6 month check up. SO Emery 26 1/2 and Benton 27 1/2.

HAIR:  Benton's hair appears to be darker that Emery's.  Hers is growing super fast and hangs down over her ears now.  

EYES:  both have blue eyes with Benton's being a darker blue.  I think Emmmers is going to have the bluest eyes of any of us.  

These babies think I am hilarious!  

A few things about Benton:

• he is the sweetest boy.  I mean seriously.  He just smiles at me and it kills me every time.  

• he is so content.  I can set him down with a toy and he is happy to play with that toy for a long time.  
• he has 2 teeth.  He got the first one (bottom left) on 12-15 and the second one (bottom right) on 12-20.  
• he started sitting up unassisted just a few days after Thanksgiving (right at 7 months old)...a few days after his sister!  

• he is close to crawling but doesn't really care about it much.  Like I said, he is content where you put him.  But if there is something he REALLY wants, like my phone or if he sees a pacifier, then he does army crawl over to get it.  He gets up on all fours sometime and rocks back and forth.  He scooches backwards when he is on all fours and that kinda makes him mad because he ends up backed up against something.  
• we call him Benny mostly but he does have a few other nicknames.  Benners, Benny-boo, and Ben-man are the most common.  
• this boy is finally not snotty.  he had an ear infection but antibiotics cleared that up.  he now has fluid behind both ears but it is not infected.  if we can keep him from getting a cold, etc then that should go away.  PLEASE!
• he kicks his little legs when he gets excited.  Blakely did the same thing and I had forgotten it until he started doing it.  

A few things about Emery:

• she is never still.  this was the best I could get of her laying on the blanket!  

• she is going to make me go gray.  before she could sit up she would get so mad that she couldn't.  Now that she can sit up she is mad that she can't crawl.  She just wants to go places.  Until she can run around as fast as her sister she will not be satisfied! 
• she wants to be in on the action.  if we are in the kitchen then she wants to be there.  Basically she wants all the attention!  

not laying on this blanket, mom

• she has one tooth (bottom right 12-22) but she is working on a few more.  she chews and slobbers on everything
• she started sitting up by herself right at Thanksgiving (7 months old).  

• my poor girl has been snotty for a month.  bless her.  her very first ear infection was so bad.  it came on so quick.  she woke up snotty one morning with no other symptoms.  by the next morning she was lethargic, inconsolable and a fever that wouldn't quit.  i took her in a rush to the doctor when she refused to eat and was so limp I couldn't really rouse her.  it was pretty scary for this mama.  severe ear infection it was and they thought it would rupture but we avoided that.  shot of antibiotics in the office and a bunch of motrin for fever and pain and she was a little better.  we also had ear drops for pain and those helped her a lot.  now we are on our second ear infection but this one wasn't as bad and we are almost done with abx so hopefully the sickies will go away and stay away.  Blakely never had an ear infection so this is all new to me and I don't like it!
• Oh sweet little Emery has a lot of nicknames.  The most common ones we use are Em-doodle, Sue (no idea), Sue-doodle, Rem, Rem-turkey, Rem-a-lem, Emmers and Emmy.  
• she is oh so close to legit crawling.  I give it days.  she gets where she wants by getting on all fours and then pushing forward, landing on her tummy and then doing it all over again.  Sometimes she does a real crawl on hands and knees but she hasn't mastered staying that way yet.  Soon.  oh so soon. 

she has been getting on all fours and even doing a little plank since she was 6 months old.  

The both love their big sister so much even though she sometimes throws them around like rag dolls.  Haha!  Just kidding.  Although she thinks they are big enough now for her to pick up.  I keep telling her no but I have to watch her like a hawk.  They are getting to the age where she likes playing with them and especially making them laugh.  I love seeing them all three together.  I am the luckiest.  

Twinks at two months

On June 27 the twinks turned 2 months old.  They changed so much during this month it baffles me to even compare pictures from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.  Here is a recap.  

Nicknames: these babies have SO many nicknames.  I feel like we rarely call them their actual names.  Blakely calls them Emmy and Benny and has from the very beginning so I'd say those are the most often used.  

