The twins are 4 months old!

My sweet babies turned 4 months old on August 27th.  All of the sudden they are looking like big ol babies and not itty bitty babies that you have to cradle all the time.  Where does the time go?  

no smiles out of Benton man today :(

Sleeping:  I guess we will start with sleeping.  The babies are really doing good here.  We do have some rough nights but overall I don't think I could ask for things to be going better.  Typically we put them to bed between 8 and 9pm and on a good night they will sleep until 5 before eating again.  On a bad night they (Benton) wake up at 3 to eat again.  
    

• Emery:  This girl is my good sleeper.  She would sleep all night long (at least 10 hours plus) if her brother didn't wake up to eat before then.  She goes to bed well and without her pacifier.  I still have her arms in the swaddle because she flails about and wakes herself up still but once I swaddle her up she goes right to sleep.  For naps she sleeps good but needs a pacifier to get to sleep then.

• Benton:  Oh Benny.  Honestly he is a good sleeper but if anyone is going to be waking me up 3 hours into sleeping it will be him.  Most of the time though he does good and sleeps until 4-5 am.  On a really bad night he wakes up at midnight-2am and wants to be in bed with me before he calms down.  Those nights are hard and happen about once a week or so but I do love the snuggles and that he wants to be close to me.  He loves holding my hand with both of his hands while he falls back asleep. 

Naps:  The babes still take a nap between each feeding.  They are about to be able to make it from one feeding to the next without a small nap but not quite yet.  About a week and a half ago (while we were at the beach) they started taking a long (2.5-3 hour) nap in the afternoon.  I feed them about 12-1230 and they stay awake for about 10-20 minutes and then they go right to sleep.  They want to sleep on their tummies for this nap so I let them.  

• Emery:  I always have to wake her up from the nap and I hate that.  Benton always wakes up first and I try to pacify him until she wakes up but usually he is about to lose it because he is so hungry.  
• Benton:  This boy is starting to not sleep as much during the day.  He takes an awesome nap in the afternoon though which I love.  I kinda forgot my love of the nap but holy moly it is great.  

Feeding: still breastfeeding and pumping.  They get a one bottle a day or every other day of breast milk just to make sure they still like the bottle.  Emery has decided that she doesn't want to eat when Benton eats and she screams her head off.  So I am mainly feeding them individually.  I don't mind that at all but sometimes I would like to spend a little less time feeding, ha!  We keep trying and I know soon she will get over it (please?)

Diapers:   wearing mainly cloth diapers (prefolds with covers).  I did pull out all of Blakely's pocket and one size diapers the other day.  Benton can fit in them but Emery is still a little too small so we are sticking with the prefolds and covers until we can both make the switch. When they wear disposables they wear a size 2 and it is a little big on Emery.

Clothing:  Clothing is so weird.  Then clothing with cloth diapers is super weird.  

• Benton wears a 3-6 month with cloth diapers on but he can fit in some 3 months stuff with a disposable on.  When I packed for the beach it was all 3-6 months stuff and it was a little big because I didn't take cloth to the beach.  

• Emery is in 3 month stuff no matter the diaper.  She is almost outgrowing some of it with cloth on.  I give her a couple of weeks.  

Weight: Benton is 13 lbs even and Emery is 11 lbs 4 oz.  Wew go back in a month for a weight check although our pedi says they are 

Height:  Benton is 25 inches and Emery is 24 1/4 inches

Hair Color:  Well they are both pretty bald!  

• Benton has less hair all over.  In pictures he looks totally bald but he really does have hair.  It is very light but I can't tell if it is going to be blonde or light brown like Blakely's.  
• Emery has more hair than Benton but still not a whole lot.  She has a big bald spot in the back and then a triangle patch of hair under that close to her neck.  Her hair was darker at birth but it seems to be coming in lighter?  Hard to tell right now.  

Eye Color:  They both have blue eyes with Em's being a lighter blue (like mine) and Benton's a darker blue (like Lonnie's).

A few other things I want to remember:

• We took our first trip to the beach with the babies.  It was crazy and wonderful all at the same time.  I'll put all those details in another post but I am glad we did it but I will not be driving that long again.  
• They are both rolling from front to back.  Emery did it on 8-3 and Benton on 8-6.  
• Emery did a full on belly laugh for the first time on 8-15...while we were at the beach.  She has done it a few times since but mainly just little giggles here and there.  
• The twins got to meet some of their new friend babies this month!  

My friend Katie had her baby girl (her son is 5 months younger than Blakely).  Hannah weighed 9 and a half pounds and already outweighs my sweet Emery!  

And our friend Keisha had her baby girl, Kollyns, and she was also 9 lbs and will very soon outweigh my petite Em.  (E was hangry)  

• Emery notices Benton all the time.  She will just stare at him and watch what he is doing.  He is basically oblivious that she even exists.  Not really.  He would just much rather watch me.  Or the fan.  Or Blakely.

