thursday tip...just enjoy your children!

since it is birthday week around here, no thursday tip for the day...expect maybe don't start a huge house project a week before the party!  3 sides of the house are done, but there is still the garage, 34 shutters to be painted and hung back up, the lights and the flower window boxes...they are telling me they want it done by friday...and so do i!


but for today...a simple tip, just enjoy your children!  tonight (wed.) both girls fell asleep when I rocked them, which does not happen very much anymore...i miss that. i was never big into rocking them to sleep, because i didn't want it to start a bad habit.  

tonight it was so nice to just hold them and rock them...i rocked them extra long just to feel them next to me.

 todd and the girls...right after we brought them home from the hospital

i can't believe they are going to be 3 in just 2 days...it blows my mind away for so many reasons.
They have become little girls, no longer do i have babies in the house.  i have learned so much about myself as a parent...i have done things i never thought i would do as a parent, but that is okay.  

looking back...i know i wished a lot of stages away.  i always wanted them to be doing the next thing.  i don't know if this is because i had twins...2 to deal with at the same time or not.  looking back, i wish i would have just enjoyed each stage a little more.  

i know i enjoyed this stage...i could put the girls any place for hours and they would just sleep and sleep!  from the start they have been great sleepers.

i used to get asked all the time what is it like having twins...so here is a little inside to what my day to day life is like from newborn to age 3!


newborns with twins!
the girls were born early at 33 weeks...so my version might be a little different then a full term set of twins, but here is the run down of a 24 hour period when they were so, so little!

one month old!

-16 bottles a day, which we had just 16 bottles, so we washed them every night and made the morning bottles.
-pumping 8-10 times a day for me...i quit at 8 weeks...i could not do it anymore and they were eating way too much for me to keep up with.
-32-36 diapers a day
-waking them up every 3 hours to eat...even in the middle of the night.  we would set our alarm to get up...and they were slow eaters...they just wanted to sleep.
-not leaving our house for the first 6 weeks when they came home...this was no fun for me, but due to their size, we needed to keep them away from kids and other places.
-washing 3 loads a day of their stuff...lots of burp cloths were used.
-keeping them on the same schedule...they ate and slept at the same time...and still do! 


i think we would go through 3 or 4 cans of formula in a few days...it was just crazy around here how much formula we bought.  we would make it every night...for the next day...all of it.  and have all the bottles ready to go...it just made life a little bit easier.


as they got older, the bottles were less and so were the diapers.  the newborn stage was good and bad all at the same time.  we had GREAT babies...they never really cried, they were great sleepers, but they needed so much of us...both of us!  it was just not me...thank goodness for my wonderful husband!  he did every night feeding with me.  at first we didn't do it this way, but it was just too much for one person to do the night feedings alone. 


who slept through the night first? 
kaylin at 4 months...i could not believe it.  i finally said to todd one night, we should stop waking her up for a bottle and just see what happens...she didn't wake up until 6AM the next day and has been our champ sleeper!
mara was around 6 months old...i had to wean her off the bottle or she might still be getting up for something to drink around 2AM!

3 months old

ages 3 months to 12 months!
i think this stage with twins is pretty much the same as one...i don't know any different, so i am not 100% sure.  but, they didn't always do everything at the same time....
-kaylin was the first to crawl and walk...she was walking at 10 months!
-mara was the first to figure out how to feed herself...kaylin wanted nothing to do with feeding herself!
-one major difference was i had to shop with 2 carts at target...i put a baby in each one...pushing one and pulling the other...let's just say everyone knew who i was!

 6 months old

1 year old

one year to two years!
so many changes happened from 1-2 I feel like...and the same with 2-3.  they just grow up so fast.
-mara got her first tooth at a year and she learned how to crawl...finally!
-around 16 months she started walking...and i loved life.  
-18 months was the very first time i went anywhere without the double stroller...i felt such a freedom not to have it with me.  it was to their 18 month check up and it was great!  after that i did quick/shot trips without the stroller...now i never have it with me!

two years to three years! 
one word: busy!  when other moms of twins ask me if it gets easier, i hate to say no, because it does get easier...i don't have to take the double stroller everywhere.  but, it gets more busy...they are always into something and going here and there!  i really enjoyed this last year...they have grown up so much and it was fun to watch them learn so many new things.

 2 years old!

what they are up to right now:

-kaylin is 100% potty trained 

-mara is about 80% potty trained...she is doing so great!

-they talk and sing all of the time...this is non stop at times.  singing or talking so much, i can't even think, but if i just stop and listen they crack me up!

-they always want everything fair...if one gets medicine, then other of course has something that hurts too!

-they talk to each other all of the time...and show each other things...i love that they have one another.

-lots of activities.

i feel very blessed to have 2 wonderful, healthy girls in my life.  there are days that i wonder why i was blessed with twins...can i really handle it or am i cut out for it.  but, i know we are only given what we can handle in life, so i try to do my best everyday and hope that it is enough.