Benton: Benny, Benners, Benny boo, tiny man, Ben man, Benny bo, chunk, chunk-a-roo

Emery: Emmy, Ems, Emmers, Rems, Remy, remmy roo, noodle

EATING/BREASTFEEDING:  The babies nurse 8 times a day, every three hours round the clock.  In the middle of the month we introduced a bottle.  They both have done really well and we give them one every day or every other day.  Blakely despised the bottle when she turned three months old so I am hoping by giving them one consistently we can avoid that.  Also, mama needs her wine ;)  I still typically feed them separately unless someone is here to help me tandem feed.  Tandem feeding is getting easier and I have started doing that in the middle of the night by myself.  It is quite the process to get everything and everyone situated but we make it work.  It means more sleep for me if I can do it that way so we are practicing.  Breastfeeding, in general, is getting easier as well.  The babies are getting bigger and are able to hold their heads up better so that helps.  

I still pump after feedings pretty frequently.  My supply is rocking so I pump 3-4 times a day just depending on how things are going so I can have milk for bottles.  I know my supply won't always be so great and I also know that we won't always be home during the day for me to pump so I am doing it now while I can.

I do so love the after nursing snuggles...

SLEEPING:  The babies sleep pretty well.  At least, they sleep when they are supposed to be sleeping.  They just don't really go a long time between feedings so it is short bursts of sleep.  They eat, then they are awake for a little while (sometimes only 15 minutes or so) and then they go to sleep.  We moved them to their cribs this month and they sleep well in there.  At night they just go right back to sleep when I put them in their crib.  The last 2 nights they have gone 5 1/2 hours between a feeding instead of just 3 hours so WOOO HOOO.  Cross all the things that this continues because mama is oh so very tired and really needs some sleep.  

When they wake up to eat in the early morning hours I usually just bring them in the bed with me to nurse because that is easier.  Then they fall right back asleep and I can doze until I hear Blakely come in.  She will snuggle for a little while but then she runs upstairs to see if Lonnie has left for work yet.  We are definitely starting to fall into a routine.  :)

CLOTHING: Benton is out of newborn clothes and in 0-3 month size.  He can still squeeze into a few newborn things if he isn't wearing cloth diapers.  Emery is still in newborn but not for much longer. 

Mama is having a super fun time picking out clothes for the babes.  I have quite a few matching twin things that people gifted to me....

And the rest of the time I coordinate the colors to make them match.  Wayyyyy too much shopping going on up in here.  It is hard to find cute (not hella expensive) coordinating clothes for boy/girl twins.  But I press on ;)

DIAPERS:  We started cloth part time this month.  Actually I'd say we do it about 80% of the time.  I am using newborn prefolds with covers and, surprisingly, I am really liking them.  I only did pockets and all-in-ones with Blakely so this is new for me.  But they are great to hold in the runny poop and the laundry is so very easy since you can throw these in the dryer.  They wear x-small covers and newborn size disposables. 

DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS:  when the babies turned one month old Emery weighed 6 lbs 5 ounces and Benton weighed 6 lbs 9 ounces.  Benton had just passed her up and he just continued on his chunky style the rest of this month.  

On June 2 we went in for a weight check (wanted the babies to gain 7 ounces each)
Emery - 6 lbs 12 oz (gained 7 ounces)
Benton - 7 lbs 6 oz (gained 14 ounces!)

We went back 2 weeks later (June 16) for another weight check (wanted them to gain 14 ounces)
Emery - 7 lbs 12 oz (gained 16 ounces)
Benton - 8 lbs 14 oz (gained 24 ounces)

So you can see that my little tiny man was gaining like crazy and by the end of the month was not my tiny man anymore.  Tear.  At this point I stopped worrying about their weight gain.  Breastfeeding was getting easier and they were obviously gaining good so I didn't need to worry.  I was now ready for them to sleep longer stretches at night!  

On July 1 we went for their 2 month checkup (with shots...boo).  We wanted to see a 15 ounce weight gain.  

Emery - 8 lbs 10 oz (gained 14 ounces)
Benton - 9 lbs 13 oz (gained 15 ounces)

Our doctor was very happy with their weight gain and this was the first time the babies were on the growth and height chart.  Em is in the 5th percentile for both and Benny is in the 10th percentile for both.  He did mention when he was examining Benton at his 2 month appt that he resisted when trying to turn his head to the left.  He wasn't super worried about it but told us to make sure he turns it to the left more frequently to stretch out that neck muscle.  Make him do that while tracking toys, while he is eating and while he is sleeping.  I had noticed that he preferred his right but I thought it was more because I had been making him sleep on his right side due to his reflux.  