• I always let Blakely pick our their pajamas each night.  Well Emmers has A LOT more pajamas than Benners.  He has 2 that fit and 2 gowns that fit.  One night he didn't have any clean so Blakely picked out the purple ones and went on this big spill about how boys can wear purple and he looks good in purple and on and on.  It was pretty cute.  Since then she picks out the girly pink ones for him about 1/2 the time! 

Boy looks good in purple!  

• The twins got to meet Uncle Matty (my brother) this month!  We stopped in Alabama to see him on our way to the beach.  

• They don't hate their stroller.  I love this thing but we are rapidly needing a new double stroller instead of just this frame.  I literally can not make a decision about what to get. I need something that maneuvers easily and they can use right now as well as when they are much bigger.  Too many options!

• I have a feeling we are getting another Daddy's girl.  Emery will be fussy as can be before Lonnie gets home and then he walks in the door and talks to her and she is fine.  

• Blakely still wants to hold the babies a lot.  But when she is done she is done and she just plops them off and gets up!  I keep telling her she has to tell me and wait for me to pick them up but she's already over it.  :/

• I took them both to the eye doctor with me one day.  I thought it would be easy breezy.  It only takes about 30 minutes and I fed them right before.  I figured they would be happy or even go to sleep.  Nope.  They cried.  And cried more.  I don't know what the deal was except maybe the bright lights and weird place freaked them out?  Basically I am traumatized to take them anywhere by myself ever again.  

• We are liking tummy time these days!  

Daily Routine: We are getting into a steady routine.  But I know all too well that once you get comfortable things will change!  But for now we have about the same routine as last month.  7 feedings a day.  First one about 7 to 730 am and down for the night between 8-9pm with one middle of the night feeding.  

Happy 4 months my sweet sweet babies!  I still sometimes look down at the both of you and have a mild panic set in that I have TWO babies!  How did this mama get so lucky?  I love you both so much and you bring so much joy to my life.  I love making you smile and being able to comfort you.  I can't wait to watch you continue to grow!  

Blakely's summer

Since I haven't been able to find the time to blog much (or to make it a priority) I am so behind.  I don't want to "catch up" but there are some things I want here.  So consider this a very large photo dump post!  

Blakely has had a very fun summer.  The summer started off with the obvious, Blakely becoming a big sister!  Once the craziness of the twins hospital stay settled down and we were all home together we tried to keep Blakely on her same routine for the most part.  She still went with my friend Juanet one day a week and then to MDO one day a week.  Normally she goes 2 but they were on a summer schedule and I was just happy they were open at all for the summer!  

Juanet keeps Blakely, another little boy and her granddaughter at the little boy's house.  Blakely loves it (and Juanet).  It might be because they have a trampoline.  

At the end of May we finished up dance.  Hallelujah.  I have a post written all about her recital but I CAN NOT seem to get the video to upload.  Surely soon I can get it to work.  Dance class was SO HARD to get to so I was happy for it to end.  But she always had a good time and she enjoyed the recital.  But mainly she was freaking adorable.  

She got to spend the night at Bob's house (my mother in law) by herself for the first time and she sent me this picture.  I love it.  

We took lots of walks at the beginning of the summer but then it got WAY to hot to take the babies outside.  

Blakely and I had a couple of special dates to get pedicures.  She is hooked!

We obviously threw in some baby snuggles :)

Lonnie and I took her to the local science museum.  They recently renovated for the first time since I was little so I was excited to go as well.  It was nice.  It's not large or anything but they do have some good exhibits.  Most of it she will like when she is a little older but she still had fun.  

We took a few days trips to Bob's house to swim in her pool.  

I signed her up for swim lessons.  Total freaking disaster.  Gah.  It was going so well but she accidentally stepped off the makeshift underwater "steps" during the 4th lesson and went right under.  She swam up and grabbed the ledge and didn't choke or anything but it scared the heck out of her and she wanted nothing to do with swim lessons after that.  I was mid dive when she popped back up and about to totally embarrass myself but seriously...whyyyy was the teacher not watching?  We kept going but ended up skipping the last one because I wasn't going to force her when she obviously wasn't ready.  She swims great with her puddle jumper on so we will just continue that until next year.  

Obviously before the incident...

Daddy brought home some surgery gear and Blakely thought it was so fun.  I thought I'd just get to throw it all away after an afternoon of fun but no.  That gown is still stuffed into her baskets in the living room.  

She wants to go to work with Lonnie so so bad.  I keep telling her that she has to be a little older and her response, "when I am four?"  Maybe a liiiiiitle bit older than that!

Blakely got to spend the night with my Dad for the first time.

We have eaten a lot of shaved ice!  Blakely would get a new flavor every time we went....I always stick with the same thing.  Piña colada with cream :)

We also watched a lot of movies.  Mary Poppins is my favorite movie of all time.  I love it.  I have been waiting for the day when Blakely and I can watch it together and it finally came.  She really enjoyed it and has asked to watch it again so I need to get on that.  

