Adorable.

I Think They Planned It

JD: “Okay here’s the plan. Let’s give Mom one good night of sleep and then we’ll do something to keep her on her toes. I’ll get up one night and then you get up the next night. Then the next night we’ll both get up and stay up for a couple of hours! We’ll play, laugh at each other, get her to feed us, change our diapers. It will be great fun! Deal?

Holly: “Deal! Let’s Shake on it.”

Friends and Swings

It’s been rainy all week so when the rain stopped for a brief moment today we took the opportunity to go to a local park with some great baby swings. This was our first time going and they loved it. They were laughing the whole time and I got a few pictures to document the occasion. A friend of mine and her daughter met us there to add to the excitement. It’s fun to see the three of them interact. Next time the sun is out we will be heading back to the park. Maybe they will try the slides next time, with Momma of course.

It’s Not Tummy Time!

My new sleep plan is working, somewhat. Every day seems to be a little different and I have a hard time waking them up if they have fallen asleep nursing. Today that was the case and they both woke up in their cribs 20 minutes later. I didn’t even have time to shower. I knew they were really tired so I kept them in their cribs, crying, hoping they would fall asleep so I could at least shower. They didn’t!

Yesterday they didn’t really take much of an afternoon nap so we tried putting them in their cribs to see if they would fall asleep. They both ended up on their tummies and all Jim and I heard was little giggles in between their struggle to sit up. I took a video, sorry if it’s a little herky jerky, I was crawling. I’m going to keep at it even though they continue to wake up in the middle of the night. Eventually they will get tired enough to sleep instead of roll over and play, I hope!

It’s Nap Time from Liz Hopkins on Vimeo.

Operation Get Some Sleep

At Holly and JD’s nine month appt the doctor gave us a schedule to try to go by so I get sleep at night. During the day I have been trying really hard to keep the babies awake for longer periods of time and then laying them down awake in their cribs to have them go to sleep on their own. I was so excited because Holly had been doing a great job! JD on the other hand would scream and wouldn’t fall asleep and going in to give him his pacifier just made him worse so I took him out and rocked him to sleep. I didn’t give up though. I continued to do this during the day and was so excited when for both naps they cried a little and fell asleep on their own. I was so excited I even texted Jim at work to tell him. The new schedule has them both in bed by eight, which has worked wonderfully, however, they were both waking up at three and four in the morning. Some nights I gave in and fed them other days I rocked them to sleep. The doctor also said that if they go to bed at eight they should be up by seven so Holly no longer gets to sleep in until 9:30. I’ve had to wake the poor girl a few times.

To help me even more I got a Parenting Magazine in the mail today and there was an article from a mom who was having the same bedtime issues with her son. I felt like I was reading a story of my life! Now having twins just makes it a little more difficult but I decided to follow what her doctor told her to do. It basically said that I need to introduce a ‘lovey’ to them because they can’t always have me. Yes, Holly holding my hair and sucking her thumb to fall asleep is cute but can’t do it. My sister, Sarah, made Holly and JD the most adorable blankets (pictured above) when they were born. They are the perfect size so I am re-introducing them to these blankets. It’s only been one day but I think it will work. It will take a couple of days to get them to fall asleep on their own and I can see this plan working. Jim and I played tag team last night, switching between cribs, soothing them. After about 20 minutes of crying they finally both fell asleep. Holly woke up twice in the night and the second time woke JD up and she was hysterical so she ended up in bed with us. I think I slept with my left arm above my head for a couple hours so tonight she won’t end up there again. I’m going to be persistent and I know it will be good in the end. We are going to put their cribs closer so maybe seeing each other will help them.

Thanks for enduring this long post. If you have things that have worked for you, I’d love to hear them.

9 Months Old

Yes, it’s true. We are three months away from celebrating Holly and JD’s first birthday, and boy are we going to celebrate! For now, though, we celebrate their nine month milestones. The most exciting part for me is going to the doctor to hear how well they are doing and to see how much they weigh. They get so much attention for being big, healthy babies that I am always curious to see what the scale says. We even had the nurse re-weigh JD because we didn’t believe the scale, it ended up saying the same thing twice. Looks can be deceiving!

Holly
Weight: 21.7 lbs (75-90%)
Height: 29 in (90%)
Head: 18 in (90-95%)
Holly Loves bouncing either in the jumper or while you hold her standing. It can get tricky when I have her stand up on the bath mat trying to get her towel on her and she just wants to jump. Her little bouncing feet are pretty adorable! She isn’t crawling yet but is scooting everywhere. She especially loves to gravitate toward the tv. We say her name and she turns around to look at us and we shake our heads and say no, no, no to which she shakes her head back at us and smiles. Too cute! Her little snaggle tooth shows when she laughs and smiles but good news is that she got her fourth tooth so her snaggle tooth is no longer alone! She loves crunchy on food with her front teeth now. Holly is pretty particular about what food she wants to eat and when she is done you know it because she doesn’t open her mouth, not even a little bit. She loves to blow bubbles when we give her water from a cup and sometimes gets too excited and inhales. It doesn’t stop her though.

JD
Weight: 24.2 lbs (90%)
Height: 30 in (90-95%)
Head: 19 in (>95%)
JD would rather stand than sit or crawl. His sister will probably crawl circles around him before he gets up, we’ll see. He is getting better at sitting for longer periods of time, especially since Daddy picked out a new basketball hoop that makes noise. He is most happy in the morning and when he hears Daddy’s voice when he gets home he smiles real big. He’s a pretty happy boy and doesn’t take much to get him to smile. He still only has two teeth and might be a while before anymore come in (at least that’s what the doctor said). He loooves food, I bet you couldn’t tell! He especially loves what Mommy and Daddy are eating and when he wants more he lets out a pretty loud screech! He’s still a Momma’s boy but is getting better at hanging out with more people. And I am getting better about leaving them too (yes it’s taken me nine months). My most favorite thing these days is when Holly and JD are sitting in their high chairs and they tilt their heads towards each other and JD reaches for Holly’s hand. They are such good friends. Even though sometimes when they are sitting on the floor he pulls her down from her shirt. She gets him back by taking his pacifier!

Life is definitely crazy with twins but it is so good too. The doctor asked me how I was sleeping and I kinda gave her a look like, “sleep? what’s that?” So she gave us a schedule to follow. We’ve had a few rough nights but I can see the positive results from it. It’s working well for naps too. I lay them down when it’s time and they cry for a little bit and then they are out. (Yes it’s taken me this long to do that too). Nights are a bit different but we are making progress. Holly and JD love to iChat with my parents in Virginia and are really starting to recognize them through the computer. It will make it so fun when they come out for their first birthday. I can’t wait to see how life changes with the next few milestones. I’m sure it will just get more crazy, but I love it!

Happy Valentine’s Day!