At the beginning of this second month, our sweet Benton kinda turned into a crying machine.  It was pretty obvious that he was dealing with some reflux but now he was having some major gas pains.  He would just cry out in pain and then cry some more.  We started him on Za.ntac and I gave hime lots of gas drops to try and help.  I didn't really feel like either did but was too scared to stop the Za.ntac for fear that the crying could get worse!  I broke down and gave him a pacifier to see if that would calm him down.  Occasionally it would but not all the time.  He has good days and bad days.  Usually he is fine during the day but by late afternoon the poor thing is just over it all.  We carry him around and pretty much try anything to make him feel better.  It does seem to be getting a little better the last few days.  

DAILY ROUTINE:  The daily routine is basically the same as last month just with a little more awake time during the day.  I feed them, they stay awake for a little while (never longer than an hour) and then they sleep until the next feeding.  We have started a nighttime routine and I think that is starting to help with the nighttime sleep.  We take them downstair into their room.  I change them into their pajamas with a new diaper.  I nurse them in the glider (which I never do during the day) and then I cuddle them for a bit before swaddling them and putting them in the crib with the sons machine on.  The first couple of night of this they were like OH HELL NO but the last few nights they went right to sleep and slept for 5 1/2 hours so I basically feel like a brand new woman.  

BLAKELY + THE BABES:  Blakely absolutely loves her babies.  She always want to make sure they are ok.  She is the QUEEN of the pacifier.  She is quick to put it back in if they spit it out even when I tell her not to.  She wants to help pick out their clothes and most of the time I let her.  She picks out their jammies every night.  Her favorite thing is when I lay them on the floor and she can cuddle and play with them.  

She likes to hold them and sometimes does really good holding one while I nurse the other one.  She usually has to be watching a show to do this so she will sit still long enough.  

She likes to help with bottle feeding.  I actually thought she would want to help more with this but she has a good few minute and then she is over it.  Ha!  

I am so thankful she is such a sweet girl and always wants to help.  She brings me things if I forget to grab them before nursing.  She will fix me a glass of water if she notices I am out.  She will go get Benny a change of clothes if he spits up.  It is really just the sweetest.  

A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE BABES:

• They have both started tracking things with their eyes.  I have this bright colored peacock that is black and white on the back and they really follow that thing good.
• They are both smiling in response to us.  Benton started this first but Emery has done it a couple of times in the last day or two.    
• They had their first day at the pool.  They slept through the whole thing but they did actually get to go outside that day.  Most days have been way too hot for them to go outside.  

• Both of my babies really want to be tummy sleepers.  When we do tummy time they just want to lay their head down and go to sleep.  We are working on it ;)

• Benton is usually awake a little more than Emery.  My girl likes her sleep and I hope it stays that way!  

• Daddy has the magic tough to make the babies happy.  When I hold them they just want to eat.  

45 seconds later....

Daddy and his girls.  

• The comments are all over the board when it comes to who looks like who.  Most people say Benton looks like Lonnie and Emery looks a little bit like Blakely.  I did a little 2 month comparison for ya!  I am not sure but I do know that there is something about Em that reminds me of Blakely as a baby.  And Benton squints his eyes when he smiles and that is Lonnie all the way.  

• Both babies are kinda "ehhh" when it comes to being worn.  I think Emery likes it a little better.  Benton likes to be held just not all wrapped up.  But this was a day that I could NOT get him to stop crying and I finally got him calmed down enough (by bouncing and speed walking) and he fell asleep.  Whew...

• I can't believe how much they have grown this month.  I look at this picture and Benton looks like a completely different baby.  

• Emery is our chill baby.  She has her moments but Lonnie and I were talking the other day how she is our easiest baby out of the three.  She is super relaxed and doesn't fuss unless she is hungry or getting sleepy.  Then she will just fall asleep wherever you put her without freaking out.  

• It's not that Benton is not chill, because he is when he is comfortable.  But a lot of the time he is just uncomfortable and I feel so bad.  Ugh.  He just needs a little help to fall asleep when he gets tired and he likes to walk around.  He just wants a change of scenery if he gets bored.  So if he's been laying looking at the mobile for a while he will let you know when he is over it.  So I spend a lot of time moving him around the house!  

 Happy 2 months sweet babies!!!