We kept her in gymnastics over the summer.  We go to the morning class and I love it but in the summer when all the kids are out of school it is a crazy place because they have a ton of cheer camps and competitive gymnastics teams that are practicing.  But she loves it so much and asks all the time if it is Thursday yet so she can go to gym so we continued going.  Thankfully I had Brenda on Thursday mornings to watch the babies so I got to take her by myself.  (Since then we have moved to a new gym and her class is at 4:00 so I have to take the babies...HARD)

About a month ago I found Blakely in the nursery doing this...

She always helps me take the monthly pictures of the babies and I just thought it was so cute that she set this up all by herself and got her little camera out to take pictures of the babies.  She even had a little toy in her other hand and was shaking it over Daisy and making funny baby noises!  It just shows how much she watches me and copies EVERYTHING that I do.  

Her cousins Collier and Syble came to town for a few days.  She LOVES them and I literally don't even have to parent when they are here.  Ha!  They all wanted to wear matching pajamas to bed and white t-shirts was all Lonnie and I could come up with!  

One day while they were here we (me and my mother in law) took all the kids (C, S, B and the twins) to ride go carts and bumper boats.  It was Blakely's first time for both and she had a good time.  She rode with Bob and I stayed with the babes.  It was HOTTTTT.  

Blakely and I went to the dentist.  I think this is her third time?  I can't really remember but she does really really good.  So proud of her for that.  I am sure there will be a time when she dreads it (I do) but for now it isn't a total disaster.  

Blakely got quite a bit of Sarah lovin'.  One day when she came over Blakely ran downstairs right before she got here to put on the dress she wore in Sarah's wedding in 2013.  It is obviously way too small but she wanted to wear it for her and it was really adorable.  

There has been a friend baby boom and Blakely came with us to the hospital to await one of the new babies and this is basically what happened the entire time.  Heart eyes.

Blakely sits in Lonnie's lap while he reads the newspaper every single day when he gets home from work.  She asks about different things in the paper and he shows her stuff, etc.  They also go get the newspaper off the driveway when he gets home unless Blakely brought it inside while he was at work.  Anyway, one day Lonnie was on the front page because they interviewed him about a new procedure at one of the local hospitals.  Blakely nearly FLIPPED when she saw his picture.  She was so excited!  She kept saying "they took a picture of Daddy and now it's on the paper!"  Ha!  He had no idea it was going to be on the front page so he was caught off guard by it and wasn't all that thrilled about it.  But seeing how excited Blakely was about it made him smile.  She could not wait until he got home so she could show him.  She jumped up and down and hugged him and just thought it was neat.  LOL.  

AAAAND we ended the summer by hitting the beach!  Since we couldn't do our yearly trip with my family in May we went in August.  I'll do a whole post on that soon but basically it was awesome.  

The main thread throughout the summer is that Blakely has become a HUGE Daddy's girl.  I mean she totally worships him.  She can't wait for him to get home every day and occasionally she cries when he leaves for work (I think we have that under control now...whew).  He is so good to her and they play and play and play.  They have always had a special bond but it seems to have grown even stronger since the twins were born.  I am so thankful to have a man that is such a good Daddy.  I knew he would be good but seeing it all happen now is just amazing and I am the luckiest.  

First day of preschool

Blakely had her first day of preschool on August 11.  

She is still going to MDO but their 4 year old class is now a preschool class with a new teacher.  She still has another year after this year before kindergarten so I was fine with giving this class a shot and not moving her to pre-K at a new school.  

Short back story.  Blakely has had the same teacher for the 2 years she has been going to MDO.  Last spring the 4 year old teacher was let go from MDO and Blakely's teacher (Mrs. Anita) was again going to move up a class and would be Blakely's teacher.  I was thrilled.  I love her and totally trust her with my biggest baby.  Well a couple of months later the director of MDO got a new job at one of the public schools here so Mrs. Anita applied and got the director's job.  I was mildly concerned because that meant they would have to hire a new 4 year old teacher and I am totally spoiled with Blakely having always had the same one!  

But then I met the new teacher at orientation and she is very nice and really motivated to get the kids learning.  She had lots of plans and good ideas for this new preschool class and so far we are loving it.  Blakely is getting structured learning time but still getting plenty of play time (I am firmly in the camp that kids learn A LOT just by playing).  So everything is fine and I worried for no reason.  If this would have been Blakely's year before kindergarten I would have been SERIOUSLY worried with the last minute teacher change but it's not so everything is fine.  

I can't even tell you how big my girl is looking.  Gosh.  It is crazy.  She is such a little girl and no one can believe me when I tell them that she isn't even 4 yet.  They always think she is at least 5.  Here is her on her first day and last day of 3 year old MDO.  

Little miss long legs.  She is so grown up.  I love this "baby" so much.  She has handled becoming a big sister so well and is so helpful.  I can see the sassiness of 3 fading and the sweetness of 4 coming into view!